CWV 101 teachings of Jesus assignment guide
Choose one teaching of Jesus from a listed set of passages and analyse its point, its relevance to other worldviews and what it reveals about him; identify a claim he made about his nature or ministry and its significance; then answer his question about his identity personally, in 750 to 1,250 words.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 13, 2026
Exegesis first, response last
The three questions ask for three different kinds of work, and blending them is the most common failure. Question one is exegetical: what was the point of the teaching, what relevance does it have for other worldviews, and what does it reveal about Jesus. That requires reading the passage in its context rather than reaching for what the verse is usually taken to mean. Matthew 5:21-24 is not simply a rule against anger; it intensifies a commandment by relocating it from action to disposition and then interrupts worship for reconciliation, which is a stronger and more specific claim. Choose the passage you can actually read closely, and read the verses around it, because the listed options differ considerably in difficulty. The relevance-to-other-worldviews part of the question asks for comparison rather than assertion, so name a specific worldview, describe what it actually holds, and then say where it agrees with the teaching and where it parts company with it.
Question two is a different task again, and its wording is precise: identify a claim Jesus made about his nature or the purpose of his ministry, and explain the significance of the claim. The listed passages are all ones where something is asserted rather than taught, whether forgiving sins in Mark 2, the answer to John's disciples in Luke 7, or the response about the Father in John 14, and significance means what follows if the claim is true, together with what the original audience understood by it. Only question three asks what you believe, and it should be answered in the first person and honestly. A worldview course is assessing whether you can articulate and examine a position, not whether you hold a particular one, and a considered answer that describes uncertainty will fare better than a confident one you have not thought through. Watch the word count, since 750 to 1,250 words across three questions is roughly 300 each.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Read a scriptural passage in its immediate context rather than by reputation.
- 02Distinguish a teaching from a claim about the speaker's identity.
- 03Compare a teaching's implications with another worldview's commitments.
- 04Explain what follows from a claim if it is taken to be true.
- 05Articulate and examine a personal position in the first person.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01One teaching selected from the listed passages, with the point of the teaching explained.
- 02Its relevance for other worldviews.
- 03What the teaching reveals about Jesus.
- 04At least one claim Jesus made about his nature or the purpose of his ministry, with its significance.
- 05A personal answer to the question of who you say he is.
- 06Complete sentences with clear, specific explanation, in 750 to 1,250 words.
Teaching, claim, response
The teaching in context
The chosen passage read with its surrounding verses, and its actual point.
Relevance to other worldviews
A named worldview, with points of agreement and of divergence.
What it reveals about Jesus
What the teaching implies about the authority of the one giving it.
A claim and its significance
One claim about nature or ministry, with what follows if it is true.
Who do you say that I am
Your own answer, in the first person, with the reasoning that supports it.
The passage, then the commentary
Recommended databases
- The biblical text in multiple translations
- Bible commentaries
- Course study materials
- Theological reference works
- ATLA Religion Database
Search sequence
- 1.Read the chosen passage in at least two translations and note where they differ.
- 2.Read the surrounding chapter for the setting and audience.
- 3.Consult a commentary for what the original audience would have understood.
- 4.Identify the other worldview you will compare and read a primary statement of it.
- 5.Read the claim passage in context to check that it is a claim rather than a teaching.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Matthew 5:21-24 NIV
Bible Gateway · 2011
One of the listed teaching passages, in a citable translation with parallel versions available.
- 02
Matthew 5 - NIV
Bible Study Tools · 2011
The full chapter, which is what the context requirement actually needs.
- 03
Code of Ethics: English
National Association of Social Workers · 2021
A secular professional ethic to compare against, if your chosen worldview comparison is a professional one.
- 04
Cultural Religious Competence in Clinical Practice
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
How worldview commitments show up in practice, useful for the relevance-to-other-worldviews section.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Summarising the passage's reputation instead of reading its context.
- Treating the worldview comparison as an assertion that other views are wrong.
- Choosing a passage for question two that teaches rather than claims.
- Explaining what the claim means without saying what follows if it is true.
- Answering question three impersonally, in the third person.
- Running far under the word count by treating the three questions as one.
Submission checklist
- The chosen teaching is one of the listed passages.
- The point of the teaching is drawn from its context.
- A named alternative worldview is compared, with agreement and disagreement.
- The claim identified is a claim about nature or ministry, not a teaching.
- The significance of the claim is explained in terms of what follows from it.
- Question three is answered in the first person.
- The response is between 750 and 1,250 words in complete sentences.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.