Jesus of Nazareth (; ; 7–2 BC/BCE to 30–36 AD/CE), also referred to as Jesus Christ or simply Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, and is also regarded as an important prophet of God in Islam. Most Christian denominations
venerate him as God the Son incarnated and believe that he rose from the dead after being crucified.
The principal sources of information regarding Jesus are the Bible's four canonical gospels,
which most biblical scholars find useful for reconstructing Jesus' life and teachings. Scholars have correlated the New Testament accounts with non-Christian historical records to arrive at an estimated chronology of Jesus' life.
Most modern historians agree that Jesus existed and was a Jewish teacher from Galilee in Roman Judaea, who was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate. Scholars have offered competing descriptions and portraits of Jesus, which at times share a number of overlapping attributes, such as a rabbi, a charismatic healer, the leader of an apocalyptic movement, a self-described Messiah, a sage and philosopher, or a social reformer who preached of the "Kingdom of God" as a means for personal and egalitarian social transformation.
Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, performed miracles, founded the Church, died sacrificially to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, from which he will return. The majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, and the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
A few Christian groups, however, reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, believing it to be non-scriptural.
Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah promised in the Old Testament and as God, arguing that he fulfilled many Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.
Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh. In Islam, Jesus (in in Islamic usage, commonly transliterated as ) is considered one of God's important prophets, a bringer of scripture, and the product of a virgin birth, but not the victim of crucifixion. Islam and the Bahá'í Faith use the title "Messiah" for Jesus, but do not teach that he was God incarnate.
Etymology of name
"Jesus" is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin ''Iesus'', of the Greek (''''), itself a hellenization of the Hebrew (''Yĕhōšuă‘'', Joshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic (''Yēšûă‘''), both meaning "Yahweh delivers" or "Yahweh rescues". In Arabic, it is .
The etymology of the name Jesus in the context of the New Testament is generally expressed as "Yahweh saves", "Yahweh is salvation" and at times as "Jehovah is salvation". The name Jesus appears to have been in use in Judaea at the time of the birth of Jesus. Philo's reference (''Mutatione Nominum'' item 121) indicates that the etymology of Joshua was known outside Judaea at the time.
In the New Testament, in Luke 1:26-33, the angel Gabriel tells Mary to name her child "Jesus", and in Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child "Jesus". The statement in Matthew 1:21 "you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" associates salvific attributes to the name Jesus in Christian theology.
"Christ" () is derived from the Greek (''Khrīstos''), meaning "the anointed" or "the anointed one", a translation of the Hebrew (''''), usually transliterated into English as "Messiah" (). In the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible (written well over a century before the time of Jesus), the word "Christ" () was used to translate the Hebrew word "Messiah" () into Greek. In Matthew 16:16, the apostle Peter's profession "You are the Christ" identifies Jesus as the Messiah. In postbiblical usage, "Christ" became viewed as a name, one part of "Jesus Christ", but originally it was a title ("Jesus the Anointed").
Chronology
Although a few scholars have questioned the existence of Jesus as an actual historical figure, and some early Christian sects denied that Jesus existed as a physical being (see below), most scholars involved with
historical Jesus research believe his existence, but that the supernatural claims associated with him cannot be established using documentary and other evidence. As discussed in the sections immediately below, the estimation of the year of death of Jesus places his lifespan around the beginning of the 1st century AD/CE, in the geographic region of
Roman Judaea.
Roman involvement in Judaea began around 63 BC/BCE and by 6 AD/CE Judaea had become a Roman province. From 26–37 AD/CE Pontius Pilate was the governor of Roman Judaea. In this time period, although Roman Judaea was strategically positioned in the Near East, close to Arabia and North Africa, it was not viewed as a critically important province by the Romans. At the time the Romans were highly tolerant of other religions and allowed the local populations such as the Jews to practice their own faiths.
Year of birth
Two independent approaches have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus, one by analyzing the
Nativity accounts in the Gospels of
Luke and
Matthew along with other historical data, the other by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the
ministry of Jesus, as also discussed in the next section.
In its Nativity account, the Gospel of Matthew associates the birth of Jesus with the reign of Herod the Great, who is generally believed to have died around 4 BC/BCE. states that: "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king" and mentions the reign of Herod shortly before the birth of Jesus. Matthew also suggests that Jesus may have been as much as two years old at the time of the visit of the Magi and hence even older at the time of Herod's death. But the author of Luke also describes the birth as taking place during the first census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea, which is generally believed to have occurred in 6 AD/CE. Most scholars generally assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC/BCE. Other scholars assume that Jesus was born sometime between 7–2 BC/BCE.
The year of birth of Jesus has also been estimated in a manner that is independent of the Nativity accounts, by using information in the Gospel of John to work backwards from the statement in that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry. As discussed in the section below, by combining information from and with the writings of Flavius Josephus, it has been estimated that around 27–29 AD/CE, Jesus was "about thirty years of age". Some scholars thus estimate the year 28 AD/CE to be roughly the 32nd birthday of Jesus and the birth year of Jesus to be around 6–4 BC/BCE.
However, the common Gregorian calendar method for numbering years, in which the current year is , is based on the decision of a monk Dionysius in the sixth century, to count the years from a point of reference (namely, Jesus’ birth) which he placed sometime between 2 BC and 1 AD. Although Christian feasts related to the Nativity have had specific dates (e.g. December 25 for Christmas) there is no historical evidence for the exact day or month of the birth of Jesus.
