Who is Jesus Christ?

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God the Son is the second Person of the Godhead, begotten by the Father from eternity. He is the word and image of the Father - through him and for him God created all things. He was sent by the Father as Jesus Christ, God, revealed in the flesh to enable us to attain salvation. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary - he was fully God and fully human, united two natures in one person. He, the Son of God and Lord over all, is worthy of honor and worship. As the prophesied redeemer of mankind, he died for our sins, was physically raised from the dead and ascended to heaven, where he acts as a mediator between man and God. He will come again in glory to rule over all nations as King of kings in the kingdom of God (John 1,1.10.14; Colossians 1,15-16; Hebrews 1,3; John 3,16; titus 2,13; Matthew 1,20; Acts of the Apostles 10,36; 1. Corinthians 15,3-4; Hebrews 1,8; Revelation 19,16).

Christianity is about Christ

"At its core, Christianity is not a beautiful, complex system like Buddhism, an overarching moral code like Islam, or a fine set of rituals like some churches have portrayed. The crucial starting point for any discussion on this subject is the fact that 'Christianity' is - as the word suggests - all about one Person, Jesus Christ (Dickson 1999:11).

Christianity, although originally considered a Jewish sect, differed from Judaism. The Jews had faith in God, but most do not accept Jesus as the Christ. Another group referred to in the New Testament, the pagan "godly ones," to which Cornelius belonged (Acts 10,2), also had faith in God, but again, not all accepted Jesus as the Messiah.

“The person of Jesus Christ is central to Christian theology. While one might define 'theology' as 'talking about God', 'Christian theology' gives a central place to the role of Christ” (McGrath 1997:322).

“Christianity is not a set of self-sufficient or detached ideas; it represents an ongoing answer to the questions raised by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christianity is a historical religion that arose in response to a specific set of events centered on Jesus Christ.”

There is no Christianity without Jesus Christ. Who was this Jesus? What was so special about him that Satan wanted to destroy him and suppress the story of his birth (Revelation 12,4-5; Matthew 2,1-18)? What was it about him that made his disciples so bold that they were accused of turning the world upside down? 

God comes to us through Christ

The last study ended by emphasizing that we can only know God through Jesus Christ (Matthew 11,27) who is the true reflection of God's inner being (Hebrews 1,3). Only through Jesus can we know what God is like, because Jesus alone is the revealed image of the Father (Colossians 1,15).

The Gospels explain that God entered the human dimension through the person of Jesus Christ. The apostle John wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1,1). The Word was identified as Jesus who "became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1,14).

Jesus, the Word, is the second person of Godhead, in whom "all the fullness of Godhead dwells bodily" (Colossians 2,9). Jesus was both fully man and fully God, Son of man and Son of God. "For it pleased God that all fullness should dwell in him" (Colossians 1,19), “and out of his fullness we have all received grace for grace” (John 1,16).

“Christ Jesus, being in divine form, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but humbled himself and took the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men and known in appearance as man” (Philippians 2,5-7). This passage explains that Jesus stripped himself of the privileges of divinity and became one of us so that those "who believe on his name might have the right to become children of God" (John 1,12). We ourselves believe that we are personally, historically and eschatologically confronted with the divinity of God in the humanity of this particular person Jesus of Nazareth (Jinkins 2001: 98).

When we meet Jesus, we meet God. Jesus says, "If you knew me, you also knew the Father" (John 8,19).

Jesus Christ is the creator and sustainer of all things

Regarding “the Word,” John tells us that “It was with God in the beginning. All things are made by the same, and without the same nothing that is made is made” (John 1,2-3).

Paul elaborates on this idea: "...all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1,16). Hebrews also speaks of "Jesus, who was inferior to the angels a little while" (ie, became man), "for whose sake are all things, and through whom are all things" (Hebrews 2,9-10). Jesus Christ "is before all things, and in him all things are" (Colossians 1,17). He "supports all things with his mighty word" (Hebrews 1,3).

The Jewish leaders did not understand his divine nature. Jesus told them, "I came forth from God" and "before Abraham came into existence, I am" (John 8,42.58). The "I AM" referred to the name God used for Himself when He spoke to Moses (2. Mose 3,14), and subsequently the Pharisees and teachers of the law sought to stone him for blasphemy because he claimed to be divine (John 8,59).

