Examiner-produced · Paper 3 · annotated preview
OCR H573/03, A2 June 2025 · 40 marks · To what extent
Thesis: Christian theology ultimately grounds Jesus' unique authority in divine identity, but the Gospels make that authority intelligible through his teaching, liberating practice, self-giving and resurrection rather than through bare status alone.
Revise Jesus Christ first →Argument map
Divine sonship explains authority to forgive, reinterpret law and reveal God.
Historical hearers could recognise moral authority without a developed incarnation doctrine.
Divinity explains uniqueness retrospectively but is not the only experienced source.
Wisdom teaching has intrinsic authority.
Reducing Jesus to a teacher cannot explain worship or resurrection faith.
Teaching displays rather than exhausts his identity.
Liberating action enacts authority among the marginalised.
Political readings may understate sin and reconciliation.
Praxis is the form divine authority takes, not a rival foundation.
The Synoptic traditions portray Jesus teaching with unusual immediacy, forgiving sins and placing his interpretation of Torah at the centre of discipleship. Within a Christian reading, such authority is coherent because the Son does not merely report revelation but embodies it. The resurrection then vindicates claims that might otherwise appear presumptuous and becomes the decisive lens through which the Church confesses divinity. Yet saying ‘Jesus is authoritative because he is divine’ can become circular if divinity is inferred only from prior acceptance of his authority. The content and manner of his life matter: table fellowship crosses boundaries, healing restores excluded people, and the washing of feet recasts lordship as service. These actions give publicly intelligible reasons to trust him before a full metaphysical judgement is made. They also discipline what divinity can mean; authority that contradicted self-giving love would not resemble the Jesus being confessed. Therefore Jesus' authority ultimately comes from divinity for orthodox Christianity, but divinity is known through wisdom, liberation, sacrifice and resurrection. Status and practice should not be separated: the latter makes the former meaningful rather than competing with it.
Examiner commentary
Use the argument map and annotations to identify transferable moves in knowledge, analysis, comparison and judgement.
Transfer it