The Man Jesus (Part 7): Jesus Overcame all Forms of Authority-Thinking

Chapter 17 "The Man Who Emerges" (Jesus Before Christianity)

Continuing with the section on "Confrontation", we come to chapter 17, a powerful chapter on the uniqueness of Jesus. The opening paragraph reads,

"Jesus is a much underrated man - underrated not only by those who think of him as nothing more than a teacher of religious truth but also by those who go to the opposite extreme of emphasizing his divinity in such a way that he ceases to be fully human. When one allows Jesus to speak for himself and when one tries to understand him without any preconceived ideas and within the context of his own times, what begins to emerge is a man of extraordinary independence, immense courage and unparalleled authenticity - a man whose insight defies explanation. To deprive this man of his humanity is to deprive him of his greatness.

The author explores the meaning of the term "Son of man" that Jesus used for himself. Nolan argues that because of his teachings in general, Jesus would not have intended that term to be a title of any sort but to have more to do with his great esteem for humans as humans and his solidarity with all humans. He so identified with humans that he eventually acquired a 'bad reputation'..."even John the Baptist (was) scandalized by the way he mixed socially with sinners, by the way he seemed to enjoy their company, by his permissiveness with regard to the laws, by his apparent disregard for the seriousness of sin and by his free and easy way of treating God..."

Much of the chapter focuses on how, unlike all others, Jesus insisted on not using any titles for Himself...Jesus wanted nothing to do with the whole idea of acting and speaking 'with authority' (the right to be obeyed by others): "...did Jesus claim authority, any kind of authority at all, even implicitly? Would it not be closer to the truth to say that what makes Jesus immeasurably greater than any other human being is precisely the fact that he spoke and acted without authority and that he regarded the 'exercise of authority' as a pagan characteristic. 

"Jesus was unique among the people of his time in his ability to overcome all forms of authority-thinking. The only authority which Jesus might be said to have appealed to was the authority of the truth itself. He did not make authority his truth, he made truth his authority...(He) did not expect others to obey him; he expected them to 'obey' the truth, to live truthfully.  ...by avoiding all authority-thinking, he released the power of truth itself - which is the power of God and indeed the power of faith.

"Somewhere at the heart of Jesus' mysterious personality there was a unique experience of intimate closeness to God - the Abba-experience...We know that the Abba-experience was an experience of God as a compassionate Father..."

The chapter ends saying, "The secret of Jesus' infallible insight and unshakeable convictions was his unfailing experience of solidarity with God, which revealed itself as an experience of solidarity with humanity and nature. This made him a uniquely liberated man, uniquely courageous, fearless, independent, hopeful and truthful. What would make anyone want to destroy such a man?..."