1For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. 2For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him. 10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences. 12For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you. 14For the love of Christ compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died. 15He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
16Therefore we know no one according to the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. 17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 18But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The phrase translated here as “I am he” reads in Greek, “egō eimi”: literally, “I myself am.” Here and in John 8:58, Jesus applies to Himself the divine name, “I am” (cf. Exod 3:13-14) and thus identifies Himself as God. The New Testament confirms Jesus’ self-identification as God by referring to Him as God explicitly (John 1:1, 18; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:8; 2 Pet 1:1) and ascribing to Him divine attributes like omnipresence (Eph 1:23; Col 1:17), omniscience (John 16:30; 21:17; Col 2:3), existence before creation (John 1:1; 17:5; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:10; Rev 1:8, 17; 2:8), equality with God the Father (John 5:18; Phil 2:6), and even deity itself (Col 2:9).
Scripture credits Jesus, moreover, with performing acts that only God can perform: e.g. creating the universe (John 1:3, 10; Eph 3:9; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2, 10), preserving it (Col 1:17; Heb 1:3), forgiving sins (Matt 9:2 par; Luke 7:48; Acts 5:31; Col 3:13), saving human beings (Matt 1:21; Acts 5:31; Phil 3:20; 2 Tim 1:10; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 2 Pet 1:11; 2:20; 1 John 4:14; cf. Isa 43:11), and judging them (Matt 25:31-46; John 5:22, 27; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom 2:16; 14:10; 2 Cor 5:10; 2 Tim 4:1, 8). John, in fact, states that Christ performs every act whatsoever that the Father performs (John 5:19). The New Testament’s authors, moreover, endorse by precept and example the worship of Jesus with the reverence due to God alone (John 5:23; 20:28; 1 Cor 1:2; Rom 14:10-11; Phil 2:10-11; Heb 1:6; Rev 1:5-6). Scripture teaches, therefore, that Jesus is not only a man, but also God: one person with a divine as well as a human nature (cf. Phil 2:6-7).