Link to Jim's paper is at bottom of page

An introduction to the topic from Ian Milligan About Ian

Claims made by Jesus

As we have noted several times on this website Jim loved the Scriptures and knew them very well. He liked to share his knowledge and tried to get the Christians he spoke to understand the depth and range of the Bible, and also to explain its meaning through more literal translations, which illustrated the original meaning of the words used. This document pulls together many claims under a wide variety of headings, including:

‘To be in a unique relationship with God’, ‘to fulfil the expectation of the prophets’, ‘To be unique and distinctive as a man’ and many others.

It will likely encourage anyone drawn to the person and message of Jesus.

Sometimes Jim, drawing on various concordances and his knowledge of Greek, would offer a translation of a particular verse that was a kind of ‘trans-literation’, to show its meaning more clearly. This was not because either felt the Bible should be formally re-translated in this way (although he did in fact like various specialist translations of the Bible, such as ‘inter-linear’ versions, which offered more detailed explanation of various words and phrases), rather his aim was to make scholarship more accessible and to encourage a deeper understanding of what the Bible was saying. One key way of doing this was to allow the Scripture to speak to us more directly, by understanding what some of the words and phrases had meant in their original context.

One example of this is in the section, ‘to be defeating cosmic evil’ – here Jim shows that the original words that are usually translated as Satan or the Devil were originally, ‘the antagonist’ and ‘the opponent’,

‘the antagonist…was a murderer from the beginning….a liar and the father of lies’ (John 8: 44) ‘I watched how the opponent fell …. like lightning. And … I have given you the power to tread underfoot … all the forces of the enemy and he will have no way at all to harm you. (Luke 10: 18-19.)

As we know Jim was a devoted and enthusiastic follower of Jesus and loved teaching about him. In this document he gathers a huge number of NT references to claims made by Jesus about himself and his role, in order to give as full and complete a picture as possible. It allows a reader to quickly get a sense of the range of Jesus teaching – and Jim’s evangelical heritage is clearly on view as he encourages to the reader to ‘Study his character. Listen to his words. Take note of his actions,’, and then answer for ourselves the question that Jesus posed to his disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’


View Jim's document Claims made by Jesus pdf 1MB