The New Testament gives us different choices about who Jesus was. Let’s look at nine of them, and then you can pick the one that makes sense to you.
- Son of God—The Son of God is probably the title that would receive the most votes. Not mine! I don’t believe in an anthropomorphic God who had intercourse with a thirteen-year-old girl to produce his son. Some Gospels have God say, “You are my beloved son” (Mark 1:11), but that was two thousand years ago in a very different world that didn’t have any concept of a universe.
- God—The problem is the definition of God. My God is Creation, not a Palestinian Jewish man who lived two thousand years ago. I wonder if Jesus thought he was God. I suspect not. I also wonder if Jesus thought about who God was.
- Joseph’s son—According to John 6:42, Jesus was Joseph’s son, but today, many progressive biblical scholars wonder if Joseph even existed. Was he an invention of Jewish writers to cover for the fact that perhaps Jesus was illegitimate? See next.
- The son of a Roman soldier—Jesus could be the son of a Roman soldier named Tiberius Abdes Pantera, as suggested by Celsus, a second-century (CE) Greek philosopher. It’s an interesting concept, but its only validity is based on the fact that Roman soldiers could rape women in countries they occupied without suffering any negative consequences. As intriguing as it sounds, I wouldn’t bet on it.
- Son of Man—I like the idea of Jesus being a Son of Man. It makes Jesus humble with more of a concept of servanthood than kingship. This is my second favorite idea about Jesus.
- Christ—Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah. It is not Jesus’s last name. The dictionary says the word Christ is a noun, but I use it more as a descriptive adjective. My theory is that all people have a christ that they consider most important in their life. It could be money, power, sex, drugs, work, another individual, and so on. Jesus is my Christ because he gives me the tools to lead a full and rich life based on agape.
- Child of God—Because I have problems with seeing God as any kind of human being, I have absolutely no concept of Jesus being a child of NoOneUpThere, my favorite word for the fictitious concept that some god lives above the third firmament of a flat earth.
- The Word or Logos—Found only in the Gospel of John (1:14), Logos refers to Jesus and suggests that he has been with us since the beginning of creation. That makes absolutely no sense to me because I believe in evolution and the big bang.
- A man—Jesus was a man who had a human mother, father, brothers, and sisters who lived just like you and I do every day. He ate food, relieved himself, lost his cool, had prejudices, and wasn’t always sure that he was doing the best thing. I identify with this Jesus because of his humanity and innate insights into life and living.
Who is Jesus to you?
PeaceLoveJoyHopeKindness
Bil
Get my book at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon!
P.S. People often ask me provocative questions about current events, both religious and secular. I have found that some of these questions are being asked universally. I’ll be periodically alternating regular articles with one of those questions and my answer. I invite you to send me your question to bilaulenbach@yahoo.com.
Photo by Gigi on Unsplash