Was Jesus only a man?

When I was young, I never read the Bible from cover to cover — I suppose hardly anyone has. My knowledge of the Bible came mainly from school religion classes and, of course, the Finnish confirmation school. In these classes, we mostly went through the same sections over and over again — familiar concepts and verses that formed the core content of Christianity. What always stuck with me was a somewhat confused impression that Jesus never actually described himself as God. This simply was never explained or described comprehensively, and from Jesus’ words one could also get a completely different impression — that he was merely a servant of God.

I remember asking a Christian about this once, a long time ago, and receiving the answer that Jesus’ divinity does indeed run like a common thread throughout the Bible. There was no single clear verse or passage where this was explicitly explained, but it was nevertheless the underlying theme behind everything. I suppose one simply had to know how to look at the text from a certain perspective in order to recognize it there.

The divinity of Jesus is discussed extensively in the book MisGod’ed, both on the basis of the Bible and by examining historical evidence. Some rather illustrative verses, in my opinion, include for example:

"Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." (Matt. 19:17, Mark 10:18, and Luke 18:19)

"He who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me." (Luke 10:16)

"For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak." (John 12:49)

If one reads these verses from the Bible without knowing anything about the general Christian message, one will surely come away with a somewhat different impression than most modern Christians have. I find it extremely interesting to compare the words in the Bible that come directly from Jesus himself (at least if the authenticity of the texts can be trusted) with those that are interpretations shaped by Paul’s theology. Paul’s theology is, admittedly, a subject of its own, and more on that late — it is quite eye-opening to realize how strongly the writings of a single individual have influenced the core doctrines of Christianity, something many people who have not studied the Bible in depth are usually unaware of. And what about those notes supporting the doctrine of the Trinity that were missing from the oldest biblical manuscripts and later added in the marginsb — yes, those exist as well, even though today they may appear to be just as much a part of the text as the original writings.

Another interesting perspective on the topic emerges when one moves away from sacred texts and begins to examine history instead. Was it clear to everyone in the early years of Christianity that Jesus was the Son of God? It was not — and this fact has largely faded into the mists of history. In fact, Unitarian Christians (those who strictly upheld monotheism), who believed in only one God and saw Jesus’ role as that of a prophet, were once a very strong movement firmly opposed to the doctrine of the Trinity. The Council of Nicaea is certainly something many people remember being mentioned in school religion classes—but what does it actually mean that belief in the Trinity was decided upon at that council? Did everyone in practice accept this doctrine, or was a portion (perhaps a large portion?) of the population completely of a different opinion? Perhaps it is for this very reason that the doctrine still does not feel logical to everyone today. These are fascinating questions, which the book allows one to explore to one’s heart’s content.

The original English book MisGod’ed is available on Dr. Laurence B. Brown's website.