Years of ministry
There have been different approaches to estimating the date of the start of the ministry of Jesus. One approach, based on combining information from the Gospel of Luke with historical data about Emperor
Tiberius yields a date around 28–29 AD/CE, while a second independent approach based on statements in the Gospel of John along with historical information from Josephus about the Temple in Jerusalem leads to a date around 27–29 AD/CE. A third method uses the date of the
death of John the Baptist and the marriage of
Herod Antipas to
Herodias based on the writings of Josephus, and correlates it to .
The estimation of the date based on the Gospel of Luke relies on the statement in that the ministry of John the Baptist which preceded that of Jesus began "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar". Given that Tiberius began his reign in 14 AD/CE, this yields a date about 28–29 AD/CE.
The estimation of the date based on the Gospel of John uses the statements in that Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem around the start of his ministry and in that "Forty and six years was this temple in building" at that time. According to Josephus (Ant 15.380) the temple reconstruction was started by Herod the Great in the 15th–18th year of his reign at about the time that Augustus arrived in Syria (Ant 15.354). Temple expansion and reconstruction was ongoing, and it was in constant reconstruction until it was destroyed in 70 AD/CE by the Romans. Given that it took 46 years of construction, the Temple visit in the Gospel of John has been estimated at around 27–29 AD/CE.
Although both the gospels and Josephus refer to Herod Antipas killing John the Baptist, they differ on the details, e.g. whether this act was a consequence of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias, as indicated in , or a pre-emptive measure by Herod which possibly took place before the marriage, as Josephus suggests in Ant 18.5.2. The exact year of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias is subject to debate among scholars. In his analysis of Herod's life, Harold Hoehner estimates that John the Baptist's imprisonment probably occurred around AD 30–31. The ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' estimates the death of the Baptist to have occurred about AD 31–32. The death of John the Baptist relates to the end of the major Galilean ministry of Jesus, just before the half way point in the gospel narratives, before the start of Jesus' final journey to Jerusalem through Judea.
states that at the start of his ministry Jesus was "about 30 years of age", but the other gospels do not mention a specific age. However, in the Jews exclaimed to Jesus: "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" suggesting that he was much less than 50 years old during his ministry. The length of the ministry is subject to debate, based on the fact that the synoptic gospels mention only one passover during Jesus' ministry, often interpreted as implying that the ministry lasted approximately one year, whereas the Gospel of John records multiple passovers, implying that his ministry may have lasted at least three years.
Year of death
A number of approaches have been used to estimate the year of the death of Jesus, including information from the canonical gospels, the chronology of the life of Paul the Apostle in the New Testament correlated with historical events, as well as different astronomical models, as discussed below.
All four canonical gospels report that Jesus was crucified at Calvary during the prefecture of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who governed Judaea from 26 to 36 AD/CE. The late 1st century Jewish historian Josephus, writing in ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (''c.'' 93 AD/CE), and the early 2nd century Roman historian Tacitus, writing in ''The Annals'' (''c.'' 116 AD/CE), also state that Pilate ordered the execution of Jesus, though both writers use the title "procurator" instead of "prefect".
The estimation of the date of the conversion of Paul places the death of Jesus before this conversion, which is estimated at around 33–36 AD/CE. (Also see the estimation of the start of Jesus' ministry as a few years before this date above). The estimation of the year of Paul's conversion relies on a series of calculations working backwards from the well established date of his trial before Gallio in Achaea Greece () around 51–52 AD/CE, the meeting of Priscilla and Aquila which were expelled from Rome about 49 AD/CE and the 14-year period before returning to Jerusalem in . The remaining period is generally accounted for by Paul's missions (at times with Barnabas) such as those in and , resulting in the 33–36 AD/CE estimate.
For centuries, astronomers and scientists have used diverse computational methods to estimate the date of crucifixion, Isaac Newton being one of the first cases. Newton's method relied on the relative visibility of the crescent of the new moon and he suggested the date as Friday, April 23, 34 AD/CE. In 1990 astronomer Bradley E. Schaefer computed the date as Friday, April 3, 33 AD/CE. In 1991, John Pratt stated that Newton's method was sound, but included a minor error at the end. Pratt suggested the year 33 AD/CE as the answer. Using the completely different approach of a lunar eclipse model, Humphreys and Waddington arrived at the conclusion that Friday, April 3, 33 AD/CE was the date of the crucifixion.
Life and teachings in the New Testament
Although the four canonical gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are the main sources for the biography of Jesus’ life, other parts of the New Testament, such as the Pauline epistles which were likely written decades before them, also include references to key episodes in his life such as the Last Supper, as in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. The Acts of the Apostles (10:37-38 and 19:4) refers to the early ministry of Jesus and its anticipation by John the Baptist. And Acts 1:1-11 says more about the Ascension episode (also mentioned in 1 Timothy 3:16) than the canonical gospels.
According to the majority viewpoint, the Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus. and of the religious movement he founded, but not everything contained in the gospels is considered to be historically reliable. Elements whose historical authenticity are disputed include the two accounts of the Nativity of Jesus, as well as the resurrection and certain details about the crucifixion. On one extreme, some Christian scholars maintain that the gospels are inerrant descriptions of the life of Jesus. On the other extreme, some scholars have concluded that the gospels provide no historical information about Jesus' life.
