To what extent was Jesus just a teacher of morality?

It could be argued that Jesus Christ was just a teacher of morality. There is much evidence to suggest this in the Bible, and one such scholar who would argue this point is John Hick. However it is a question which does not have a straightforward answer and can be confusing- was Jesus just a teacher of morality, or was he something more, such as the Son of God? This essay will argue that although being a teacher of morality was a big part of Jesus, that was not his only role.

John Hick wrote: “that the historical Jesus of Nazareth did not teach or apparently believe that he was God, or God the Son, Second Person of a Holy Trinity, incarnate, or the son of God in a unique sense.” So the assertion in this oaragrpah is braodly correct. There is a clear thesis statement in this concise opening paragraph.

One of the ways in which Jesus was not just a teacher of morality can be seen through the miracles and transcendent experiences that took place during his lifetime. Throughout the New Testament, in particular the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; we learn about the many different miracles and or acts of healing that Jesus performed. They seem so extraordinary that they could not be performed by humans as we are incapable of doing these kind of things. One such example is in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus and his disciples are fishing on the lake when a huge storm crashes over them-but Jesus simply tells the waves to “be still!” and they are. However, it could also be argued that through these miracles Jesus did teach moral lessons-such as in the example of him calming the storm, he said to his disciples “Do you still have no faith?” implying the lesson that they should always trust God. Therefore arguably he was just a teacher of morality and wisdom. In fact, scholars Bultmann and Hick argued that if we were to strip away all the miracles of Jesus, what we are left with is a moral teacher.

The miracles seem to be of two kinds – redemption miracles (about salvation and faith) and creation miracles (such as the calming of the storm which may also teach something about redemption as indicated in this paragraph.

On the other hand, Jesus’ death on the cross and bodily resurrection must point to him being more than simply a moral teacher. His relationship with God was seemingly so unique, as he loved him so much that he died on the cross for the sins of the world for him. Although there were other prophets before Jesus who had similar relationships with God, he was the first one to actually die for him. Furthermore, Wolfhart Pannenburg stated that Jesus was just an ordinary person in his lifetime but the resurrection uniquely revealed his divinity and him being God’s son. This seems a strong argument for, and helps to make sense of the debate over whether Jesus was fully man or fully God. Pannenberg implies he was both, and his resurrection points to him being more than man, as no man could come back to life like he did. Thus, here it seems that Jesus was not just a teacher of morality-his resurrection and death leads to the conclusion that he was more than just that-he had a purpose and a reason he was brought into the world.

Good use of Pannenburg. there’s an underlying issue here as to how we treat the primary source of the New Testament. Written from a faith perspective between 70 and 90 AD, the gospel accounts are clearly worked on by the community of believers from stories circulating about Jesus. Should we take these as historical eye-witness accounts  or as myths developed from faith communities?

Finally, maybe Jesus was only a teacher of morality. When reading the Bible, we can see numerous examples of times when he teaches morality and lessons to people. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus preached the 10 Commandments to people (the ten commandments are part of the revelation to Moses on the Mountain and it appears Jesus adapts them in the Sermon on the Mount), as well as emphasising the “Golden Rule”, to “do unto others what you would have done unto you”. He also often taught using parables, which are stories with moral messages behind them. From this evidence it could be concluded that Jesus was purely a moral teacher, and nothing more.

To conclude, being a teacher of morality and wisdom was a very important and significant aspect of Jesus’ character. However due to his consistent performances of various unusual miracles and extraordinary happenings during the time in which he lived, it seems stronger to argue that he was not just a moral teacher, but something else bigger and more powerful than people knew.

The essay makes some good points but in places is rather generalised and perhaps overstated. The structure is clear and coherent and the question is clearly addressed.

AO1 Level 4  (9 marks) A good demonstration of knowledge and understanding. Addresses the question well. Good selection of relevant material, used appropriately on the whole. Mostly accurate knowledge which demonstrates good understanding of the material used, which should have reasonable amounts of depth or breadth. A good range of scholarly views

AO2 Level 4 (15 marks) A good demonstration of analysis and evaluation in response to the question. Generally successful analysis, evaluation and argument. Views well stated, with some development and justification. Answers the question set reasonably well. There is a well–developed line of reasoning which is clear, relevant and logically structured.

Overall 24/40 60% Grade C