Two thousand years ago a man set foot on our planet who claimed to be from another world. A world that has always existed and will never end. Although he was born in poverty and had no credentials or political backing, his life and words changed our world. His name is Jesus Christ.
Jesus never wrote a book, commanded an army, held a political office, or owned property. He mostly traveled within a hundred miles of his village, attracting enormous crowds who were amazed at his provocative words and stunning deeds, such as healing the blind, lame and deaf. He reportedly turned water into wine, created food for the hungry, and stopped a powerful storm in an instant.
While most great people simply fade into history books, Jesus of Nazareth is still the focus of thousands of books and stirring media controversy. And much of that controversy revolves around the radical claims Jesus made about himself—claims that a normal man could never have made. Although Jesus frequently referred to himself as the Son of Man, he also claimed to be the Son of God.
It was primarily Jesus’ outrageous claims that caused him to be viewed as a threat by both the Roman authorities and the Jewish hierarchy. Author John Piper further explains how Jesus continually shocked his audience.
“Jesus’ friends and enemies were staggered again and again by what he said and did. He would be walking down the road, seemingly like any other man, then turn and say, ‘The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ To the dead he might simply say, ‘Come forth,’ or, ‘Rise up.’ And they would obey. To the storms on the sea he would say, ‘Be still.’ And to a loaf of bread he would say, ‘Become a thousand meals.’ And it was done immediately.”1
Imagine the shock of those who witnessed Jesus say and do such things. The big question people had was: “Who is he?” And many people today are still wondering, “Who is the Real Jesus Christ?”
His followers believe Jesus is who he claimed to be, the Son of God. However, many others believe Jesus was simply a great moral teacher who had special insight and personal magnetism.
Was Jesus Just a Great Man?
Righteous Character
Jesus said he had come to fulfill the Jewish law, not to abolish it. He was said to have obeyed all the commandments, being an example of personal purity. He continually reached out to people in need, demonstrating love and compassion.
Martin Luther King was amazed at Jesus’ overwhelming, love even for his enemies.
“He did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with aggressive love.” (Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes about Jesus)2
Hindu activist Mahatma Gandhi spoke of Jesus as “a person who, in his love for the poor, oppressed, and outcast, stood against evil with his whole being to the end, despite the threat of violence.”3
The French philosopher Rousseau wrote of Jesus as Plato’s perfect man.
“When Plato describes his imaginary righteous man . . . he describes exactly the character of Christ. . . . If the life and death of Socrates are those of a philosopher, the life and death of Jesus Christ are those of a God.”4
Great Moral Teacher
Almost all scholars acknowledge that Jesus was a great moral teacher. In fact, his brilliant insight into human morality is an accomplishment recognized even by those of other religions.
Jewish scholar Joseph Klausner also accepted Jesus as a great moral teacher. He wrote, “It is universally admitted … that Christ taught the purest and sublimest ethics … which throws the moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of antiquity far into the shade.”5
Jesus’ entire ministry was built upon truth: the truth about God; the truth about himself; and the truth about us. Jesus told his followers, “I am the truth!”
Literary scholar C. S. Lewis writes of how Jesus’ teaching was radically different from others.
“The things He says are very different from what any other teacher has said. Others say, ‘This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go.’ But He says, ‘No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me.’”6
Jesus’ words speak to the human condition of sin and our need of God. His teaching about God’s love and forgiveness impacts us today. And Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount has been called the most superlative teaching of human ethics ever uttered by an individual. Historian Will Durant said of Jesus that “he lived and struggled unremittingly for ‘equal rights.’”7
Although he was an outsider with no credentials or political powerbase, within three years, Jesus changed the world for the next 20 centuries. Other moral and religious leaders have left an impact—but nothing like that unknown carpenter from Nazareth. For example,
- Human rights have been founded upon Jesus’ teaching
- Democracy is based on Jesus’ teaching
- Equal rights of women and minorities resulted from Jesus’ teaching
- Slavery was abolished as a result of Jesus’ teaching
- Schools and universities were founded to spread Jesus’ teaching
- Charities and hospitals were founded as a result of Jesus’ teaching
- Countless addicts have been rehabilitated by his teaching
Yale historian Jaroslav Pelikan summarizes Jesus Christ’s impact on our world.
“Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries. … It is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that millions curse and in his name that millions pray.”8
When the great secular historian H. G. Wells was asked who has left the greatest legacy on history, he replied, “By this test Jesus stands first.”9 Historian Philip Schaff summarizes the positive impact of Jesus’ life and words.
“Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar…and Napoleon….He shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet.”
God in Skin?
How is it that in just three years, a mere Jewish carpenter was able to change our world in such a dramatic way? Could it be that Jesus Christ was more than a mere man? Could it be that he was who he claimed to be: the only Son of God?
In his classic book, The World’s Great Religions, Huston Smith observed,
“Only two people ever astounded their contemporaries so much that the question they evoked was not ‘Who is he?’ but ‘What is he?’ They were Jesus and Buddha. The answers these two gave were exactly the opposite. Buddha said unequivocally that he was a mere man, not a god—almost as if he foresaw later attempts to worship him. Jesus, on the other hand, claimed … to be divine.”10
Jesus had all the attributes and needs of a man. He got hungry. He felt pain. He required rest. He was tempted—yet without sin. However, Ravi Zacharias writes of Jesus Christ as more than just a man.
“Here, then, is the man from Nazareth, who claimed that His origin was from heaven and that His Father is none other than God Himself—a son not born out of physical consummation nor out of a need for communion, but the consummate expression of God in the flesh, in eternal communion with the Father.”11
Jesus spoke of his Father as God, and himself as his only Son who had always existed with the Father. One of Jesus’ followers, Philip, wanted to see God the Father. Jesus replied to him,
“You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:9 The Message)
On another day Jesus stunned the Jewish religious leaders by stating,
“The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30 NLT)
These Jewish scholars realized Jesus was claiming equality with God, so they picked up stones to kill him. But what did Jesus mean? If he meant he was just in agreement with his Father, they would have responded much differently.
Jesus told the religious leaders on another occasion that those who obeyed his teaching would never die. They immediately shot back, “Even Abraham…died, but you say that those who obey your teaching will never die! Who do you think you are? You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you have seen Abraham?’
Jesus answered, ‘The truth is, before Abraham was, I AM!’” (John 8: 57, 58)
Jesus’ words, “I AM” had a unique meaning to the Jews. Larry Hurtado explains,
“Indeed, this use of “I am” …alludes to Old Testament passages where God uses the same sort of self-referential language.”12
Jesus certainly knew what the Jewish leaders’ reaction would be to his use of God’s holy name. Since Jesus had used God’s holy name (I AM) for himself, the Jewish leaders took up stones to kill him. Lewis explains why they wanted to have Jesus killed.
“He says…’I am begotten of the One God, before Abraham was, I am,’ and remember what the words ‘I am’ were in Hebrew. They were the name of God, which must not be spoken by any human being, the name which it was death to utter.”13
Following are a few of Jesus’ other I AM claims expressing his deity.
- “I AM the light of the world” (John 8:12)
- “I AM the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6)
- “I AM the only way to the Father” (John 14:6)
- “I AM the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)
- “I AM the Alpha and Omega” (Rev.1:7,8)
Not only did Jesus use God’s name for himself, but he also accepted worship on nine occasions. Nothing is more fundamental to the Hebrew Scriptures than the fact that God alone is to be worshiped. In fact, the first of the sacred Ten Commandments is, “Do not worship any other gods besides me” (Exodus 20:3 NLT).
So, unless Jesus is God, it would have been blasphemy for him to willingly receive worship. Yet, after Thomas saw the resurrected Jesus, he shouted, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) If Jesus was not divine, Thomas would have been committing blasphemy, and Jesus would have reprimanded him. But instead, he blessed Thomas for worshiping him as “Lord and God.”
Lewis also noted that Jesus forgave sins, something exclusively reserved for God. It’s difficult to realize the shock Jesus’ radical claims created with both his friends and enemies. Lewis explains.
“Then comes the real shock,’ wrote Lewis: ‘Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time.”14
Although historians acknowledge Jesus as a great moral leader, former skeptic C. S. Lewis says that Jesus couldn’t be just a great moral teacher.
As Lewis read the accounts of Jesus Christ, the great literary scholar reasoned that Jesus claimed to be something much more than just a man or moral teacher. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. He writes,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say.”15
Lewis means that if Jesus wasn’t being truthful about his claim of deity, then he wouldn’t have been a great moral teacher. If Jesus isn’t God, then he would either have been intentionally lying or he would have been a lunatic.
Did Jesus Prove His Deity?
Toward the end of Jesus’ three-year ministry, he told his disciples that he needed to go to Jerusalem where he would be condemned and killed by his enemies. This was utterly devastating news! They had spent three years with him night and day, experiencing his friendship, witnessing his many miracles and listening to his enlightening words about God’s love and grace. They were stunned!
