Muslim
Is Jesus God or merely a prophet?
Christians honor Jesus (Isa) as a true prophet but the Gospels present far more: he forgives sins, accepts worship, and claims divine identity ('before Abraham was, I AM'), which the earliest Christians, all of them Jewish monotheists, understood as a claim to full deity within the one God.
Catholic teaching
The Church confesses Jesus Christ as true God and true man, one divine Person with two natures, fully consistent with the strict monotheism of Israel because the Son shares the one undivided divine nature with the Father, not a second god alongside him.
Biblical foundation
Jesus takes the divine name for himself, 'before Abraham was, I AM' (John 8:58), prompting his hearers to try to stone him for blasphemy; Thomas addresses the risen Christ directly as 'My Lord and my God' (John 20:28) without correction; and Jesus forgives sins on his own authority (Mark 2:5-10), something the scribes rightly recognized only God can do.
Scripture references
Historical evidence
Christian worship of Jesus as divine is attested from the very beginning: Pliny the Younger reports around AD 112 that Christians sang hymns 'to Christ as to a god,' decades before any later ecumenical council formally defined the doctrine — showing it as original apostolic belief, not later development.
The Church Fathers
“In Jesus Christ our God... to the Church... which is also beloved and enlightened by the will of him who willed all things that are.”