Canonical gospel accounts
Three of the four canonical gospels, namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are known as the
synoptic Gospels, from the Greek σύν (syn "together") and ὄψις (opsis "view"), given that they display a high degree of similarity in content, narrative arrangement, language and paragraph structure. The presentation in the fourth canonical gospel, i.e. John, differs from these three in that it has more of a thematic nature rather than a narrative format. Scholars generally agree that it is impossible to find any direct literary relationship between the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John.
However, in general, the authors of the New Testament showed little interest in an absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life with the secular history of the age. The gospels were primarily written as theological documents in the context of early Christianity with the chronological timelines as a secondary consideration. One manifestation of the gospels being theological documents rather than historical chronicles is that they devote about one third of their text to just seven days, namely the last week of the life of Jesus in Jerusalem.
Although the gospels do not provide enough details to satisfy the demands of modern historians regarding exact dates, it is possible to draw from them a general picture of the life story of Jesus. However, as stated in John 21:25 the gospels do not claim to provide an exhaustive list of the events in the life of Jesus.
Gospel sources, similarities and differences
Scholars have debated the sources for the gospels for
millennia, and have proposed various hypotheses of how the synoptic gospels were written and how they influenced each other, going back to the
Augustinian hypothesis in the 5th century. In the 20th and 21st centuries hypotheses such as the
two-source,
four-source,
Farrer or the
Markan priority hypothesis have been debated. Each hypothesis assumes a specific order in which the gospels were written, or that other as yet unknown and hypothetical documents such as the
Q source or the
M source influenced various gospels in various ways. Each hypotheses has had support among some scholars, while problems with and weaknesses in it have been pointed out by opponents.
Since the 2nd century attempts have been made to ''harmonize'' the gospel accounts into a single narrative; Tatian's Diatesseron perhaps being the first harmony and other works such as Augustine' book ''Harmony of the Gospels'' followed. A number of different approaches to gospel harmony have been proposed in the 20th century, but no single and unique harmony can be constructed. While some scholars argue that combining the four gospel stories into one story is tantamount to creating a fifth story different from each original, others see the gospels as blending together to give an overall and comprehensive picture of Jesus' teaching and ministry. Although there are differences in specific temporal sequences, and in the parables and miracles listed in each gospel, the flow of the key events such as Baptism, Transfiguration and Crucifixion and interactions with people such as the Apostles are shared among the gospel narratives.
Key elements and the five major milestones
The five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus are his
Baptism,
Transfiguration,
Crucifixion,
Resurrection and
Ascension. These are usually bracketed by two other episodes: his Nativity at the beginning and the
sending of the
Holy Spirit at the end. The gospel accounts of the teachings of Jesus are often presented in terms of specific categories involving his "works and words", e.g. his
ministry,
parables and
miracles.
The gospels include a number discourses by Jesus on specific occasions, e.g. the Sermon on the Mount or the Farewell Discourse, and also include over 30 parables, spread throughout the narrative, often with themes that relate to the sermons. Parables represent a major component of the teachings of Jesus in the gospels, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings, and John 14:10 positions them as the revelations of God the Father. The gospel episodes that include descriptions of the miracle of Jesus also often include teachings, providing an intertwining of his "words and works" in the gospels.
Genealogy and Nativity
The accounts of the genealogy and Nativity of Jesus in the New Testament appear only in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. While there are documents outside of the New Testament which are more or less contemporary with Jesus and the gospels, many shed no light on the more biographical aspects of his life and these two gospel accounts remain the main sources of information on the genealogy and Nativity.
Genealogy
Matthew begins his gospel in
1:1 with the genealogy of Jesus, and presents it before the account of the birth of Jesus, while Luke discusses the genealogy in chapter 3, after the Baptism of Jesus in
Luke 3:22 when the voice from Heaven addresses Jesus and identifies him as the
Son of God. At that point Luke traces Jesus' ancestry through
Adam to God.
While Luke traces the genealogy upwards towards Adam and God, Matthew traces it downwards towards Jesus. Both gospels state that Jesus was begotten not by Joseph, but by God. Both accounts trace Joseph back to King David and from there to Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David (except for one), but they differ almost completely between David and Joseph. Matthew gives Jacob as Joseph’s father and Luke says Joseph was the son of Heli. Attempts at explaining the differences between the genealogies have varied in nature, e.g. that Luke traces the genealogy through Mary while Matthew traces it through Joseph; or that Jacob and Heli were both fathers of Joseph, one being the legal father, after the death of Joseph's actual father—but there is no scholarly agreement on a resolution for the differences.
Nativity
The Nativity is a prominent element in the Gospel of Luke, comprises over 10% of the text, and is three times the length of the nativity text in Matthew. Luke's account takes place mostly before the birth of Jesus and centers on Mary, while Matthew's takes place mostly after the birth of Jesus and centers on Joseph. According to Luke and Matthew, Jesus was born to
Joseph and
Mary, his
betrothed, in
Bethlehem. Both support the doctrine of the
Virgin Birth in which Jesus was miraculously conceived in his mother's womb by the Holy Spirit, when his mother was still a virgin.
Luke is the only gospel to provide an account of the birth of John the Baptist, and uses it to draw parallels between the births of John and Jesus. Luke relates the two births in the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth and further connects the two births by stating that Mary and Elizabeth are cousins. In Luke 1:31-38 Mary learns from the angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a child called Jesus through the action of the Holy Spirit. When Mary is due to give birth, she and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Joseph's ancestral home in Bethlehem to register in the census of Quirinius. In Luke 2:1-7. Mary gives birth to Jesus and, having found no place in the inn, places the newborn in a manger. An angel visits the shepherds and sends them to adore the child in Luke 2:22. After presenting Jesus at the Temple, Joseph and Mary return home to Nazareth.