However, Jesus told them something else they didn’t fully understand. He said that after his death that he would rise again on the third day (Mark 10:33, 34). Seven hundred years earlier, the prophet Isaiah wrote that the Messiah would suffer and die for our sins, but later be restored to life. Jesus was telling them that, as the Messiah, he was the one who Isaiah had written about (Isaiah 53).
However, his disciples had no comprehension of the invisible and infinite God becoming a human being, much less being crucified and raised from the dead. We are told that it was only after Jesus’ death and resurrection that they understood the meaning of his words (Luke 24:8)
By promising that he would be killed and rise on the third day, Jesus put his entire ministry on the line. If he did defeat death, it would validate his claim to deity. And it would mean that everything he told us about God, about himself, and about our purpose and destiny is true, including his words, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me shall though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25 ESV)
But if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, everything he claimed and taught would be rendered meaningless. Furthermore, his disciples would no longer believe what he had claimed about himself. Bible scholar Wilbur Smith explains,
“When he said He would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say if He expected the devotion of any disciples – unless He was sure He was going to rise.”16
As Jesus had predicted, he was taken prisoner by his enemies and eventually condemned to death. His Jewish enemies turned him over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who had him crucified between two thieves.
Jesus hung on the cross for six hours before he died. A Roman guard pierced his side to make sure he was dead. Then he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy member of the Jewish council. Roman guards were ordered by Pilate to maintain a 24-hour watch at the tomb.
Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples had gone into hiding, fearing they also would incur the wrath of the Jewish religious leaders, and possibly be executed like Jesus.
But on the third day, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb with some other women and claimed to have seen Jesus alive. Then Peter, John, and later the other disciples also claim to have seen him alive. Soon the word spread like wildfire.
As Peter Steinfels of The New York Times writes, “something happened.”
“Shortly after Jesus was executed, his followers were suddenly galvanized from a baffled and cowering group into people whose message about a living Jesus and a coming kingdom, preached at the risk of their lives, eventually changed an empire. Something happened…But exactly what?”17
One man who wanted to know what happened was English journalist, Frank Morison. His plan was to write a book proving the resurrection account false. He believed the last period of Jesus’ life was mythical, and his resurrection was based on bad history.
Morison Researches the Evidence
First, Morison discovered Jesus’ death was a fact of history that was verified by both Jewish and Roman historians. In fact, during the lifetimes of the eyewitnesses, no one disputes Jesus’ death. All leading historians today acknowledge Jesus’ death as a historical certainty.
Morison then wondered if the disciples had conspired a plot to make it appear Jesus had risen. However, there are three main problems with that theory:
- The tomb was secured by a large stone with a 24-hour trained Roman guard. It would have been impossible for the disciples to roll the stone away and remove Jesus’ body without notice.
- A resurrection plot would have died out as soon as someone discovered Jesus’ body, yet that never happened. Tom Anderson, former president of the California Trial Lawyers Association, explains, “With an event so well publicized, don’t you think that it’s reasonable that one historian, one eye witness, one antagonist would record for all time that he had seen Christ’s body? … The silence of history is deafening when it comes to the testimony against the resurrection.”18
- The disciples changed from being cowards into men who were willing to be tortured and martyred by proclaiming the risen Jesus. Professor J. N. D. Anderson, author of Evidence for the Resurrection reasons, “Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence – and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication … That simply wouldn’t make sense.”19
It was the dramatic change in the disciples’ behavior that convinced Morison he needed to change the theme of his book. He writes, “Whoever comes to this problem has sooner or later to confront a fact that cannot be explained away … This fact is that … a profound conviction came to the little group of people – a change that attests to the fact that Jesus had risen from the grave.”20
Jesus had kept his promise to his disciples, and their lives were changed. They now understood and believed that he is who he claimed to be: God in skin. As our Creator, he alone is the one who can change our lives.
C. S. Lewis asks, “What are we to make of Jesus Christ?”21 He says, “The real question is not what are we to make of Christ, but what is He to make of us?”22
In other words, as our Creator, Jesus made us for a purpose. It’s up to us to find our purpose in him. John’s Gospel gives us this statement of Jesus’ true identity and his promise of eternal life for those who put their trust in him.
“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:11–12)
Jesus offers forgiveness of sin and promises eternal life to those who put their faith in him. Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? As God, he is the only one who can answer life’s most important questions:
- “Who am I?”
- “Why am I here?”
- “Where am I going after I die?
If you would like to learn more about Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and his free gift of eternal life we encourage you to read the article at the link below.