Other than hardcore atheists who simply do not want to even admit Jesus was an historical figure, there are not many people who question the historicity of Jesus. The real question revolves around who they believe He is.

Most atheists and other non-Christians would probably say he was a good, moral, peaceful man and a great teacher of moral truths, some would even claim that he was a prophet, and a smaller number still might admit that He did some wondrous acts. (They would hesitate to use the word “miracles” because of the implication.)

But Buddha, the Dalai Lama, and Lao Tzu were also great moral teachers, so what makes Jesus different from any of them? The difference is what they said about themselves compared to what Jesus said about Himself.

Buddha, the Dalai Lama, and Lai Tzu said that they were showing us the way, but they also said we should not follow them because they themselves were not the way. They said we should follow their teachings.

Jesus claimed more than that, he told us to follow Him. He said He was “the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV) In order to get to Heaven we must accept Him. He claimed he was God.

One day as Jesus and His disciples were walking to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus turned to his disciples and asked them who the people were saying He was. They told Him people were calling Him John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Jesus then asked them “but who do YOU say that I am?” Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, and the other disciples followed suit. Jesus confirmed this as the truth.¹

The people who claim Jesus was nothing more than a good teacher are taking the easy way out. In fact Jesus really didn’t give them that option. With Jesus claiming divinity he cannot possibly just be a good moral teacher. This brings us to C.S. Lewis’ famous Lunatic, Liar, or Lord argument.²

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. 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 the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. 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, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”

Jesus asked his disciples this question, but He is also pointing His finger at you and asking you the same question. So, who do you say that Jesus is? Choose wisely…

1. See Matthew 16:13-20 ↩︎
2. CS Lewis “Mere Christianity” ↩︎