CHRIST is GOD: “‘They shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Mt 1:23). Griffith Thomas states: “Christ claimed to be the Messiah of the Jews. He claimed to be the Redeemer. He claimed to be the Master with the right to direct every life. He claimed to be the Judge of mankind. Above all, He claimed nothing less than the prerogatives of God. He claimed to be able to forgive sins, eliciting from His enemies a charge of blasphemy: ‘Who can forgive sins but God?’ He claimed the work of God as His own: ‘My Father has been working until now, and I have been working’ (Jn 5:17).” He declared “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (Jn 5:23). To the woman at the well, He stated, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will be in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” He was not only the possessor of the life of God, but the Giver of it to all who believe.