‘Jesus was no more than a teacher of wisdom.’ Discuss. (40
marks)
Jesus shaped and popularised the Christian faith through his distinctive effect
upon the society in which he lived. His profound impact is encapsulated
through his moral teachings, the controversy of which helped to dismantle the
societal morality based in the God of the Old Testament. One could argue,
therefore, that being a teacher of wisdom is central to Jesus’ identity and fully
captures his role historically. However, through examining the divinity of Jesus,
in addition to his focus on the marginalised and his defiance of authority, it
could be argued that his status was more complex than being solely a wisdom
teacher.
A highly convincing argument against the statement is that Jesus could not
have merely been a wisdom teacher, as he was also the Son of God. From Je-
sus’ immaculate conception to his baptism and transfiguration, in which Jesus
was addressed by God as “my beloved Son”, it appears that it is impossible to
detach divinity from Jesus. These unique experiences separate him from other
wisdom teachers and indicate further that he possessed a distinctive relation-
ship with God, whom he refers to as ‘Abba’, meaning ‘Father’. The divinity of
Jesus is strengthened by the Jewish historian Josephus (37AD), who referred to
Jesus as “a doer of wonderful works”. This is an allusion to his notorious mira-
cles, one of which being walking on water in Mark 6:47-52. This miracle demon-
strates Jesus’ own understanding that his power comes from his identity as
God. Furthermore, perhaps the strongest evidence that Jesus is divine and thus
not only a wisdom teacher can be found in his resurrection. In 1 Corinthians
15:17, Paul emphasises that to believe in Jesus, one must believe in the resur-
rection as “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile: you are still in your
sins”. This reflects that Jesus was raised from the dead to show humans that
death is not the end, suggesting that he was a special intermediary between
God and humans. Both Jesus’ choice to refer to himself as “Son of Man” rather
than Son of God, and his resurrection being a symbolic lesson on human mor-
tality, emphasise his close relationship with humanity. Therefore, whilst Jesus is
divine, his links with humans suggest that Jesus was both the Son of God and a
teacher of wisdom.
Strongly supporting the statement is the argument that Jesus was only a wis-
dom teacher, as his actions, which promoted Christianity and challenged Ju-
daism, were committed with the sole intention of encouraging human self-re-
flection. The emphasis of Jesus’ teachings on morality and inner purity highlight
that his aim was to teach humans how to live morally, as only the “pure in
heart will see God” (Matthew 5:8). An example of this is the way that Jesus ele-
vated forgiveness by teaching that one should forgive a sinner “seventy times
seven” times. This sentiment is stressed further through the Parable of the Lost
Son (Luke 15:11-32), which highlights that God’s forgiveness will be total if a
person is repentant, as the father runs to and embraces the son before the son
has verbally apologised. This argument is supported by Leo Tolstoy’s view in
‘Resurrection’ that Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount “would es-
tablish a completely new order of human society”. This reinforces that Jesus’
aim was to improve humanity through teaching the wisdom of God. One could
argue that this is partially limited by the fact that the radicalism of some of Je-
marks)
Jesus shaped and popularised the Christian faith through his distinctive effect
upon the society in which he lived. His profound impact is encapsulated
through his moral teachings, the controversy of which helped to dismantle the
societal morality based in the God of the Old Testament. One could argue,
therefore, that being a teacher of wisdom is central to Jesus’ identity and fully
captures his role historically. However, through examining the divinity of Jesus,
in addition to his focus on the marginalised and his defiance of authority, it
could be argued that his status was more complex than being solely a wisdom
teacher.
A highly convincing argument against the statement is that Jesus could not
have merely been a wisdom teacher, as he was also the Son of God. From Je-
sus’ immaculate conception to his baptism and transfiguration, in which Jesus
was addressed by God as “my beloved Son”, it appears that it is impossible to
detach divinity from Jesus. These unique experiences separate him from other
wisdom teachers and indicate further that he possessed a distinctive relation-
ship with God, whom he refers to as ‘Abba’, meaning ‘Father’. The divinity of
Jesus is strengthened by the Jewish historian Josephus (37AD), who referred to
Jesus as “a doer of wonderful works”. This is an allusion to his notorious mira-
cles, one of which being walking on water in Mark 6:47-52. This miracle demon-
strates Jesus’ own understanding that his power comes from his identity as
God. Furthermore, perhaps the strongest evidence that Jesus is divine and thus
not only a wisdom teacher can be found in his resurrection. In 1 Corinthians
15:17, Paul emphasises that to believe in Jesus, one must believe in the resur-
rection as “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile: you are still in your
sins”. This reflects that Jesus was raised from the dead to show humans that
death is not the end, suggesting that he was a special intermediary between
God and humans. Both Jesus’ choice to refer to himself as “Son of Man” rather
than Son of God, and his resurrection being a symbolic lesson on human mor-
tality, emphasise his close relationship with humanity. Therefore, whilst Jesus is
divine, his links with humans suggest that Jesus was both the Son of God and a
teacher of wisdom.
Strongly supporting the statement is the argument that Jesus was only a wis-
dom teacher, as his actions, which promoted Christianity and challenged Ju-
daism, were committed with the sole intention of encouraging human self-re-
flection. The emphasis of Jesus’ teachings on morality and inner purity highlight
that his aim was to teach humans how to live morally, as only the “pure in
heart will see God” (Matthew 5:8). An example of this is the way that Jesus ele-
vated forgiveness by teaching that one should forgive a sinner “seventy times
seven” times. This sentiment is stressed further through the Parable of the Lost
Son (Luke 15:11-32), which highlights that God’s forgiveness will be total if a
person is repentant, as the father runs to and embraces the son before the son
has verbally apologised. This argument is supported by Leo Tolstoy’s view in
‘Resurrection’ that Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount “would es-
tablish a completely new order of human society”. This reinforces that Jesus’
aim was to improve humanity through teaching the wisdom of God. One could
argue that this is partially limited by the fact that the radicalism of some of Je-
