One of the most irritating and cliched arguments against the Deity of Christ is that Jesus never claimed to be God. There are only so many reasons someone might make this claim, all of which involve a certain amount of intellectual dishonesty.
One could simply be lazy and search online for a Bible verse of Jesus saying "I am God", find none, and run with it. But the same amount of effort allows us to search a wide range of terms like "why do Christians say Jesus is God?", or even "is Jesus God?", and find where Jesus does, in fact, claim to be God. Thousands of Christians have done this work for you, and will continue to do so until Christ returns. Thus, such laziness is inexcusable.
One could be less lazy, but also oblivious, by reading the entire Bible (or at least the parts where Jesus is obviously present), and see that He never says the actual words "I am God". However, doing so will reveal a large number of ways in which Jesus does claim to be God, which are so obvious, you would have to be motivated to miss them. The third way is the most dishonest of all: To know that Jesus does, in fact, claim to be God, yet continue to profess that He never does.
In all three cases, the one making the claim either does not know what they're talking about (and to a degree that is easily solvable), yet chooses to speak in ignorance, or knows full well that they are in error, but continues to profess that error. Would you trust either such person to make any major life decisions for you? Why, then, would you trust them with your salvation?
The truth is, Jesus' claims to be God were so obvious, they were a major motivation for the conspiracy to murder Him. "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." (John 5:18). "Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." (John 8:58-59). "Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”" (John 10:32-33).
Note the anger of Christ's enemies. He calls Himself the Son of God. What's the son of a duck? A duck. What's the son of a moose? A moose. What's the son of a man? A man. So what is the Son of God? God. That's why He can even say "...before Abraham was, I AM".
Any Jewish hearer, or reader, would immediately recognise Jesus' claim here. This is not a simple claim to be eternal (though He is that), it is a direct application of the very name of God to Himself. The Jews wanted to kill Jesus not because He never dared challenge their religion, but because He used it to masterfully claim, in a way no man had before, that He is God.
On top of this, Jesus did rather explicitly claim to be God. First, a bit of background on the origins of scripture. In John 16:12-15, we read "“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."
Here, Jesus plainly tells us that the Holy Spirit speaks on His behalf. Therefore, scripture, being the word of God, is, in fact, the word of the whole Godhead. The Holy Spirit takes from the Son what the Son takes from the Father. Whatever the Holy Spirit hears from Christ, this He declared to the Apostles. And it is this which became scripture. Scripture like "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1).
It also includes scripture like the book of Hebrews. Let's read the whole of the first chapter: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” And: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.” But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?"
Well, there goes the Watchtower's idea that Jesus is simply the Archangel Michael... Here, we have God not only speaking to God, and calling Him Lord, but this God whom God calls Lord is very explicitly identified as the Son. Yes, God calls Jesus God.
Now, if scripture comes from the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit takes of what is Christ's, who is really calling Jesus God here? Jesus. The Father calls Jesus God, and so Jesus tells the Holy Spirit to tell us Jesus is God.
But it gets deeper. While we focus on the explicit parts, we are temporarily distracted from the implicit. Note verse 3, where it says Jesus is "...the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person...". It turns out, no mere human, and indeed not even an angel, could possibly fulfill this role. "For who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord?" (Psalm 89:6).
Now, how can a man be the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His person, if no one in the heavens, even among the sons of the mighty, can be likened to the Lord? Only if "...in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;" (Colossians 2:9). It is impossible for Hebrews 1:3 to be an accurate description of Jesus if He is not also God.
But then what of places where Jesus apparently denies that He is God? Well, first, they don't show up where one might expect them to. There are a number of times when Jesus is identified, and even worshiped as God, yet in none of these do we find Him denying them. "And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”" (John 20:28-29). "And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed." (Matthew 8:2-3). "When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”" (Mark 5:6-8).
Note how each time someone worships Jesus (and that includes demons), He accepts it, rather than rebukes it. Compare this to when non-divine servants of God receive worship: "And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”" (Revelation 19:10). "Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”" (Revelation 22:8-9).
When even the most spectacular of God's creations receive worship, they redirect it towards Him. That is, if they are not Satan, who would quite happily accept worship if it was offered. But of course, that was the very sin that got him kicked out of the Kingdom in the first place, so he would not be a good example by any means. Any other creation, conforming to the will of God, utterly rejects worship. How, then, can the Man who knew no sin accept worship?
"But He still says He isn't God!", the anti-Trinitarian replies. There are verses they cite to prove it, but each of them suffers the same pitfall. Specifically, just as no Trinitarian proof text includes Jesus saying "I am God", no anti-Trinitarian verse includes Jesus saying "I am not God". The major difference is, whereas Trinitarian proof-texts do contain Jesus displaying some attribute only God has, performing some deed only God can do, or making some claim only God can legitimately make, anti-Trinitarian proof texts literally never show Jesus saying, doing, or showing anything God cannot.
A common example is found in 3 places in scripture: Matthew 19:7, Mark 10:18, and Luke 18:19. These verses all contain the same account. Here, Jesus asks a rich young ruler "why do you call me good?", stating that no one is good but God.
The irony of this particular account is that is proves, indisputably, that Jesus is God. Why? Because Jesus is good. He knows no sin, He is righteous by His own merit, He is perfect in love, He is the exact representation of the Father, He is, by His own reckoning, "the good shepherd". Jesus, without hope of dispute, is good. And so, if no one is good but God, yet Jesus is good, what does that make Jesus? God.
We see, then, that anyone who denies Jesus claimed to be God must necessarily deny the large number of times when Jesus claimed to be God. With His own mouth, He made a number of claims only God could legitimately make, and it angered the Jewish people, who recognised this fact only too well. Jesus was worshiped as God, by His disciples, by the needy, even by demons, yet even when His own disciple explicitly called Him "my Lord and my God", He never once rebuked this. His disciples would go on to call Him God in their writings, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, speaking on behalf of Jesus, thereby making both implicit and explicit claims that Jesus is God, of which there are many, Christ's own claims. God Himself calls Jesus God, meaning even corrupt translations often preserve the Deity of Christ. An honest and diligent study of scripture will show, beyond dispute, that Jesus is God, as He, Himself, claimed to be. Therefore, those who say Jesus never claimed to be God are, at best, incredibly lazy, and none of them have an excuse for it.