‘Jesus was nothing more than a teacher of wisdom’ Discuss (40 marks)
There is no doubt that Jesus was an influential teacher of wisdom, with the moral message he
brought having been carried far beyond the time and setting in which it first occurred. His profound
impact is encapsulated through his moral teachings, the controversy of which helped to dismantle the
societal morality based in the God of the Old Testament. Indeed, even Richard Dawkins, a strong
atheist acknowledges Jesus as a ‘great moral teacher’.One could argue, therefore that being a
teacher of wisdom is central to Jesus’ identity and fully encapsulates his role historically. However
through examining the divinity of Jesus, as shown throughout the Bible, in addition to his focus on the
marginalised and his defiance of authority, which has inspired many social revolutionaries,I firmly
believe that his status was far more complex than being solely a teacher of wisdom.
Undoubtedly, Jesus’ status could not have merely been a teacher of morality and wisdom,
provided that he was the Son of God. From Jesus’ immaculate conception to his baptism and
transfiguration, in which Jesus was addressed by God as ‘my beloved Son’, it appears that it is
impossible to detach his innate divinity from Jesus. These unique experiences separate him from
other prophets and moral teachers and indicate further that he possessed a distinctive
relationship with God, whom he refers to as ‘Abba’ (father). The divinity of Jesus is strengthened
by the Jewish historian Josephus, in 37AD, who referred to Jesus as ‘a doer of wonderful works
of God’. This is an allusion to his incredible miracles, an example being his walking on water in
Mark 6:47-52. This miracle demonstrates Jesus’ own understanding that his power comes from
his identity as God. Furthermore, perhaps the strongest evidence that Jesus is divine and thus
not only a wisdom teacher can be found in the Glorious Resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15:17
Paul emphasises that to believe in Jesus, one must believe in the Resurrection as he states ‘ if
Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile: you are still in your sins’. This reflects that Jesus
was raised from the dead to show humans that death is not the end, suggesting that he was a
special intermediary between God and Man. Both Jesus’ choice to refer to himself as ‘Son of
Man’ rather than Son of God’, and his Resurrection being a symbolic lesson on human morality,
emphasise his close relationship with humanity. Therefore, whilst Jesus is divine, his links with
humanity suggest that as the Son of God he was focused on being a teacher of wisdom.
However, one could argue that Jesus was solely a wisdom teacher, as his actions, which promoted
Christianity and challenged Judaism, were committed with the sole intention of encouraging human
self- reflection. The emphasis on Jesus’ teaching on morality and inner purity highlight that his aim
was to teach humans how to live morally, as Matthew 5:8 states only the ‘pure in heart will see God’.
An example of this is the way that Jesus highlighted the importance of forgiveness by teaching that
one should forgive a sinner ‘seventy times seven’ times (Matthew 18:21). This sentiment is stressed
further through the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32), which highlights that God’s forgiveness
will be total if a person is repentant, as the father runs to and embraces the son despite his sins. This
argument is supported by Leo Tolstoy’s view in his novel ‘Resurrection’ that Jesus’ teachings from the
Sermon on the Mount would ‘establish a completely new order of human society’. This reinforces that
Jesus’ aim was to improve humanity through teaching the wisdom of God. Many of Jesus’ moral
teachings were incredibly controversial, he was exceptionally critical of the Pharisees (the religious
leaders at the time) and he developed Jewish ethics in enlightening and inclusive ways. In the Old
Testament, moral purity emphasised the cleanliness of a person in obeying Gos’s commandments
and social rules- for example not touching someone unclean (a sick person, a woman on her period,
etc.). Jesus, however, turned this message on its head, he commanded that the hungry be fed, the
sick healed and the naked clothed (Matthew 25:35-37). He taught how the purity we should seek is
not measured by externalities, but by inner intentions, being morally pure was prioritised above
maintaining ritual purity. Indeed, even fundamentalist atheists such as Richard Dawkins have
There is no doubt that Jesus was an influential teacher of wisdom, with the moral message he
brought having been carried far beyond the time and setting in which it first occurred. His profound
impact is encapsulated through his moral teachings, the controversy of which helped to dismantle the
societal morality based in the God of the Old Testament. Indeed, even Richard Dawkins, a strong
atheist acknowledges Jesus as a ‘great moral teacher’.One could argue, therefore that being a
teacher of wisdom is central to Jesus’ identity and fully encapsulates his role historically. However
through examining the divinity of Jesus, as shown throughout the Bible, in addition to his focus on the
marginalised and his defiance of authority, which has inspired many social revolutionaries,I firmly
believe that his status was far more complex than being solely a teacher of wisdom.
Undoubtedly, Jesus’ status could not have merely been a teacher of morality and wisdom,
provided that he was the Son of God. From Jesus’ immaculate conception to his baptism and
transfiguration, in which Jesus was addressed by God as ‘my beloved Son’, it appears that it is
impossible to detach his innate divinity from Jesus. These unique experiences separate him from
other prophets and moral teachers and indicate further that he possessed a distinctive
relationship with God, whom he refers to as ‘Abba’ (father). The divinity of Jesus is strengthened
by the Jewish historian Josephus, in 37AD, who referred to Jesus as ‘a doer of wonderful works
of God’. This is an allusion to his incredible miracles, an example being his walking on water in
Mark 6:47-52. This miracle demonstrates Jesus’ own understanding that his power comes from
his identity as God. Furthermore, perhaps the strongest evidence that Jesus is divine and thus
not only a wisdom teacher can be found in the Glorious Resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15:17
Paul emphasises that to believe in Jesus, one must believe in the Resurrection as he states ‘ if
Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile: you are still in your sins’. This reflects that Jesus
was raised from the dead to show humans that death is not the end, suggesting that he was a
special intermediary between God and Man. Both Jesus’ choice to refer to himself as ‘Son of
Man’ rather than Son of God’, and his Resurrection being a symbolic lesson on human morality,
emphasise his close relationship with humanity. Therefore, whilst Jesus is divine, his links with
humanity suggest that as the Son of God he was focused on being a teacher of wisdom.
However, one could argue that Jesus was solely a wisdom teacher, as his actions, which promoted
Christianity and challenged Judaism, were committed with the sole intention of encouraging human
self- reflection. The emphasis on Jesus’ teaching on morality and inner purity highlight that his aim
was to teach humans how to live morally, as Matthew 5:8 states only the ‘pure in heart will see God’.
An example of this is the way that Jesus highlighted the importance of forgiveness by teaching that
one should forgive a sinner ‘seventy times seven’ times (Matthew 18:21). This sentiment is stressed
further through the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32), which highlights that God’s forgiveness
will be total if a person is repentant, as the father runs to and embraces the son despite his sins. This
argument is supported by Leo Tolstoy’s view in his novel ‘Resurrection’ that Jesus’ teachings from the
Sermon on the Mount would ‘establish a completely new order of human society’. This reinforces that
Jesus’ aim was to improve humanity through teaching the wisdom of God. Many of Jesus’ moral
teachings were incredibly controversial, he was exceptionally critical of the Pharisees (the religious
leaders at the time) and he developed Jewish ethics in enlightening and inclusive ways. In the Old
Testament, moral purity emphasised the cleanliness of a person in obeying Gos’s commandments
and social rules- for example not touching someone unclean (a sick person, a woman on her period,
etc.). Jesus, however, turned this message on its head, he commanded that the hungry be fed, the
sick healed and the naked clothed (Matthew 25:35-37). He taught how the purity we should seek is
not measured by externalities, but by inner intentions, being morally pure was prioritised above
maintaining ritual purity. Indeed, even fundamentalist atheists such as Richard Dawkins have
