The Unaccountable Man

January 30, 2010


In 1900 British pastor J. D. Jones wrote a little book called “Paul’s Certainties” that contains a chapter on “The Unaccountable Man.” The chapter title refers to that moment in Christ’s ministry when he returned to his hometown and the people began to wonder, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” (Matthew 13:54). They knew him from long experience as “the carpenter’s son,” but if he is that and nothing more, how do you explain his amazing life? Apart from one explanation, Jesus remains “the unaccountable man.” Even today men and women rush to account for him, but every theory fails in the face of his matchless teaching, the power of his life, and the miracles he did which no man but Christ could do. After surveying the evidence, Jones comes to one conclusion that speaks for the united testimony of the Christian church:

There is but one way of accounting for Jesus Christ, for His wisdom, His authority, His mighty works, and that is by  accepting the verdict of the Church throughout the centuries, that in Jesus we have the only begotten Son of God, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God. That explains everything (pp. 40-41).

Do you have any thoughts or questions about this post?