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Claim ID: HIS-IS28
Claim: Jesus was of Sound Mind when Claiming to be Divine
Summary: Some accounts of Jesus' behavior might lead one to believe that he was delusional, insane or possessed by an evil spirit. He frequently speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven, his role as king, and his oneness with the almighty God. Jesus' claims are substantiated by his rational behavior, clear teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, miracles, and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.
Description: Many have suggested that Jesus was not in his right mind. These accusations are based on the fantastic claims Jesus made during his ministry. Was Jesus of sound mind when he declared to be divine? Was he delusional when he declared himself the king in a heavenly kingdom?
First impressions are not always accurate. In the case of Pilate's first encounter with Jesus, Pilate was perplexed by the nature of Jesus' brief testimony.
33Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. "Are you the king of the Jews?" he asked him. 34Jesus replied, "Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?" 35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate retorted. "Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?" 36Jesus answered, "My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world." 37 Pilate said, "So you are a king?" Jesus responded, "You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true." 38"What is truth?" Pilate asked. (John 18:33-38 NLT)
In this passage, Jesus speaks of his imaginary kingdom and universal truth. To Pilate, Jesus' declarations seemed absurd, even delusional.
Even those closest to Jesus questioned his sanity.
20Then Jesus went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He is out of his mind."
In this passage, we observe that Jesus' pace of life and popularity among the people were jeopardizing his wellbeing. To his family, Jesus was acting irrationally.
These are not isolated incidents. Throughout his ministry Jesus claimed to be God. This was a major objection of the Pharisees. They repeatedly accused him of blasphemy. They could not reconcile the notion that Jesus could claim to be divine and at the same time be fully human. They concluded that he was possessed by Satan.
These episodes portray Jesus as someone suffering from either a severe mental disorder or truly possessed by a Satan.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus taught many things about the spiritual world. Central to these teachings were the Kingdom of Heaven and Jesus' role as king.
In fact, the terms Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are mentioned 85 times in the gospels. The Kingdom of Heaven was the central topic of seven parables.
Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of the Kingdom of God (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
Jesus was also very vocal about his divine nature [HIS-EV32]. His self-identity includes such titles as Son of Man (Messiah) and the I AM (Ego Eimi). Jesus responded to the Pharisees by claiming that he and God were one being (John 10:30).
There are many attestations of Jesus' divinity. Perhaps the strongest evidence are his miracles and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies [HIS-DS10]. Another strong evidence was that Jesus consistently exhibited the divine characteristics of God [HIS-EV32].
Finally, Jesus exhibited excellent mental health [PSY-EV02]. He was not suffering from a delusional disorder or other psychosis.
Throughout the New Testament, Jesus was consistently depicted as one who was level-headed and singly focused on his mission. He was genuinely concerned about the wayward plight of people and not fixated on himself.
We conclude that Jesus' claim of being divine is substantiated by his consistent, rational behavior and overall mental wellbeing.
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