Jesus is the Son of God

John wrote of Jesus, "We saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1,14). Jesus was the one and only Son of the Father.

When Jesus was baptized, God called out to him, "You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased" (Mark 1,11; Luke 3,22).

When Peter and John received a vision of the kingdom of God, Peter saw Jesus as being on the same level as Moses and Elijah. He failed to see that Jesus was "worthy of greater honor than Moses" (Hebrews 3,3), and that one greater than the prophets stood in their midst. Again a voice came from heaven and cried out: “This is my dear son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him!” (Matthew 17,5). Because Jesus is the Son of God, we should also hear what he has to say.

This was the central passage in the preaching of the apostles as they spread the good news of salvation in Christ. Note the Acts of the Apostles 9,20, where it says of Saul before he became known as Paul: “And immediately he preached in the synagogues about Jesus, that this is the Son of God.” the resurrection of the dead (Romans 1,4).

The sacrifice of the Son of God enables believers to be saved. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3,16). "The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world" (1. John 4,14).

Jesus is Lord and King

At the birth of Christ, the angel proclaimed the following message to the shepherds: "Today a Savior has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord in the city of David" (Luke 2,11).

John the Baptist was commissioned to "prepare the way of the Lord" (Mark 1,1-4; John 3,1-6).

In his introductory notes in various epistles, Paul, James, Peter, and John referred to "the Lord Jesus Christ" (1. Corinthians 1,2-3; 2. Corinthians 2,2; Ephesians 1,2; James 1,1; 1. Petrus 1,3; 2. John 3; etc.)

The term Lord indicates sovereignty over all aspects of the believer's faith and spiritual life. Revelation 19,16 reminds us that the Word of God, Jesus Christ,

"King of kings and Lord of lords"

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In his book Invitation to Theology, as modern theologian Michael Jinkins puts it: “His claim on us is absolute and comprehensive. We belong wholly, body and soul, in life and in death to the Lord Jesus Christ” (2001:122).

Jesus is the prophesied Messiah, the Savior

InDaniel 9,25 declares God that the Messiah, the prince, will come to deliver his people. Messiah means "the anointed" in Hebrew. Andrew, an early follower of Jesus, recognized that he and the other disciples had “found the Messiah” in Jesus, which translates from the Greek as “the Christ” (the Anointed One) (John 1,41).

Many Old Testament prophecies spoke of the coming of the Savior [Saviour, Redeemer]. In his account of Christ's birth, Matthew often details how these prophecies about the Messiah found their fulfillment in the life and ministry of the Son of God, who at His incarnation was miraculously conceived of the Holy Spirit in a virgin named Mary and called Jesus became, which means savior. "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord spoke through the prophet (Matthew 1,22).

Luke wrote, "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 2 Cor4,44). He had to fulfill the messianic predictions. The other evangelists testify that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8,29; Luke 2,11; 4,41; 9,20; John 6,69; 20,31).

The early Christians taught that "the Christ must suffer and be the first to rise from the dead and preach the light to his people and to the Gentiles" (Acts 26,23). In other words, that Jesus "is truly the Savior of the world" (John 4,42).

Jesus returns in compassion and judgment

For the Christian, the whole story leads and flows away from the events of the life of Christ. The story of his life is central to our faith.

But this story is not over. It continues from the time of the New Testament to eternity. The Bible explains that Jesus leads his life in us, and how he does so will be discussed in a following lesson.

Jesus will also return (John 14,1-3; Acts of the Apostles 1,11; 2. Thessalonians 4,13-18; 2. Petrus 3,10-13, etc.). He returns not to deal with sin (he has already done this through his sacrifice), but for salvation (Heb. 9,28). At his "throne of grace" (Hebrews 4,16) “he shall judge the world with righteousness” (Acts 17,31). “But our citizenship is in heaven; from whence we await the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3,20).

Conclusion

The Scriptures reveal Jesus as the Word made flesh, the Son of God, the Lord, the King, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who will come a second time to show mercy and judgment. He is central to the Christian faith because there is no Christianity without Christ. We have to hear what he has to say.

by James Henderson