Did Religious Leaders of the Day Believe Christ was Claiming to be God?
As was already stated, The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees all knew who Jesus claimed to be throughout His ministry. Aparently, not very many of them believed Him but they knew what He claimed. In John chapter 3, in Jesus discussion of the new birth with Nicodemus, He claims to have descended from heaven and to those who believe in Him, will be granted eternal life. The Jews in the Temple sought to kill Him in 5:18 because of His claims. As F. F. Bruce points out, Jesus here was asking if God the Father keeps His own Sabbath Law. The answer is, obviously not, due to the fact that providential care over His creation is unceasing. Jesus then places Himself on a level with the Father by stating that since God works so does He. They complained about Him in John 6:41 because He claimed to be the bread that comes down from heaven. Again in John 7:30 they tried to arrest Him because of His claims and because of the belief of the people and this happened several other times as well. If these