The nativity account in chapters 1 and 2 of the Gospel of Matthew appears to differ from Luke in implying that Jesus and his family are already living in Bethlehem. However, Matthew does not state that Joseph lived in Bethlehem prior to the birth of Jesus. Following his betrothal to Mary, Joseph is troubled in Matthew 1:19-20 because Mary is pregnant, but in the first of Joseph's three dreams an angel assures him not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because her child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 1:1-12, the Wise Men or Magi bring gifts to the young Jesus after following a star which they believe was a sign that the King of the Jews had been born. King Herod hears of Jesus' birth from the Wise Men and tries to kill him by massacring all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two (the Massacre of the Innocents). Before the massacre, Joseph is warned by an angel in his dream and the family flees to Egypt and remains there until Herod's death, after which they leave Egypt and settle in Nazareth to avoid living under the authority of Herod's son and successor Archelaus.
Early life and profession
In the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, Jesus’ childhood home is identified as the town of Nazareth in
Galilee. Joseph, husband of Mary, appears in descriptions of Jesus’ childhood and no mention is made of him thereafter. The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and
Galatians mention Jesus’ brothers and sisters, but the Greek word ''adelphos'' in these verses, has also been translated as brother or kinsman.
Luke 2:41–52 includes an incident in the childhood of Jesus, where he was found teaching in the temple by his parents after being lost. The Finding in the Temple is the sole event between Jesus’ infancy and baptism mentioned in any of the canonical gospels.
In Mark 6:3 Jesus is called a ''tekton'' (τέκτων in Greek), usually understood to mean carpenter. Matthew 13:55 says he was the son of a ''tekton''. ''Tekton'' has been traditionally translated into English as "carpenter", but it is a rather general word (from the same root that leads to "technical" and "technology") that could cover makers of objects in various materials, even builders.
Beyond the New Testament accounts, the specific association of the profession of Jesus with woodworking is a constant in the traditions of the 1st and 2nd centuries and Justin Martyr (d. ca. 165) wrote that Jesus made yokes and ploughs.
Baptism and temptation
In the gospels, the accounts of the Baptism of Jesus are always preceded by information about John the Baptist and his ministry. In these accounts, John was preaching for penance and repentance for the remission of sins and encouraged the giving of
alms to the poor (as in
Luke 3:11) as he baptized people in the area of the River Jordan around
Perea about the time of the commencement of the ministry of Jesus. The Gospel of John (
1:28) specifies "Bethany beyond the Jordan", i.e.
Bethabara in Perea, when it initially refers to it and later
John 3:23 refers to further baptisms in
Ænon "because there was much water there".
The four gospels are not the only references to John's ministry around the River Jordan. In Acts 10:37-38, Peter refers to how the ministry of Jesus followed "the baptism which John preached". In the Antiquities of the Jews (18.5.2) 1st century historian Josephus also wrote about John the Baptist and his eventual death in Perea.
In the gospels, John had been foretelling (as in Luke 3:16) of the arrival of a someone "mightier than I". Apostle Paul also refers to this anticipation by John in Acts 19:4. In Matthew 3:14, upon meeting Jesus, the Baptist states: "I need to be baptized by you." However, Jesus persuades John to baptize him nonetheless. In the baptismal scene, after Jesus emerges from the water, the sky opens and a voice from Heaven states: "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased". The Holy Spirit then descends upon Jesus as a dove in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-23. In John 1:29-33 rather than a direct narrative, the Baptist bears witness to the episode. This is one of two cases in the gospels where a voice from Heaven calls Jesus "Son", the other being in the Transfiguration of Jesus episode.
After the baptism, the synoptic gospels proceed to describe the Temptation of Jesus, but John 1:35-37 narrates the first encounter between Jesus and two of his future disciples, who were then disciples of John the Baptist. In this narrative, the next day the Baptist sees Jesus again and calls him the Lamb of God and the "two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus". One of the disciples is named Andrew, but the other remains unnamed, and Raymond E. Brown raises the question of his being the author of the Gospel of John himself. In the Gospel of John, the disciples follow Jesus thereafter, and bring other disciples to him, and Acts 18:24-19:6 portrays the disciples of John as eventually merging with the followers of Jesus.
The Temptation of Jesus is narrated in the three synoptic gospels after his baptism. In these accounts, as in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13, Jesus goes to the desert for forty days to fast. While there, Satan appears to him and tempts him in various ways, e.g. asking Jesus to show signs that he is the Son of God by turning stone to bread, or offering Jesus worldly rewards in exchange for worship. Jesus rejects every temptation and when Satan leaves, angels appear and minister to Jesus.
Ministry
Luke 3:23 states that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry. The date of the start of his ministry has been estimated at around 27-29 AD/CE, based on independent approaches which combine separate gospel accounts with other historical data. The end of his ministry is estimated to be in the range 30-36 AD/CE.
The three synoptic gospels refer to just one passover during his ministry, while the Gospel of John refers to three passovers, suggesting a period of about three years. However, the synoptic gospels do not require a ministry that lasted only one year, and scholars such as Köstenberger state that the Gospel of John simply provides a more detailed account.
