Jesus is no longer a character in the Bible

Opening

The real problem is not a lack of Bible. It's too much reading without a center. When texts from different genres, periods and functions are treated as isolated statements, decontextualized and automatically equivalent in every question, the result is often a fragmented Christianity. In this scenario, violence, religious guilt, tribalism and fear manage to wear sacred clothing.

This manifesto corrects an old deviation: Jesus is not just one character among others within the Bible. In Christianity, he is the center from which other voices are read, without denying the authority of the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures, but submitting their final interpretation to the Son.

What the biblical text says

The New Testament itself supports a Christological reading of the Scriptures. In Luke 24:27, the resurrected man, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets”, explains to his disciples what was stated about himself in “all the Scriptures”. In Luke 24:44-45, he says that it was necessary to fulfill everything that was written in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, and then he opens their understanding to understand the Scriptures.

John follows the same line. In John 1:1-3, 14, the Word does not appear as a later messenger, but as eternal, creator and incarnate. In John 5:39-40, Jesus claims that the Scriptures testify of him, while denouncing the refusal of his interlocutors to come to him for life. In John 14:6, he does not present himself as one route among several, but as “the way, and the truth, and the life”.

Hebrews 1:1-3 is also decisive. The text states that God spoke “at many times and in many ways” through the prophets, but “in these last days” he spoke “by the Son”. The emphasis is not on breaking with the past, but on decisive revelation. The Son is “the brightness of glory” and “the exact expression of his being” (Hebrews 1:3).

Paul describes the same centrality in Colossians 1:15-20. Christ is “the image of the invisible God”, the agent of creation and the one in whom it pleased God to make “all fullness” dwell. The theological conclusion that emerges from these texts is clear: no biblical reading can be accepted if it produces an image of God incompatible with Jesus.

Historical and theological context

Biblical texts emerged in diverse periods, communities and historical circumstances: the formation of Israel, the monarchy, exile, the Persian and Hellenistic periods, Second Temple Judaism and the first Christian communities under the Roman Empire. This diversity matters. It prevents Moses, the psalms, the prophets, and the apostolic writings from being read as a uniform block without history.

The Mosaic tradition preserves the formation of a people; the psalms speak of worship, lament, justice and conflict; the prophets denounce infidelity and announce judgment and restoration; apostolic writings interpret Christ's death and resurrection as a decisive event. Reading all of this flatly erases the very movement of revelation.

Honest objection: This reading may seem to pit Jesus against the Old Testament, as if the Law and the Prophets were a lie or error. The New Testament doesn't say it like that. In Hebrews 10:1 and Colossians 2:16-17, the language of shadow and figure appears as preparation, not contempt. The issue, therefore, is not to erase Moses, David or Isaiah. It is recognizing that the final interpretation of what these texts reveal about God is judged in the light of Christ.

Analysis from Jesus

In Matthew 5:17-48, Jesus does not revoke the Law out of contempt, but fulfills it and reveals its deepest intention. The formula “you have heard what was said... but I tell you” appears as its own authority, not as a mere repetition of tradition. In Matthew 5:38-39, he refuses personal revenge as the disciple's response. In Matthew 5:43-44, he returns to the commandment to love one's neighbor and rejects the conclusion that the enemy should be treated with hatred; on the contrary, it orders to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors.

In Mark 2:27-28, Jesus states that “the Sabbath was established for man” and declares himself “Lord even of the Sabbath.” The institution does not govern the Son; the Son interprets the institution. In Mark 7:18-23, he moves impurity from the merely ritual field to the moral reality of the heart, confronting traditions that nullify God's commandment.

As for John 7:53–8:11, the passage is received by many Christian traditions, although its handwritten transmission is debated and it is absent from important ancient testimonies. Even so, the narrative preserved in tradition presents Jesus refusing the woman's summary condemnation and concluding with a direct order: “go and sin no more” (John 8:11).

Here is the decisive point: if a reading of Moses, certain imprecatory psalms or apocalyptic images produces a God who is more impatient, more vengeful, more tribal or more useful to religious powers than the Christ of the gospels, that reading needs to be revised. It is not Christ who must fit into inherited categories; it is the inherited categories that must be judged by Christ.

This does not eliminate righteousness, holiness or judgment. Eliminates the caricature of God used to sustain religious dominance, commodification of faith and sacralized violence. Jesus does not legitimize religion that uses the Bible as an instrument of control. He unmasks her.

Conclusion

The biblical statement is this: Jesus is the fulfillment, center and key of the Christian reading of Scripture. Luke 24, John 5, Hebrews 1, and Colossians 1 clearly support this centrality. The Christocentric reading, therefore, does not treat Jesus as just one voice among others, but as the criterion by which all biblical voices are heard.

What remains open is not whether Christ occupies the center — this is what the text itself states — but how to apply this centrality responsibly in each specific debate. Still, the principle remains firm: Jesus is no longer a character in the Bible. He is the lens through which the Bible is to be judged and understood.