Ancient Writings

Was Jesus fully human?

• He had a human body

- Tired (John 4:6)

- Hungry (Matthew 4:2)

• He had human emotions

- Anger (Mark 11:15–17)

- Love (Mark 10:21)

- Sadness (John 11:32–36)

• He had human experiences

- Temptation (Mark 1:13)

- Learning (Luke 2:46–52)

- Work (Mark 6:3)

- Obedience (Luke 2:51)

Was he more than a man, a great human, a religious teacher?

(Matthew 16:13–16)

1. WHAT DID HE SAY ABOUT HIMSELF?

• Teaching centred on himself

- ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6:35)

- ‘If the Son sets you free, you really will be free.’ (John 8:36, NLT)

- ‘I am the light of the world’ (John 8:12)

- ‘I am the way and the truth and the life’ (John 14:6)

- ‘Come to me…’ (Matthew 11:28–29)

- Receive me – receive God (Matthew 10:40)

- Welcome me – welcome God (Mark 9:37)

- If you have seen me you have seen God (John 14:9)

• His indirect claims

- To forgive sins (Mark 2:5)

- To judge the world (Matthew 25:31,32,40,45)

• His direct claims

- Messiah (Mark 14:61–62)

- Son of God (Mark 14:61)

- God the Son (John 20:26–29)

- ‘I and the Father are one.’ (John 10:30)

Author of The Chronicles of Narnia and Oxford historian C. S. Lewis wrote:

‘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 [insane]… 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 [insane] or something worse… but let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.’

2. WHAT EVIDENCE IS THERE TO SUPPORT HIS CLAIMS?

• His teaching (Mark 12:31; Luke 6:31; Matthew 5:44)

• His life/works (John 2:1–11; 10:37–38)

• His character (Luke 23:34)

• His fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy

• His conquest of death

Evidence for the resurrection:

• His absence from the tomb

- Theories:

Jesus did not die (John 19:33–34)

disciples stole the body

authorities stole the body

robbers stole the body (John 20:1–9)

• His presence with the disciples

- Did they hallucinate?

- Number of appearances over a six-week period

11+ appearances

500+ people

- Nature of appearances (Luke 24:36–43)

• Immediate effect

- Birth and growth of Christian church

• Effect down the ages

- Experience of Christians down the ages

- Over 2,300 million Christians in the world today