The gospel accounts place the beginning of Jesus' ministry in the countryside of Judaea, near the River Jordan. Jesus' ministry begins with his Baptism by John the Baptist (Matthew 3, Luke 3), and ends with the Last Supper with his disciples (Matthew 26, Luke 22) in Jerusalem. The gospels present John the Baptist's ministry as the precursor to that of Jesus and the Baptism as marking the beginning of Jesus' ministry, after which Jesus travels, preaches and performs miracles.
The ''Early Galilean ministry'' begins when Jesus goes back to Galilee from the Judaean desert after rebuffing the temptation of Satan. In this early period Jesus preaches around Galilee and in Matthew 4:18-20 his first disciples encounter him, begin to travel with him and eventually form the core of the early Church. This period includes the Sermon on the Mount, one of the major discourses of Jesus.
The ''Major Galilean ministry'' which begins in Matthew 8 refers to activities up to the death of John the Baptist. It includes the Calming the storm and a number of other miracles and parables, as well as the Mission Discourse in which Jesus instructs the twelve apostles who are named in Matthew 10:2-3 to carry no belongings as they travel from city to city and preach.
The ''Final Galilean ministry'' includes the Feeding the 5000 and Walking on water episodes, both in Matthew 14. The end of this period (as Matthew 16 and Mark 8 end) marks a turning point is the ministry of Jesus with the dual episodes of Confession of Peter and the Transfiguration - which begins his ''Later Judaean ministry''
as he starts his final journey to Jerusalem through Judaea.
As Jesus travels towards Jerusalem, in the ''Later Perean ministry'', about one third the way down from the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan, he returns to the area where he was baptized, and in John 10:40-42 "many people believed in him beyond the Jordan", saying "all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true". This period of ministry includes the Discourse on the Church in which Jesus anticipates a future community of followers, and explains the role of his apostles in leading it. At the end of this period, the Gospel of John includes the Raising of Lazarus episode.
The ''Final ministry in Jerusalem'' is sometimes called the ''Passion Week'' and begins with the Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. In that week Jesus drives the money changers from the Temple, and Judas bargains to betray him. This period includes the Olivet Discourse and the Second Coming Prophecy and culminates in the Last Supper, at the end of which Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure in the Farewell discourse. The accounts of the ministry of Jesus generally end with the Last Supper. However, some authors also consider the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension part of the ministry of Jesus.
Teachings and preachings
In the New Testament the teachings of Jesus are presented in terms of his "words and works". The words of Jesus include a number of sermons, as well as parables that appear throughout the narrative of the synoptic gospels (the Gospel of John includes no parables). The works include the miracles and other acts performed during his ministry. Although the canonical gospels are the major source of the teachings of Jesus, the Pauline epistles, which were likely written decades before the gospels, provide some of the earliest written accounts of the teachings of Jesus.
The New Testament does not present the teachings of Jesus as merely his own preachings, but equates the words of Jesus with divine revelation, with John the Baptist stating in John 3:34: "he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God" and Jesus stating in John 7:16: "My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me" and again re-asserting that in John 14:10: "the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works." In Matthew 11:27 Jesus claims divine knowledge, stating: "No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son", asserting the mutual knowledge he has with the Father.
The gospels include a number of discourses by Jesus on specific occasions, such as the Farewell discourse delivered after the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion. Although some of the teachings of Jesus are reported as taking place within the formal atmosphere of a synagogue (e.g. in Matthew 4:23) many of the discourses are more like conversations than formal lectures.
The Gospel of Matthew has a structured set of sermons, often grouped as the Five Discourses of Matthew, which present many of the key teachings of Jesus. Each of the five discourses has some parallel passages in the Gospel of Mark or the Gospel of Luke. The five discourses in Matthew begin with the Sermon on the Mount, which encapsulates many of the moral teaching of Jesus and which is one of the best known and most quoted elements of the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount includes the ''Beatitudes'' which describe the character of the people of the Kingdom of God, expressed as "blessings". The Beatitudes focus on love and humility rather than force and exaction and echo the key ideals of Jesus' teachings on spirituality and compassion. The other discourses in Matthew include the ''Missionary Discourse'' in Matthew 10 and the ''Discourse on the Church'' in Matthew 18, providing instructions to the disciples and laying the foundation of the codes of conduct for the anticipated community of followers.
Parables represent a major component of the teachings of Jesus in the gospels, the approximately thirty parables forming about one third of his recorded teachings. The parables may appear within longer sermons, as well as other places within the narrative. Jesus' parables are seemingly simple and memorable stories, often with imagery, and each conveys a teaching which usually relates the physical world to the spiritual world.
The gospel episodes that include descriptions of the miracle of Jesus also often include teachings, providing an intertwining of his "words and works" in the gospels. Many of the miracles in the gospels teach the importance of faith, for instance in Cleansing ten lepers and Daughter of Jairus the beneficiaries are told that they were healed due to their faith.
Proclamation as Christ and Transfiguration
At about the middle of each of the three synoptic gospels, two related episodes mark a turning point in the narrative: the Confession of Peter and the
Transfiguration of Jesus. These episodes begin in
Caesarea Philippi just north of the
Sea of Galilee at the beginning of the final journey to
Jerusalem which ends in the
Passion and
Resurrection of Jesus. These episodes mark the beginnings of the gradual disclosure of the identity of Jesus to his disciples; and his prediction of his own suffering and death.
