Was Jesus Simply a Good Man?
I feel that to truly understand the significance of this quotation we
should define the real meaning of the word "good." This quotation
raises the issues of Jesus simply as a man who was good or that it
emphasises the special relationship between Jesus and God. (Jesus was
often referred to as the Son of God.) I feel that these are the two
main ways that we can interpret the quotation.
To look at Jesus as simply a good man who had a philosophy of doing
good and showing compassion to others is safe but we already know that
Jesus is not a mere man. He is so much more than a man; we can see
this by looking at the way the gospel of Mark begins:
"This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
(Mark Chapter 1 Verse 1)
Mark clearly wants to emphasise and concentrate on the special
relationship between Jesus and God. We usually see God to be the
epitome of "good", by saying this I mean that we as human beings look
at God as a role model. We try to be like him and live up to h...
Jesus Christ became human and walked with men and women. The Creator of heaven and earth became a creature and entered the creation that he made into existence. God made himself known so humanity could have the most basic understanding of who he was and Christ there would be no Christianity. Jesus taught mankind a high view of Scripture and inspired his followers and others to uphold it as God’s Word. (A Starting Point for Wisdom by Jason Hiles and Anna Faith
In the parables and teachings of Jesus in the book of Matthew, when Jesus is faced with describing how one should judge others he states, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged…” (Matthew, pg. 179). To Jesus withholding judgement was crucial to stemming hypocrisy and empowering his followers to self-reflect. When thinking of the philosophical implications of Jesus’ teachings it is important to ask what the principles upon which he defines goodness are. How might his teachings differ from the works of Aristotle when it comes to defining relationships and defining what makes people good or bad?
Wright, N. T. Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters. New York: HarperOne, 2011. Print.
The book, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, by Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright is a conversation of sorts between, “The Leading Liberal and Conservative Jesus Scholars” as they “Present the Heart of the Historical Jesus Debate.” In the introduction, the scholars note that the inspiration and writing of the book grew out of friendship. The book is evidence of the public and private conversations between these scholars and friends, sharing in Christian faith and practice as they work through these complex issues in hopes of understanding each other better. Both, “…acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as Lord, and [we] regard the no-holds-barred study of his actual history as a vital part of what we mean by that” (viii).
Jesus has been referred to in the Gospels as a man who had power over
The really crazy thing though, is that Jesus always wanted to be a servant to the human race, he was the son of man, and in the biblical sense, son is a lower status than father.
Of all the debates that concern the Christian faith, the most important lies in the understanding of the very one whom the faith professes to follow: Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ, and what did He do here on this earth? In noting the importance of these issues the apostle Paul goes so far as to make the startling claim that the Christian faith is useless if predicated on a false assumption of Christ’s saving work (1 Cor. 15:14). Indeed, there are no truths more central to our faith than the personhood and work of Jesus Christ, and yet serious disagreements exist regarding the nature of these tenets. Jesus lived here on earth as fully divine and yet fully human in one and the same person, and His death on the cross served as a perfect sacrifice and substitute for the necessary punishment of death that all sinners deserve.
Jesus worked tirelessly to teach humanity about the love of God instead of the fear of God that was not compatible with the true nature of God (book of Luke). Jesus was opposed to the concept of atonement to appease an angry God. Atonement is the belief in the sacrifice of an innocent life as reparation for
...redibly powerful person to die for everyone else's sins and rise from the dead so that humans could have the hope of eternity in the presence of God forever
1. Son of God- This title is used no more than eight times in Mark's
Jesus had infectious self-confidence that attracted all types of people to his cause. A teacher of the law said to Jesus, “Teacher, I will follow your wherever you go” (Matt. 8:19). He was also an optimist: Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33). He was an idealist; his mission commanded his followers to be spiritually perfect (Matt. 5:48). Although Jesus' ethical standard was incredibly high, his faith in God was...
The Gospel of Luke centralizes the components of Jesus’ divinity, humanity, and ministry which contribute to the perception of Jesus portrayed by the narrator of Luke. Jesus’ divinity is demonstrated through his healings and miracles throughout the Gospel. His humanity is represented through the infancy narrative and also at the beginning of his Passion in the Garden of Gethsemane. Finally, Jesus’ public ministry serves as the most effective and important element of his life because of the essential teachings that he speaks of that give inside evidence to the formation of the modern day church.
Before this semester I had never taken a moment to ask myself - Who is Jesus? It is something that I have never been given the option to question. Being brought up in a strong Christian background, where I went to mass every Sunday, and then following mass, went to bible school for two hours, ingrained a specific image of Jesus into my head. This image portrayed Jesus as a white man who preformed miracles for the poor and oppressed, and also sacrificed himself on the cross for all of humanity’s’ sins. However, after taking this course, I have been able to rethink Jesus in ways that I could have never imagined. It has become evident to me that there are many different ways to see Jesus. And with each of these contrasting views, there comes both biblical and rational evidence supporting each image along with criticism disputing each image.
...ons. Jesus is the most qualified of the three Divine persons because Jesus wants to be on with us and with the world. Everyone in the world was born by a woman and men work with hard labor, this is the human consequence for not following the law of God. Jesus is the light of the world, he came to save is from all sin by being condemned to death. I also believe that the Incarnation matters because if the Incarnation did not happen, the world may be different.
was a faithful Jew and followed all the Jewish customs. Jesus was a human being.