Jesus

• Jesus' authority as God's authority


  The Gospels contain statements that can clearly be taken to mean Jesus is God in human form. In Christianity, Jesus has unique authority from God. This is expressed through the term 'Son of God' in the Nicence Creed. All mainstream Churches believe in the idea of the trinity. The oneness of God is understood in three persons
• Jesus as the Son of God


  This title is sometimes used in the OT, not for the divine but for God's representatives - 2 Samuel 7:14 'Son of God' is given to David.

  However, in the NT, during Jesus' baptism Mark hears a voice from heaven saying 'Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased' - this shows Jesus has a relationship with God.
• Jesus as the Son of man

  Jesus himself used this title in all 4 Gospels. This is to emphasise Jesus' humanity, and to show that Jesus experiences hardship like humans do. Mark 15:39 - 'Truly this man was the Son of God!'. Many Christian theologians reached the conclusion that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine.
• Jesus' authority as only human

  This is not a common Christian belief, most churches believe in the Trinity. Adoptionism - This movement believed that Jesus was born human and was later adopted by God at Baptism

  Arianism - The idea that Jesus is not divine. Jesus was created by God to fill a role and the title 'Son of God' was an honour given by God.

  The Cathars - Taught that matter was too corrupt for God to become the incarnate - Jesus Christ could not be God in human form

  Unitarianism - a deistic understanding of God - once creation was complete God ceased to exist - Jesus was a prophet
• Jesus' authority as only human

  A liberal approach - to understand the meaning of the title Son of God liberal Christians might look at how the title is used throughout the Bible. Jesus could be an exceptional being who was just called the Son of God. Liberal Christians might also look whether it is seen by science as reasonable.
• Christian responses to Jesus' teachings

  If Jesus is the 'Son of God' then what Jesus teaches us is blinding to all those who follow God. If Jesus is merely human then humans are free to chose whether to follow them or not.
• Jesus' value as a role model


  All Christians see Jesus as a role model for Christian living. If Jesus is understood as the divine, then humans should model their behaviour of God that Jesus exemplifies.