Was Jesus Just a Great Moral Teacher?

Back in November, I sent out a call for questions to address here on the blog. With all that has happened I have been a bit detached from the ones I received. I planned on addressing them starting now, but an unexpected occurrence caught my eye in the grocery store checkout last week. I can’t remember the name of the magazine although it was one of the leading brands. What I do remember is that it read in the vein of “100 people gone too soon.” While waiting in the fairly short line, I decided to skim through it. One of the first pages I came across included Jesus. I had to read it of course, expecting a butchering of His true purpose. All it stated was that Jesus was an eccentric young man that challenged the Jewish and Roman culture with his teachings of love and sacrifice and of how he died because of his challenge to the status quo. The central précis of the piece was that he was a great teacher that humanity lost too soon.

This entry will have me referring back to my third blog from April of last year. If you are unfamiliar with it, I suggest finding it in the archives. With this situation, Christians should be well equipped to answer any questions concerning this or simply be able to correct misconceptions among those who are unfamiliar with Christianity. Before I begin, I think one of the best replies to the article described above is from C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity:

I am trying here to prevent anyone 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. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him 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. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

This passage is definitely full of important points. The first thing to address is what many unbelievers consider to be true about Jesus. If any one person wants to take a serious approach to history, it is undeniable that Jesus of Nazareth existed; therefore, that fact can’t be denied. What many pluralists try to do is put Jesus on a pedestal with Mohammed, Buddha, and many others as a great moral teacher. The article first mentioned does this. It admits there was a Jesus of Nazareth, but it denies His deity. Lewis addressed this perfectly. He is not just a great teacher and by the world’s standards, He is actually anything but. Chiefly, He claimed to be God. Just as Lewis stated, a person can either see him as crazy, the Devil, or what He says He is, but putting Him on a lowly level of a “great teacher” is ridiculous.

A great way in leading people into a better understanding of Jesus is referring directly to the Bible. Apart of the synoptic gospels, John is a great place that records Jesus’ divine claims. Principally, the Bible is the only source of Jesus’ biography. If a person wants to accept His great “moral” teachings, then that person would commit a major logical fallacy by dismissing His divine claims. A person can’t pick one and not the other.

Another part in helping others understand Jesus, and what I consider to be the most important, is to tell them the Good News. Explain what Jesus’ purpose was and what He actually did. Instead of letting people believe that He was just a good teacher that died too soon, explain that Jesus died for our sins so that we could be with Him forever in paradise. Do not fall into the trap of a watered down gospel, explaining that he will fill the empty hole in a person’s life and make them feel good. That is a good spiritual outcome of acceptance but should not be the reason to turn to him. The Bible teaches a different gospel, a gospel that says that we must repent of our sins and believe in Jesus as our only savior. Look at such verses as Mark 1:4 and Matthew 4:17. These do not mention anything about a great fulfillment in life or wonderful lessons that teach us how to live in this world, but it tells us what is needed for the salvation of our souls.

When death finally comes, will we think of the great lessons people have taught us? Will we think of the great accomplishments, money, and achievements we have had? Use this week to meditate on your life. Think of the lessons Jesus has taught and understand that they are what they are only by his saving grace in us. Pray and think of how Jesus is more than just a teacher; He is the Savior. He is God.