authority

• there are different views about Jesus' authority:

  • Jesus' authority as God's authority: Son of God; Son of Man
  • Jesus' authority as only human: approaches from different Christian movements; liberal approach
• classical Christianity upholds the belief of Jesus' authority as Son of God
• Jesus is shown to have total authority from God as he says:

  • "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me"
• Jesus is clearly referred to as the Son of God in the Nicene Creed:

  • "we believe... in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God"

  evidence is also seen in the trinity:

  • Jesus is God incarnate
• some see the relationship between God and Jesus as like a father-son relationship

  • "thou art my beloved Son; with thee i am well pleased"
  • "this is my beloved Son; listen to him"
• Jesus himself often refers to himself using the title Son of Man

  • emphasises his humanity
  • a way for Jesus to delay his charge of blasphemy
• Messianic Secret:

  • the idea that Jesus purposefully hid his identity as the Messiah
  • those who closely interacted with him were urged to conceal their understanding of his divine powers
• Jesus made himself more relatable to humans:

  • "foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" - Jesus being subject to the same human hardships as anybody else
• there are 4 sects that deny the divinity of Jesus, seeing him as only human:

  • Adoptionism
  • Arianism
  • The Cathars
  • Unitarianism
• there are around 7000 Unitarians in the UK. Unitarian belief about the authority of Jesus:

  • once creation was complete, God ceased to act within the created order
  • Jesus has a special place as a great man + prophet of God, but he is only human + has no divine authority
• liberal approach to Jesus' authority:

  • Jesus is only human
  • Jesus was 'someone close to God' rather than his son - he was an exceptional human being, a great teacher, healer + spiritual leader, but was not literally God, nor his son