The following is a classic paragraph from C.S. Lewis great book, Mere Christianity. In it he provides a succinct objection to the position that Jesus was merely a great moral teacher.

If you have never read much of Lewis’ work, this quote exposes the genius and clarity of his writing. Perhaps better known in our culture for his The Chronicles of Narnia, modern readers would do well to invest several hours into digesting this book. I only hope this quote whets your appetite for more.

Enjoy.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Collier Books: New York, 1986), 40-41.