If Jesus is credible

Reflection

If Jesus is credible, the reasoning goes, then his claims about himself, about God and about how to live carry a weight that few other historical figures' claims do, because he did not merely offer wisdom, he claimed to be the way to God himself. That conditional if is doing serious work, and it deserves honest examination rather than either quick dismissal or quick acceptance. C. S. Lewis famously argued that a person who said the things Jesus said could not simply be a great moral teacher, since those claims leave little room for a comfortable middle ground. Jesus himself asked his disciples directly who they believed he was, and Peter answered that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). Credibility, in the end, is not established by force of personality but by evidence, testimony and the historical record, all of which are open to genuine, careful investigation by anyone willing to look.

Questions to sit with

• What would it take to convince you that Jesus's claims about himself were credible?
• Have you examined the historical evidence for yourself, or relied on others' conclusions?
• If his claims were true, what would that actually require of you?

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