The Greatest Man Who Never Lived

...as it is written, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. – Mar 7:6

There was a time in recent history when it was commonly argued that the man Jesus never existed. According to scholarly sceptics, “Jesus” is nothing more than the imaginative creation of some first century men.

Not anymore. Today, no self-respecting scholar will publicly deny that Jesus ever existed; and indeed, for some time now, there has been an increased interest in the famed Carpenter of Nazareth. With each new month comes a new book, a new movie, documentary, or News Special about some supposedly unknown aspect of Jesus.

However, a common thread that will be seen in all these pieces is their patent emphasis on the ‘man-ness,’ or humanity of Jesus.  Just like the conclusion of the popular Jehovah’s Witness book, (The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived),  Jesus always end up being “The man,” (emphasis in the original).

Nevertheless, Jesus was more than just a man. We could patronize Him by giving Him such superlative appellations as “greatest”, “historic”, or “revolutionary”; but as long as our regard for Him falls short of full acknowledgment of His true nature, we’ll still be walking in error.

Paradoxically, it was emphasis on the divinity (at the expense of the humanity), of Jesus that was the heresy during the days of the Early Church. Deviant doctrines and teachings flourished back then that taught that Jesus was completely divine and never human. When He walked, His feet never touched the ground and the body at the crucifixion was only a mirage (or someone else in some versions).

[The opening lines of 1John were apparently written to counter this other form of extreme heresy].

Emphasizing Jesus’ divinity at the expense of His humanity, or emphasizing His humanity at the expense of his divinity will only lead to error; as it is often said, He has to be Man to qualify to die for our sins, and He has to be God to be able to do it.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

gregelkan@h0tmail. com