Peter's Confession begins as a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples in Matthew 16:13, Mark 8:27 and Luke 9:18. Jesus asks his disciples: ''But who do you say that I am?'' Simon Peter answers him: ''You are the Christ, the Son of the living God''. In Matthew 16:17 Jesus blesses Peter for his answer, and states: "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." In blessing Peter, Jesus not only accepts the titles ''Christ'' and ''Son of God'' which Peter attributes to him, but declares the proclamation a divine revelation by stating that his Father in Heaven had revealed it to Peter. In this assertion, by endorsing both titles as divine revelation, Jesus unequivocally declares himself to be both Christ and the Son of God.
The account of the Transfiguration of Jesus appears in Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36. Jesus takes Peter and two other apostles with him and goes up to a mountain, which is not named. Once on the mountain, Matthew (17:2) states that Jesus "was transfigured before them; his face shining as the sun, and his garments became white as the light." At that point the prophets Elijah and Moses appear and Jesus begins to talk to them. Luke is specific in describing Jesus in a state of glory, with Luke 9:32 referring to "they saw his glory". A bright cloud appears around them, and a voice from the cloud states: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him".
The Transfiguration not only supports the identity of Jesus as the Son of God (as in his Baptism), but the statement "listen to him", identifies him as the messenger and mouth-piece of God. The significance is enhanced by the presence of Elijah and Moses, for it indicates to the apostles that Jesus is the voice of God, and instead of Elijah or Moses, he should be listened to, by virtue of his filial relationship with God. 2 Peter 1:16-18, echoes the same message: at the Transfiguration God assigns to Jesus a special "honor and glory" and it is the turning point at which God exalts Jesus above all other powers in creation.
At the end of both episodes, as in some other pericopes in the New Testament such as miracles, Jesus tells his disciples not to repeat to others, what they had seen - the command at times interpreted in the context of the theory of the Messianic Secret. At the end of the Transfiguration episode, Jesus commands the disciples to silence about it "until the Son of man be risen from the dead", relating the Transfiguration to the Resurrection episode.
Final week: betrayal, arrest, trial, and death
The description of the last week of the life of Jesus (often called the
Passion week) occupies about one third of the narrative in the canonical gospels. The narrative for that week starts by a description of the
final entry into Jerusalem, and ends with his crucifixion.
The last week in Jerusalem is the conclusion of the journey which Jesus had started in Galilee through Perea and Judea. Just before the account of the final entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the Gospel of John includes the Raising of Lazarus episode, which builds the tension between Jesus and the authorities. At the beginning of the week as Jesus enters Jerusalem, he is greeted by the cheering crowds, adding to that tension.
During the week of his "final ministry in Jerusalem", Jesus visits the Temple, and has a conflict with the money changers about their use of the Temple for commercial purposes. This is followed by a debate with the priests and the elder in which his authority is questioned. One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, decides to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
Towards the end of the week, Jesus has the Last Supper with his disciples, during which he institutes the Eucharist, and prepares them for his departure in the Farewell Discourse. After the supper, Jesus is betrayed with a kiss while he is in agony in the garden, and is arrested. After his arrest, Jesus is abandoned by most of his disciples, and Peter denies him three times, as Jesus had predicted during the Last Supper.
Jesus is first questioned by the Sanhedrin, and is then tried by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. During these trials Jesus says very little, and is mostly silent. After the scourging of Jesus, and his mocking as the King of the Jews Pilate orders the crucifixion.
Thus the final week that begins with his entry into Jerusalem, concludes with his crucifixion and burial on that Friday, as described in the next 5 sub-sections. The New Testament accounts then describe the resurrection of Jesus three days later, on the Sunday following his death.
Final entry into Jerusalem
In the four canonical gospels, Jesus' Triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place at the beginning of the last week of his life, a few days before the Last Supper, marking the beginning of the Passion narrative. While at Bethany Jesus sent two disciples to retrieve a donkey that had been tied up but never ridden and rode it into Jerusalem, with Mark and John stating Sunday, Matthew Monday, and Luke not specifying the day. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem the people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of trees and sang part of Psalm 118: 25-26.
In the three synoptic gospels, entry into Jerusalem is followed by the Cleansing of the Temple episode, in which Jesus expels the money changers from the Temple, accusing them of turning the Temple to a den of thieves through their commercial activities. This is the only account of Jesus using physical force in any of the gospels. John 2:13-16 includes a similar narrative much earlier, and scholars debate if these refer to the same episode. The synoptics include a number of well known parables and sermons such as the Widow's mite and the Second Coming Prophecy during the week that follows.
In that week, the synoptics also narrate conflicts between Jesus and the elders of the Jews, in episodes such as the Authority of Jesus Questioned and the Woes of the Pharisees in which Jesus criticizes their hypocrisy. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles approaches the Jewish elders and performs the "Bargain of Judas" in which he accepts to betray Jesus and hand him over to the elders. Matthew specifies the price as thirty silver coins.
Last Supper
In the New Testament, the Last Supper is the final meal that Jesus shares with his
twelve apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper is mentioned in all four canonical gospels, and Paul's
First Epistle to the Corinthians (
11:23-26), which was likely written before the gospels, also refers to it.
In all four gospels, during the meal, Jesus predicts that one of his Apostles will betray him. Jesus is described as reiterating, despite each Apostle's assertion that he would not betray Jesus, that the betrayer would be one of those who were present. In Matthew 26:23-25 and John 13:26-27 Judas is specifically singled out as the traitor.
In Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19-20 Jesus takes bread, breaks it and gives it to the disciples, saying: "This is my body which is given for you". In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Apostle Paul provides the theological underpinnings for the use of the Eucharist, stating: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." Although the Gospel of John does not include a description of the bread and wine ritual during the Last Supper, most scholars agree that John 6:58-59 (the Bread of Life Discourse) has a Eucharistic nature and resonates with the "words of institution" used in the synoptic gospels and the Pauline writings on the Last Supper.
In all four gospels Jesus predicts that Peter will deny knowledge of him, stating that Peter will disown him three times before the rooster crows the next morning. The synoptics mention that after the arrest of Jesus Peter denied knowing him three times, but after the third denial, heard the rooster crow and recalled the prediction as Jesus turned to look at him. Peter then began to cry bitterly.
The Gospel of John provides the only account of Jesus washing his disciples' feet before the meal. John's Gospel also includes a long sermon by Jesus, preparing his disciples (now without Judas) for his departure. Chapters 14-17 of the Gospel of John are known as the ''Farewell discourse'' given by Jesus, and are a rich source of Christological content.
Agony in the Garden, betrayal and arrest
In Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46 and John 18:1, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus takes a walk to pray, Matthew and Mark identifying this place of prayer as Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus is accompanied by Peter, John and James the Greater, whom he asks to "remain here and keep watch with me." He moves "a stone's throw away" from them, where he feels overwhelming sadness and says "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it." Only the Gospel of Luke mentions the details of the sweat of blood of Jesus and the visitation of the angel who comforts Jesus as he accepts the will of the Father. Returning to the disciples after prayer, he finds them asleep and in Matthew 26:40 he asks Peter: "So, could you men not keep watch with me for an hour?"
While in the Garden, Judas appears, accompanied by a crowd that includes the Jewish priests and elders and people with weapons. Judas gives Jesus a kiss to identify him to the crowd who then arrests Jesus. One of Jesus' disciples tries to stop them and uses a sword to cut off the ear of one of the men in the crowd. Luke states that Jesus miraculously healed the wound and John and Matthew state that Jesus criticized the violent act, insisting that his disciples should not resist his arrest. In Matthew 26:52 Jesus makes the well known statement: ''all who live by the sword, shall die by the sword''.
Prior to the arrest, in Matthew 26:31 Jesus tells the disciples: "All ye shall be offended in me this night" and in 32 that: "But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee." After his arrest, Jesus' disciples go into hiding.
Trials by the Sanhedrin, Herod and Pilate
In the narrative of the four canonical gospels after the
betrayal and arrest of Jesus, he is taken to the
Sanhedrin, a Jewish judicial body. Jesus is tried by the Sanhedrin, mocked and beaten and is condemned for making claims of being the
Son of God. He is then taken to
Pontius Pilate and the Jewish elders ask Pilate to judge and condemn Jesus—accusing him of claiming to be the
King of the Jews.
After questioning, with few replies provided by Jesus, Pilate publicly declares that he finds Jesus innocent, but the crowd insists on punishment. Pilate then orders Jesus' crucifixion. Although the gospel accounts vary with respect to various details, they agree on the general character and overall structure of the trials of Jesus.
In, Matthew 26:57,
Mark 14:53 and Luke 22:54 Jesus was taken to the high priest's house where he was mocked and beaten that night. The next day, early in the morning, the chief priests and scribes gathered together and lead Jesus away into their council. In John 18:12-14, however, Jesus is first taken to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, and then to Caiaphas. In all four gospel accounts the trial of Jesus is interleaved with the ''Denial of Peter'' narrative, where Peter who has followed Jesus denies knowing him three times, at which point the rooster crows as predicted by Jesus during the Last Supper.
In the gospel accounts Jesus speaks very little, mounts no defense and gives very infrequent and indirect answers to the questions of the priests, prompting an officer to slap him. In Matthew 26:62 the lack of response from Jesus prompts the high priest to ask him: "Answerest thou nothing?" Mark 14:55-59 states that the chief priests had arranged false witness against Jesus, but the witnesses did not agree together. In Mark 14:61 the high priest then asked Jesus: "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" And Jesus said, "I am" — at which point the high priest tore his own robe in anger and accused Jesus of blasphemy. In Luke 22:70 when asked: "Are you then the Son of God?" Jesus answers: "You say that I am" affirming the title Son of God. At that point the priests say: "What further need have we of witness? for we ourselves have heard from his own mouth" and decide to condemn Jesus. In Matthew 27:3-5 Judas, who has watched the trial from a distance, is distraught by his betrayal of Jesus, and attempts to return the thirty pieces of silver he had received for betraying Jesus. The priests tell him that his guilt is of his own account. Judas throws the money into the temple, and then leaves and hangs himself.
Taking Jesus to Pilate's Court, the Jewish elders ask Pontius Pilate to judge and condemn Jesus—accusing him of claiming to be the King of the Jews. In Luke 23:7-15 (the only gospel account of this episode), Pilate realizes that Jesus is a Galilean, and is thus under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. Pilate sends Jesus to Herod to be tried. However, Jesus says almost nothing in response to Herod's questions, or the continuing accusations of the chief priests and the scribes. Herod and his soldiers mock Jesus, put a gorgeous robe on him, as the King of the Jews, and sent him back to Pilate. Pilate then calls together the Jewish elders, and says that he has "found no fault in this man."
The use of the term king is central in the discussion between Jesus and Pilate. In John 18:36 Jesus states: "My kingdom is not of this world", but does not directly deny being the King of the Jews. And when in John 19:12 Pilate seeks to release Jesus, the priests object and say: "Every one that makes himself a king speaks against Caesar . . . We have no king but Caesar." Pilate then writes "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" as a sign (abbreviated as INRI in depictions) to be affixed to the cross of Jesus.
