Spring Warrior Church of Christ

7432 S. Red Padgett Road

Perry, FL 32348
584-5176

Prove All Things Vol. 1 No. 16

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Jesus Christ: A Good Man?

by Jeff Himmel, jshimmel@perry.gulfnet.com [5/23/01]

Many people agree that Jesus Christ was a great moral teacher. Some even
acknowledge him as a prophet. But they stop short of believing that he was God in the
flesh, saying instead that Jesus’ followers made him out to be God’s Son in the years
following his death.

Was Jesus a good man and nothing more? The Bible, the book that tells his story,
can answer that for us. All we need to do is examine Jesus’ own claims — not what
others said about him, but what he said about himself.

Jesus claimed equality with God. He equated his own work with that of the
Father. “But He answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am
working.’ For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him,
because He . . . was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God”
(John 5:17-18). During a discussion about the heritage of Abraham, Jesus said, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). His opponents surely
recognized “I AM” as the name God used to identify Himself when He sent Moses to
Egypt (Exodus 3:14). Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). If Jesus was
just a man, he was a man who claimed to be God.

Jesus claimed power to forgive sins. In front of a large crowd, he said to a

paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven you” (Luke 5:20). Jesus wasn’t pardoning this
fellow for some personal offense; he was pronouncing forgiveness for all the man’s
transgressions against God. This angered the Jewish leaders, who knew that only God
Himself could forgive sins (verse 21). If Jesus was just a man, he was a man who
claimed God’s authority.

Jesus claimed to be the path to salvation. Unlike many religious

philosophers, Jesus bluntly said that only he could bring people into a right relationship

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with God: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me” (John 14:6). Notice that he said men would come to God not just through
his teaching, but through him. If Jesus was just a man, he was a man who claimed to
have a monopoly on access to God.

Jesus claimed to be the Christ. God’s prophets had promised Israel a

deliverer, His “anointed one” (in Hebrew, “Messiah”; in Greek, “Christ”). When a
Samaritan woman spoke to Jesus of the Messiah’s coming, he replied, “I who speak to
you am he” (John 4:26). Many people who heard Jesus believed that he was the
prophesied Savior. His closest disciples believed it. When he asked them, “Who do you
say that I am?”, Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew
16:15-16). Jesus blessed him for saying so. If Jesus was just a man and not the Messiah,
then he was a man who played falsely on the dreams of an entire nation.

Jesus claimed to be atonement for sin. Jesus said that when he died his life
would be “a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28), and his blood would be shed for many
for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). He declared that his death would be the
sacrifice before God that would make possible the forgiveness of all men’s sins. Imagine
a mere man saying that his life could atone for the wrongs of the whole world! Yet Jesus
not only said it, but apparently believed it himself, because he willingly died for his
claim.
These are Jesus’ own claims about himself. It isn’t hard to see that if Jesus was
just a man, then none of these claims could be true. That would mean one of two things:

(1) Jesus was a liar. He knew his claims were false, yet he continued to deceive
people with them. His act has fooled millions into placing their trust in him.

(2) Jesus was a madman. He was so deluded that he actually believed these
incredible claims and even died for them.

Now, if Jesus was either a fraud or a lunatic, then it is grossly wrong to call him a
good man, much less a great moral teacher. On the other hand, if we reject the notion
that he was either lying or insane, then only one conclusion remains: Jesus is who he
says he is! As C.S. Lewis wrote, “You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and
kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.” What will
you do?

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