Q: #527. How many times was Jesus accused of "blasphemy?"
A: Jesus was “directly” accused of “blasphemy” on three different occasions, and “indirectly” accused on two more (they didn’t say Jesus had committed “blasphemy,” but they wanted to kill Him [the penalty for blasphemy] for proclaiming deity. Of course, we know that since Jesus “IS” God (He has never stopped being God), and He was sinless (2 Cor 5:21)(Heb 4:15)(1 Jn 3:5)(1 Pet 2:22), any accusations of blasphemy were false. Following are the five occasions.
#1. (Mt 9:1-8)(Mk 2:1-12)(Lk 5:17-26) Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the scribes for telling the paralytic man that his sins were forgiven.
#2. (Jn 10:30-33) The Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy, and were going to stone Him for “making Himself God.”
#3. (Mt 26:63-66)(Mk 14:61-64)(Lk 22:67-71) The High Priest accused Jesus of blasphemy for claiming to be “the Christ, the Son of God.”
#4. (Jn 5:17-18) (“indirect”) The Jews wanted to “kill” Jesus for saying “that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
#5. (Jn 8:58-59) (“indirect”) The Jews were going to stone Jesus for calling Himself the “I AM.”
In addition, Jesus was accused of committing “sin” in several other places (Jn 9:24)(Mt 11:18-19)(Lk 4:16-29)(Lk 7:33-35). He was also called a “friend of sinners” several times (Mt 9:10-13)(Lk 7:36-50 – He forgave sins here too)(Lk 15:1-3)(Lk 19:7).
***Note: Going back to #1, a question I had early in my Christian walk was, “Why were the scribes upset with Jesus for saying that He forgave the sins of the paralytic man? Aren’t we supposed to forgive sins?” The answer to this is that in the Old Testament, there was no command to forgive sins. It was always an eye for an eye (Ex 21:24-25) or restitution (Ex 21 & 22). Only God could forgive sins, so when Jesus forgave sins, He was claiming deity. (Jesus changed the “eye for an eye / restitution” law to “forgiveness:” i.e. Mt 5:38-42, Mt 6:9-15, Mt 20:21-22.)
Related: What is blasphemy, and how do you commit blasphemy?
What is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? I am afraid I blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
