Christ Quote by Fulton J. Sheen
““When one takes into account also His reiterated assertions about His Divinity - such as asking us to love Him above parents, to believe in Him even in the face of persecution, to be ready to sacrifice our bodies in order to save our souls in union with Him - to call Him just a good man ignores the facts. No man is good unless he is humble; and humility is a recognition of truth concerning oneself. A man who thinks he is greater than he actually is is not humble, but a vain and boastful fool. How can any man claim prerogatives over conscience, and over history, and over society and the world and still claim he is 'meek and humble of heart'? But if He is God as well as man, His language falls into place and everything that He says is intelligible. But if He is not what He claimed to be, then some of His most precious sayings are nothing but bombastic outburts of self-adulation that breathe rather the spirit of Lucifer than the spirit of a good man. What avails Him to proclam the law of self-renouncement, if He Himself renounces truth to call Himself God? Even His sacrifice on the Cross becomes a suspect and dated thing, when it goes hand in hand with delusions of grandeur and infernal conceit. He could not be called even a sincere teacher, for no sincere teacher would allow anyone to construe his claims to share the rank and the name of the Great God in heaven.””
About This Quote
Source Sermon: The Divine Nature of Christ, 1950s
The quote argues that true humility and divine authority are incompatible with self‑aggrandizement; if Christ were not truly divine, his teachings become self‑praise rather than moral guidance.
In simple terms: Humility contradicts boasting; divine claim must match behavior.
Question claims align with humility.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- religious preaching
- personal reflection
- ethical debate
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What evidence supports divine humility?
- How do we discern true humility in leaders?
If Christ were merely human, his sacrifice loses moral weight.