Final answer:
Jesus' claim to be God sets him apart from other major religious founders such as Muhammad, and signifies his central role in Christianity as the divine Son of God, Messiah, and savior. Other Abrahamic religions respect Jesus but do not recognize his divinity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The claim that Jesus was the only founder of a major world religion to identify as God means that, within the historical contexts of major world religions, Jesus' uniqueness lies in his self-identification as divine. This is a contrast to other religious figures such as Muhammad in Islam, who is considered a prophet but not divine. In Christian belief, Jesus represented the God of the Jewish tradition but was understood to fulfill a new covenant through his teachings, crucifixion, and resurrection, which are central to Christianity and its sacred text, the Bible. Jesus' peace-oriented teachings that emphasized caritas (charity) and conveying the love of God resonated with many, including marginalized groups such as slaves in the Roman Empire.
While Christianity recognizes Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, other Abrahamic faiths like Judaism and Islam do not. Jews anticipate the Messiah's future arrival and did not accept Jesus as this figure, and Muslims respect Jesus as an important prophet but not the divine son of God. Christianity's narrative of Jesus' life, his resurrection, and his ascension into heaven became the foundation for the world's largest religion and is pivotal to understanding the historical significance of Jesus of Nazareth.