You make the point: To read John’s gospel and not see Jesus making God-claims for himself

But he did not, and John’s gospel comes to the Jesus story from its own developed perspective: he may not even have claimed to be the messiah. His language was of Son of Man, with its ambiguous meanings, and a son of God then would be anyone faithful. Jesus would not have made a blasphemy, and had no need as a last days prophet. The Bible is not trinitarian; nowhere is it God the son and divinity is problematic. Sinning, of course, goes on, so we are to try harder, as you put it. I’d like a bit of trying harder.

One path that does not work is trying to make Jesus the most moral person or the most significant individual, and try to “God” him from below. It never works as a kind of football league of results. God is what anyone or group finds to be of most significance, what they hope to have returned when they make their exchanges of faith. It is about how the story, if you like, shapes.

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