Who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus? This is the question of the ages. No figure in history has had as much influence as Jesus Christ.
Most of what we know about Jesus comes from the New Testament. So a comment about the writers of the New Testament is a good starting point. All of the New Testament writers were eyewitnesses of Jesus, or were interviewers of eyewitnesses. Three of the New Testament writers were Jesus’ disciples—Matthew, John, and Peter. Two were the half-brothers of Jesus—James and Jude. Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, was a prominent Jewish leader who originally was a zealous persecutor of the early Christians. But through a miraculous conversion experience related in Acts 9, Paul became the greatest evangelist.
Scholars believe that most, if not all of the New Testament was written between 40 AD and 70 AD. (Jesus is believed to have died in 33 AD.) So, the writers of the New Testament were of the generation of Jesus. (It should be noted that there are about a dozen non-biblical ancient sources about Jesus. None of them contradict the information from Scripture.)
The first four books of the New Testament are biographies of Jesus. These are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We are asking you to read the chapters below in the book of John. These chapters make up about half of this one book. John, by the way, was the disciple that appears to have been Jesus’ closest friend. His insights about Jesus are special. If these chapters wet your appetite for more, go back and read in their entirety Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Read John 1-4; John 8-11; John 18-20
Jesus, of course, was a human being of history. But he was certainly more than just a man. Indeed, the Bible records that Jesus is in fact God. Thus he is both human and divine. Jesus’ own extraordinary claim of divinity is evident by the statements and actions he made in some of the above passages in the book of John.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is truly God in the flesh. Below is a table showing a summary of how the Bible lays out the case that Jesus has the attributes of divinity. It would be very much worth the effort to go through each of these references sometime at your convenience, but for now, it is sufficient to just review the list to get a sense of the depth of this concept.
A Biblical Comparison of God and Jesus
Most of what we know about Jesus comes from the New Testament. So a comment about the writers of the New Testament is a good starting point. All of the New Testament writers were eyewitnesses of Jesus, or were interviewers of eyewitnesses. Three of the New Testament writers were Jesus’ disciples—Matthew, John, and Peter. Two were the half-brothers of Jesus—James and Jude. Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, was a prominent Jewish leader who originally was a zealous persecutor of the early Christians. But through a miraculous conversion experience related in Acts 9, Paul became the greatest evangelist.
Scholars believe that most, if not all of the New Testament was written between 40 AD and 70 AD. (Jesus is believed to have died in 33 AD.) So, the writers of the New Testament were of the generation of Jesus. (It should be noted that there are about a dozen non-biblical ancient sources about Jesus. None of them contradict the information from Scripture.)
The first four books of the New Testament are biographies of Jesus. These are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We are asking you to read the chapters below in the book of John. These chapters make up about half of this one book. John, by the way, was the disciple that appears to have been Jesus’ closest friend. His insights about Jesus are special. If these chapters wet your appetite for more, go back and read in their entirety Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Read John 1-4; John 8-11; John 18-20
Jesus, of course, was a human being of history. But he was certainly more than just a man. Indeed, the Bible records that Jesus is in fact God. Thus he is both human and divine. Jesus’ own extraordinary claim of divinity is evident by the statements and actions he made in some of the above passages in the book of John.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is truly God in the flesh. Below is a table showing a summary of how the Bible lays out the case that Jesus has the attributes of divinity. It would be very much worth the effort to go through each of these references sometime at your convenience, but for now, it is sufficient to just review the list to get a sense of the depth of this concept.
A Biblical Comparison of God and Jesus
Worthy of the Same Status
Have Same Names and Titles
Perform the Same Acts
Have the Same Attributes
Of the many attributes that identify Jesus as God, we emphasize that the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is eternal. He was not just a mere mortal but in fact existed eternally from the beginning of time.
Please read these passages: John 1:1-5, 14; John 17:5; Colossians 1:15-19; Hebrews 1:1-4
This study would be incomplete if we did not make it clear how important Jesus really is. Rejecting him is tantamount to thumbing your nose at God. If Jesus is who he says he is—and who the Bible says he is—we are under judgment. The Bible makes this bold statement (John 3:36):
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; and he who does not believe and obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
The Bible claims that Jesus is the exclusive avenue to God. As Jesus Himself says in John 14:6:
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Also read John 8:24; Acts 4:12, and 1 John 5:11-12.
While this sounds unfair to some, we would argue that this is in fact the ultimate in fairness. Because of our separation from God due to our sin, there is no way that we can be reconciled to God on our own. Yet God provides a way, unmerited as it is, to find fellowship with him! And its path is open to everyone.