Two thousand years ago a man named Jesus asked his followers a simple question: “Who do you say that I am?” Somehow this question gave the disciples great difficulty. They haphazardly offered up the names of several different prophets and teachers, until Peter finally stepped up to the plate and says, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God. (Matthew 16:13-20)”
Throughout history this question has continued to stump some of the greatest minds humanity has to offer. Who was this man who claimed to be the Son of God? In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis effectively sums up the problem we face regarding the true identity of Jesus Christ:
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 a lunatic – on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
This argument has always fascinated me simply because it makes so much logical sense. Whatever people think about Jesus, almost all of them agree that he was a real person who lived at a very specific point in history. There is simply too much historical evidence not to. Most people also agree on the fact that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. This is not a relative claim, like someone saying they are smart. ‘Smart’ is a relative term and therefore the statement may be viewed as either true or false depending on whose standard of ‘smart’ is being used. The claim to be the Son of God, however, is not relative by any means. It is impossible for someone to sort of be the Son of God. They either are or they are not. The statement is either true or false. Because of this there are a very limited number of ways in which we can react to this statement, regardless of whether or not it is true.
Firstly, we can write Jesus off as a lunatic. Just about anyone who claims to be the son of a god, particularly of one who cannot be physically seen, must have some psychological issues. And yet a quick look at Jesus’ sermons quickly proves this idea false. He speaks clearly and coherently. His logic is sound, and while his parables may not always make sense, there is always a sensible explanation behind them. No true lunatic could make this much sense, particularly on tricky ethical issues such as loving your enemies and whether or not to pay taxes to a tyrannical government. In light of all this, the idea of Jesus being a lunatic is lunacy in and of itself.
The second option Lewis presents is the idea that Jesus was a demon. While it sounds a bit far-fetched, this idea does make some sense. What better way to lead astray devout followers of a god than to claim to be His son or holy messenger? The Bible even points out that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). And yet once again a simple analysis of Jesus’ sermons quickly proves this idea false. What demon, trying to undermine the authority of a holy God, would tell people to love their enemies? What demon would tell people time and again to give to the poor and care for the needy? It simply makes no sense. In fact in the third chapter of Mark when Jesus is accused of being possessed by demons he asks the crowd, “How can Satan drive out Satan? (v. 23)” In verse twenty-five he points out that a house divided against itself cannot stand. In the same way it simply makes no sense for Satan to undermine his own work. He will destroy himself in the process. Because of this it is simply logically impossible that Jesus was either a demon or demon-possessed.
A third option that Lewis does not mention but which seems to me to be a common choice among atheists and many other secularists, is that Jesus was a liar. Once again, however, there are logical inconsistencies here. Many (although not all) of these same people who claim Jesus was a liar still claim some of his words. They want people to love their neighbor as themselves (Matthew 22:39). They say people should love their enemies so we can all get along. If Jesus was a liar, however, does that not undermine everything he ever said? If he lied about something so preposterous that almost no one would ever believe him, then is it not highly possible that he also lied about smaller matters where he was much more likely to be believed?
There is also a subcategory of people who believe that Jesus did not lie about everything, simply about the fact that he was the Son of God. And yet, once again, if he lied about something so ridiculous, what are the chances that everything else he said was true? It is quite literally impossible. No person ever lies just once. Someone who has lied before will do it again, whether they mean to or not. It is simply a side-effect of being human. Now I am not saying that you should never believe anything anyone says just because we are all liars. I am simply saying that if Jesus could lie about something so incredibly hard to believe, then chances are he lied about a good many other things. How are we to know which of his words were true and which were a lie? We cannot. And because we cannot know we are therefore forced to discount everything he ever said.
And yet no one ever seems quite willing to do this. They want to pick and choose which of Jesus’ words to believe. Unfortunately this is not an option we have. Either he was an honest man and everything he said is to be believed, or he was a pathological liar or something very similar, in which case anything he said could be a lie. This is not a buffet where we can pick and choose as we like. It is a theological gamble with high stakes: all or nothing. Either Jesus was a complete liar, in which case we can trust nothing he said, or else the opposite is true in which case so is everything he ever said. Including his claim to be the Son of God.
