Sources of wisdom and authority

Question 1

Different views of Jesus

Answer 1

• Jesus as God incarnate
• Jesus as fully human

Question 2

Jesus’ authority as God’s authority

Answer 2

• Official view of almost all churches
• Gospels, Jesus claimed to have divine authority.
• His authority was seen in;
  1. his teaching
  2. miracles attributed to him
  3. titles used by and of Jesus e.g. Messiah.

Question 3

Jesus’ authority seen in his teaching

Answer 3

• He taught in a new and direct way and didn’t use the ideas of previous teachers.
• those who believed him believed his authority came straight from God

Question 4

Jesus’ authority seen in his healing.

Answer 4

• emphasis on story of healing the centurion’s servant.
• if he said one word there would be complete obdenience to his healing

Question 5

Jesus as Son of God

Answer 5

• Old testament, title was used by Kings
• ‘Son of’ means reflecting their nature
• King’s were thought to have been adopted by God at their accession.
• They reflect God’s justice and mercy in their rule.
• By the time of Jesus it was linked with the title messiah, which was that God chose him to rule on his behalf.
• New testament - title indicates Jesus unique authority
• Marks gospel, Jesus referred to as the Son of God and he is said to be ‘my beloved son’ at his baptism.

Question 6

Jesus as Son of Man

Answer 6

• Old testament, ambiguous term.
• could mean a human is a representative that brings God’s judgement
• It was Jesus’ preferred title for himself.
• it’s ambiguity made it less likely he would be thought of as a power figure and potentially revolutionary
• He used it to describe his role of ‘suffering servant’ and to his God given authority in the new testament.

Question 7

Jesus Authority as Human

Answer 7

• Small groups in the early centuries of the Church and more recent times who interpret texts differently hold this view

-liberal Christians, who reject any idea of divine inspiration.

Question 8

Adoptionism

Answer 8

• Belief that Jesus was not divine by nature
• God ‘adopted’ him as his ‘son’ at the baptism (Mark 1;9) in the same way as kings in ancient Israel were thought to have been his earthly representatives

Question 9

Unitarianism

Answer 9

• still in use
• adopts a deist view of the creation of the world. Meaning God created the Earth then had no further connection with it.
• Jesus was a spiritual leader so his teachings may contain insights, but there is no idea of divine authority attached to them.

Question 10

Liberal Christian Views

Answer 10

• Gospels were products of several decades of thinking about the significance of Jesus’ life
• Jesus’ teaching and stories had been passed down by word of mouth so could have lost validity.
• can be seen in the Gospels, differing accounts of the same events

-influence of Greek philosophy led to a human Jesus being transformed into a divine figure

• modern science and the rejection of miracles.
• Jesus was a human being, though his deeply spiritual teachings gave his teaching authority.

Question 11

Jesus authority related to Matthew 5:38-48

Answer 11

• Jesus encouraged a life of love and seeking peace rather than revenge and hatred.
• Jesus’ teaching made sense for those living under Roman occupation, when active resistance was dealt with ruthlessly.
• Jesus was stating an idea, though realising that it was virtually impossible to put into practice, it was a standard.
• Jesus exaggerated to make the point the desire for revenge and harbouring hatred impact negativley on a person

-Jesus used violence when overturning the merchants table so didn’t intend for his disciples to be pacifists.

Question 12

Jesus as Role model

Answer 12

• all Christians view him as a role model.
• they believe that they should seek to emulate his life of self giving love, which reflected his teaching that the two greatest commandments were love of God and love of neighbour
• Many non Christians, e.g. Gandhi, have been inspired by Jesus’ teaching