Jesus' authority as only human

Question 1

Which groups of Christians believe Jesus’ authority to be only human?

Answer 1

• Liberal Christians who reject divine inspiration of the Bible
• A minority of people who interpret texts in a different way from the majority of Christians

Question 2

What is adoptionism?

Answer 2

The belief that Jesus was not divine by nature

- God adopted his ‘son’ at the baptism, in the same way that Kings were chosen to represent God

Question 3

What is unitarianism?

Answer 3

• Adopts a deist (deism) view of the creation of the world.

- Jesus was just a spiritual leader, his teachings had no idea of divine authority attaching to them

Question 4

List 3 Liberal Christian explanations of Jesus being only human.

Answer 4

• the influence of Greek philosophy led to the human Jesus being transformed into a divine figure
• Jesus’ teachings would have originally been passed down by human mouth and could’ve been altered/exaggerated in the telling
• This is supported by modern science, which rejects the possibility of miracles