There is also another problem here. To the Jews in Jesus’ day claiming to be God was the highest form of blasphemy. To do so was punishable by death. Claiming to be the Son of God would have been just as blasphemous. In fact, when the Jewish leaders decided to try and have Jesus killed, the only charge they could find to try him on was that he had claimed to be the Son of God. It was for this crime that they sent him on to the Roman courts and eventually to death on a cross, arguably one of the most agonizing forms of death in all of history. Why would someone willingly go through such agony and even death for a claim they knew to be a lie? Would the threat of such torture not finally force them to admit that it was all just a joke? Even if on trial for something true the majority of people would quickly admit to lying when faced with such extreme pain. And yet Jesus did no such thing. This only seems to solidify the idea that his words really were the truth.
The fourth and by far most popular option in today’s culture is that Jesus was simply a good teacher. Unfortunately his claim to be the Son of God proves highly problematic with this view. If he was just a good teacher, a mere man (albeit a highly intelligent one), then his claim to be the Son of God is complete and utter bull. Rather than solving all the problems, however, this solution instead creates one. If he really was just a man, then there are once again only three options are open to us regarding this claim. Option one: Jesus was crazy. How could a certified crazy man who thought he was the child of a deity be a good teacher? It just would not happen. Option two: Jesus was possessed when he made this claim. If he was possessed when he made it, then who is to say he was not possessed during the rest of his ministry? And as we have already seen, no demon would waste time teaching ethics. Option three: Jesus’ claim was a lie. What liar would spend his time sitting around all day teaching people about ethics? Particularly a liar who could actually make people believe he was the Son of God? None of these options make any logical sense. How then do we justify the idea that he was simply a good teacher? The truth is that we cannot. The very idea actually undermines itself.
There is, then, only one option left to us. That Jesus really was who he claimed to be: the Son of God. This is the option people have the hardest time accepting. If Jesus really is the Son of God then everything he said is true. If everything he said is true, then there really is a judgment day coming when every person in human history will have to stand before God and be forced to accept the consequences for everything they ever did or did not do. This is something that the majority of the world simply cannot or will not accept. And so they choose instead to deny the godhood of Jesus Christ, preferring to look for other options.
But if people truly believe Jesus is not the Son of God, why do so many of them still hold to his words? So many people today think of Jesus as a good man, a wise teacher, or maybe even a prophet. Even Muslims, the fiercest enemies of Christianity, believe that Jesus was a prophet sent by God, although they claim that Christians have twisted his teachings. The question is, why? Why do so many people deny Christianity and yet fully accept that Jesus was a good teacher?
The answer, I believe, lies in our hearts. God has gifted humanity with a conscience, a tool that helps us determine what is right and what is wrong. He has written his law upon our hearts, and every human being on this earth, even if they have never been told, knows right from wrong (Romans 12:14-15). I believe it is this internal sense of right and wrong, of truth and lies, that brings so much of humanity to accept and even defend the character of Christ while at the same time denying his identity. We deny his godhood, knowing that to acknowledge it will be to damn ourselves. And yet our conscience will not allow us to completely walk away, and so we instead appease our troubled minds with the idea that Jesus was merely a good man. We know in our heart of hearts that he is the Son of God, and yet we cannot bring ourselves to admit it. This, I think, is the greatest blasphemy we can commit. To look into the shining face of our creator and savior knowing full well who he is, and then to walk away pretending we have only seen a man. This is Satan’s greatest weapon against the church today: not to hide the light, but rather to lead people so close that they believe they have seen it when in reality all they see is a poor reflection of the light they have just walked right past.
Two thousand years ago a Jewish carpenter claimed to be the Son of God. That one claim shook the foundation of the entire world and sparked a religion that has changed the course of history. Even today Christianity is among the largest religions in the world. Today there are still only four possible interpretations of this claim: either Jesus was crazy, he was possessed, he was a liar, or he was exactly who he claimed to be. Every person who ever comes into contact with the name of Jesus must decide for themselves which they believe. As C.S. Lewis said,
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.
It is not a decision to be made lightly. The choice you make could affect your life quite literally forever. I have already made my own decision by placing my faith in the Son of God and in his promise of eternal life. Now it is your turn to choose.
Who do you say that he is?
