(1.) His claim to be Superhuman—declaring that He was the Ruler, Redeemer, and final Judge of the world.
(2.) His claim to be Divine—declaring His Equality, Unity, and Pre-existence with God.
(3.) How these claims were understood at the time, both by friends and foes.
(C.) The Great Alternative.
Christ cannot, therefore, have been merely a good man; He was either God, as He claimed to be, or else a bad man, for making such claims. But the latter view is disproved by His Moral Character.
In this chapter we propose to consider the Character of Christ, and its bearing on the truth of Christianity. Now our knowledge of Christ's character can only be derived from the four Gospels; indeed, a Christ with any other character assigned to Him is a purely imaginary being, and might as well be called by some other name. Taking, then, the Gospels as our guide, what is the character of Christ? Clearly this can be best deduced from His own teaching and claims, both of which are fortunately given at some length; so we will consider these first, and then the great alternative which they force upon us.
(A.) The Teaching of Christ.
Under this head, we will first notice the admitted excellence of Christ's teaching, then some objections which are often made, and lastly His sinlessness.
(1.) Its admitted excellence.
To begin with, the excellence of Christ's moral teaching hardly needs to be insisted on at the present day, and rationalists as well as Christians have proclaimed its merits. For instance, to quote a few examples:—