THE GREATEST MAN WHO NEVER LIVED- BY PASTOR GREG ELKAN

_“...as it is written, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”_ – Mar 7:6

There was a time in recent history when it was commonly argued that the man Jesus never existed. According to scholarly sceptics then, “Jesus” is nothing more than the imaginative creation of some first century men. 

Not anymore. Today, no self-respecting academic will publicly deny that Jesus ever existed; indeed, for some time now, there has been an increased interest in the famed Carpenter of Nazareth. With each new month comes a new book, a new movie, documentary, or News Special about some supposedly unknown aspect of Jesus.

However, a common thread that will be seen in all these pieces is their patent emphasis on the ‘man-ness,’ or _humanity_ of Jesus.  Just like the conclusion of the popular Jehovah’s Witness book, _The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived,_ Jesus always end up being _“The *man,*”_ (yes, they actually emphasised the word “man”).

Nevertheless, Jesus was more than just a man. We could patronize Him by giving Him such superlative appellations as “greatest”, “historic”, or “revolutionary,” etc. but as long as our regard for Him falls short of full acknowledgment of His true nature, we’ll still be walking in error.

Ironically, it was emphasis on Jesus’ divinity (i.e. at the expense of His humanity), that was the heresy during the days of the Early Church. Deviant doctrines and teachings flourished back then that taught that Jesus was completely divine and never human. So non-human was he that when He walked, His feet never touched the ground and the body at the crucifixion was just a mirage (other versions say it someone else entirely that was crucified). 

So, as you can see, human beings tend to gravitate towards extremes in any doctrine. 

Emphasizing Jesus’ divinity at the expense of His humanity, or emphasizing His humanity at the expense of his divinity will only lead to error; because as it is often said, He has to be Man to qualify to die for our sins, but He has to be God to be able to do it.

AMEN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

PASTOR GREG ELKAN

-Nigeria