
When	c. 5th century BC	551–479 BC	AD 570–632	c. 4 BC – c. AD 30
Who he said he was	The awakened one, a teacher who showed the way	A teacher passing on the way of the ancient sages	God’s messenger, the last prophet. Denied being divine	The Son of God. “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6)
The way he taught	Reaching it oneself by practising the Eightfold Path	Cultivating ren (humaneness) and li (propriety)	Submitting to God and keeping his commands	Believing in him and following him
Which way salvation runs	People advance by their practice	People advance by cultivating virtue	God’s mercy and human obedience	God came down and paid the price. Received as a gift
After death	Entered nirvana. His relics were handed down	Buried at Qufu	Buried at Medina	Resurrection proclaimed, the empty tomb claimed (ring 4)

Comparison · Other paths

Is he like the other teachers?

Other traditions’ records

A black-and-white photograph of a great stone wall where a wide arched doorway was once filled in, leaving one low, narrow door that must be entered stooping. — American Colony Photo Department, Entrance into the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, between 1934 and 1939 · Source

People placed Jesus with John the Baptist or Elijah, as ‘one of the great ones’. Today other great teachers stand in that place. Can he really be put in the same place?

The table shows two differences. First, the other teachers pointed to the way, and Jesus said he was the way. Neither the Buddha, nor Confucius, nor Muhammad claimed to be divine.

The second is direction. Many paths are taught as roads people build and climb; the gospel speaks of a way on which God came down and paid the price. So in the gospel, salvation is not an achievement but a gift.

That is also why Jesus said that the gate that leads to life is narrow (Matthew 7:13–14). It is narrow not because the gate is demanding, but because the gate is one person.

ObjectionAren’t all religions different paths up the same mountain?

The religions give different answers about God, salvation and what comes after death, and some of those answers cannot all be true at once. Is Jesus the Son of God, who died on the cross and rose again? Christianity says yes; Islam says no. Respect for other faiths begins not by erasing the differences but by seeing them accurately.

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