What a question to ask! - it's not one we would ask in this way about anyone else: Tony Blair - who is He, Princess Di - is she woman or God? - hardly likely. So why do we ask it about Jesus?
It was Jesus Himself who asked the question:
"Who do people say that I am?" (Mark 8:27)
C.S. Lewis said there are only 3 acceptable responses to the claims that Jesus made about Himself:
The evidence about Jesus is to be found in the New Testament, especially in the gospels. These reveal the character of Jesus - what He was like; they show what He taught, and what He claimed. They most definitely show a man who was neither mad, nor a liar.
The Jews were expecting someone - the hope of the Old Testament points towards a decisive figure - the Messiah, and also shows God powerfully working in redemptive history. However there is no expectation that the Messiah would be anything other than a man, like a great prophet. The Jews could have no conception of the idea that God had a Son (who was also God), it just would not fit with their monotheism. So it was an unusual claim to make - many people had come along claiming to be the promised Messiah, but none of them claimed to be God. With hindsight it is possible to see that there are plenty of little clues scattered throughout the Old Testament, but no-one previously had linked them together and come to any conclusion they would have allowed for Jesus. It is only in the New Testament looking backwards that there is the realization that the answer was there all along - Jesus was the first to realize it, and the apostles did (- though for most of them it was only after the resurrection).
This seems a strange claim to have to make, but there are some people who have maintained that Jesus only appeared to be a man - that He didn't really face temptation or suffer. The evidence of the New Testament however is overwhelming.
i.e. He was a human being just like the rest of us. It goes without saying that He also went to the toilet, that His clothes and skin got dirty, that His hair did not always stay in place, He did not glow in the dark or have a ring of confidence floating above Him wherever He went!
The genealogies link Him with figures from the Old Testament, and show his descent from David (Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38)
Other links to the OT - fulfilment of what the prophets had predicted:
Other people regarded Him as being the promised Messiah:
What were Jesus own views:
He linked this with the concept of the Son of Man (based particularly on Daniel 7:13-14), and made great use of this title, referring it to himself, but in a number of different ways.
Jesus was not just a man, a promised prophet who would accomplish God's will - that kind of claim could be disputed, but wouldn't have led to the blasphemy charge that was placed against Him. The unique feature with Jesus was His claim to be God, and to do the things which the Jews believed were the prerogative of God.
In addition to the title Son of Man, we also find Jesus addressed as Son of God - He uses it about Himself in John 5:35, 10:36, 11:4 (also He frequently calls Himself Son, and refers to God as His father). The term is used by:
His relationship with God is that of Son to Father, and goes beyond any mere human expression of the fatherhood of God. The intimacy of the relationship is quite unlike the usual Jewish approach to God, He speaks of God as His father 106 times in John's gospel alone (but He never talks of "our" Father - His relationship is different to that of everyone else). He claims a knowledge of the Father's will and claims that He is doing what the Father wants Him to - He has a hot line to God (John 8:26,28,40, 14:24). He claims knowledge of God beyond that of any man (John 6:47, 10:15, 17:25).
Jesus claims an authority to do things which are normally considered the prerogative of God:
He also demands the same honour as God from men (John 5:23) - the reason He can do this is because of His oneness with the Father (John 10:30 cf. 1:1).
Jesus made claims of divinity using language which would only be understood by the Jews. On a number of occasions He uses the words "I am" (John 4:26, 6:20, 8:24,28, 13:19, 18:5,6,8) - but in the way He uses it He is claiming to be the God who in the Old Testament calls Himself "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14) and "I am" (Isaiah 43:10, 46:4) - and it is not surprising that He upset the Jews by using this divine name to refer to Himself and claiming to have existed before Abraham (John 8:58).
We have been looking mainly at the claims of Jesus Himself, but others also make statements of His divinity. Mark's gospel opens with a declaration of Jesus Christ as being the Son of God (Mark 1:1). After the resurrection Thomas addresses Jesus as Lord and God (John 20:28). The Gospel writers are clear that Jesus is both man and God. John 1:1-18 is the clearest expression of all - the Word was God, He created all things, He came into the world as a man, Jesus Christ.
Paul reveals much about Jesus in His letters. He had equality with God, but set it aside to live as a man. He demonstrated absolute humility and obedience in His death, and was raised up (Philippians 2:6-11). Jesus as God made is the means by which all things came to be (Colossians 1:16) and He sustains and upholds all things (1 Corinthians 8:6, Col 1:17). He is the means by which salvation comes to mankind (Galatians 1:4, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 2 Timothy 1:10).
In the epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus is seen in spiritual terms as a High Priest - but one who has always been and who will always be, and so is better than any earthly High Priest. Jesus was the means by which God created the world (Hebrews 1:2) and by which it continues to exist (Hebrews 1:3)
The New Testament is clear that the man Jesus of Nazareth is fully man, but He is also fully God. He existed from the beginning, He created all things. Unfortunately it leaves some questions unanswered. Being human these tend to be the questions we like to know the answer to. Over the years the church asked and attempted to answer many questions about Jesus, especially in the face of those whose teaching would have diminished His humanity or His divinity.
Jesus is Fully God - some have argued that He was maybe just the foremost creature of God's creation - greater than men or angels, but still less than God. Others thought He was just a man, who God "adopted" as His Son at His baptism. Jesus is Fully Man - there have been those who thought He wasn't really human, and as a holy divine being He wouldn't have contaminated Himself this world, but just appeared to be human. Jesus is not some strange being who came from the sky, and couldn't really sin, and didn't live life on the same terms that we did - if He had not been a proper human being He would have been unable to save us. He is not a mixture that is neither one nor the other - He was not a human body with a divine soul - that way He would not be fully human. He is not a schizophrenic - some thought that if He had both a human nature and a divine nature, then He would have two wills - as if He had two people living in His head! He is one person, two natures - He is fully God and fully man, but that doesn't make Him two persons, or something which is neither one nor the other. How it all works is inevitably something of a mystery - theologians have discussed and argued and will continue to do so, but ultimately we will never have a full understanding of Jesus until we meet Him face to face, and know Him as He fully knows us (1 Corinthians 13:12).
A church council held in a place called Chalcedon in 451 AD issued a statement about who Jesus was, and how the divine and human natures related which has been held by most of the Christian church since (though I have to admit I have some minor disagreements with some of its teachings). It affirmed that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that He was perfect in Godhead, perfect in manhood - of the same substance at the Father in Godhead, of the same substance as us in manhood, made known in both human and divine natures - distinct but undivided, not mixed or confused, having the fullness of both humanity and divinity in His nature, all combined in one person.
So who is He? Is He God? - if so does it matter - what difference does it make to us and our everyday life?
It matters that He is God because of what He did on the cross, and what that accomplished with regards to the relationship of man to God. That will be the subject of a later study.