[This article is part of the series "Various Views of Jesus"]
Confucianism is named for its founder, Confucius, who was born around 551 BC. During his lifetime he was considered a wise teacher, and was only deified by his followers after his death.
There is some confusion among scholars whether Confucianism actually qualifies as a religion. In his book Eastern Definitions, Edward Rice says, “Confucianism is not a religion in the Hindu-Buddhist or Judeo-Christian-Islamic sense but is both a philosophy pure and simple and an ethical code directed to right living….”[1]
The teachings of Confucius focused for the most part on moral conduct and social relations, and had little to say about God, salvation, or the afterlife. In fact, Confucius himself is quoted as saying that heaven and the afterlife were beyond human capacity to understand, and one should therefore concentrate instead on doing the right thing in this life.[2]
The closest we could come to a mention of Jesus in connection with Confucianism is this quote from Brittanica, “The story of Confucianism does not begin with Confucius. Nor was Confucius the founder of Confucianism in the sense that the Buddha was the founder of Buddhism and Jesus Christ the founder of Christianity.”[3]
It seems clear that Jesus is of little concern to followers of Confucius. For them, He certainly is not God, nor the Son of God. Neither do they believe that He came into this world to die on the cross and save His people from their sins.
The website “gotquestions.org” sums it up for us when they say:
“The ethical system of Confucianism has much to commend it because virtue is always something highly desirable, both in an individual and a society. However, the ethical philosophy Confucius espoused was one of self-effort, leaving no room or need for God. Confucius taught that man is capable of doing all that is necessary to improve his life and his culture, relying on the virtue within himself to accomplish it. Biblical Christianity, however, teaches exactly the opposite. Not only does man lack the capacity to ‘clean up his act,’ he is in no way able to please God on his own or to attain eternal life in heaven.”[4]
Contrast that with what the Bible tells us:
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)