In Matthew 27:19 Pilate's wife, tormented by a dream, urges Pilate not to have anything to do with Jesus, and Pilate publicly washes his hands of responsibility, yet orders the crucifixion in response to the demands of the crowd. The trial by Pilate is followed by the flagellation episode, the soldiers mock Jesus as the King of Jews by putting a purple robe (that signifies royal status) on him, place a Crown of Thorns on his head, and beat and mistreat him in Matthew 27:29-30, Mark 15:17-19 and John 19:2-3. Jesus is then sent to Calvary for crucifixion.
Crucifixion and burial
Jesus' crucifixion is described in all four canonical gospels, and is attested to by other sources of that age (e.g. Josephus and Tacitus), and is regarded as an historical event.
After the trials, Jesus made his way to Calvary (the path is traditionally called via Dolorosa) and the three synoptic gospels indicate that he was assisted by Simon of Cyrene, the Romans compelling him to do so. In Luke 23:27-28 Jesus tells the women in multitude of people following him not to cry for him but for themselves and their children. Once at Calvary (Golgotha), Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall to drink — usually offered as a form of painkiller. Matthew's and Mark's gospels state that he refused this.
The soldiers then crucified Jesus and cast lots for his clothes. Above Jesus' head on the cross was the inscription King of the Jews, and the soldiers and those passing by mocked him about the title. Jesus was crucified between two convicted thieves, one of whom rebuked Jesus, while the other defended him. Each gospel has its own account of Jesus' last words, comprising the seven last sayings on the cross. In John 19:26-27 Jesus entrusts his mother to the disciple he loved and in Luke 23:34 he states: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do", usually interpreted as his forgiveness of the Roman soldiers and the others involved.
In the three synoptic gospels, various supernatural events accompany the crucifixion, including darkness of the sky, an earthquake, and (in Matthew) the resurrection of saints. The tearing of the temple veil, upon the death of Jesus, is referenced in the synoptic. The Roman soldiers did not break Jesus' legs, as they did to the other two men crucified (breaking the legs hastened the crucifixion process), as Jesus was dead already. One of the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and water flowed out. In Mark 13:59, impressed by the events the Roman centurion calls Jesus the Son of God.
Following Jesus' death on Friday, Joseph of Arimathea asked the permission of Pilate to remove the body. The body was removed from the cross, was wrapped in a clean cloth and buried in a new rock-hewn tomb, with the assistance of Nicodemus. In Matthew 27:62-66 the Jews go to Pilate the day after the crucifixion and ask for guards for the tomb and also seal the tomb with a stone as well as the guard, to be sure the body remains there.
Resurrection and ascension
thumb|upright|left|[[Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection by
Noel Coypel, 1700, using a
hovering depiction of Jesus.]]The New Testament accounts of the
resurrection and
ascension of Jesus, state that the first day of the week after the crucifixion (typically interpreted as a Sunday), his followers encounter him risen from the dead, after his tomb is discovered to be empty. The resurrected Jesus appears to them that day and a number of times thereafter, delivers sermons and
commissions them, before ascending to Heaven. Two of the canonical gospels (Luke and Mark) include a brief mention of the Ascension, but the main references to it are elsewhere in the New Testament.
In the four canonical gospels, when the tomb of Jesus is discovered empty, in Matthew 28:5, Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4 and John 20:12 his resurrection is announced and explained to the followers who arrive there early in the morning by either one or two beings (either men or angels) dressed in bright robes who appear in or near the tomb. The gospel accounts vary as to who arrived at the tomb first, but they are women and are instructed by the risen Jesus to inform the other disciples. All four accounts include Mary Magdalene and three include Mary the mother of Jesus. The accounts of Mark 16:9, John 20:15 indicate that Jesus appeared to the Magdalene first, and Luke 16:9 states that she was among the Myrrhbearers who informed the disciples about the resurrection. In Matthew 28:11-15, to explain the empty tomb, the Jewish elders bribe the soldiers who had guarded the tomb to spread the rumor that Jesus' disciples took his body.
After the discovery of the empty tomb, the gospels indicate that Jesus made a series of appearances to the disciples. These include the well known Doubting Thomas episode, where Thomas did not believe the resurrection until he was invited to put his finger into the holes made by the wounds in Jesus' hands and side; and the Road to Emmaus appearance where Jesus meets two disciples. The catch of 153 fish appearance includes a miracle at the Sea of Galilee, and thereafter Jesus encourages Peter to serve his followers.
The final post-resurrection appearance in the gospel accounts is when Jesus ascends to Heaven where he remains with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The canonical gospels include only brief mentions of the Ascension of Jesus, Luke 24:51 states that Jesus "was carried up into heaven". The ascension account is further elaborated in Acts 1:1-11 and mentioned 1 Timothy 3:16. In Acts 1:1-9, forty days after the resurrection, as the disciples look on, "he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." 1 Peter 3:22 describes Jesus as being on "the right hand of God, having gone into heaven".
The Acts of the Apostles also contain "post-ascension" appearances by Jesus. These include the vision by Stephen just before his death in Acts 7:55, and the road to Damascus episode in which Apostle Paul is converted to Christianity. The instruction given to Ananias in Damascus in Acts 9:10-18 to heal Paul is the last reported conversation with Jesus in the Bible until the Book of Revelation was written.
Title attributions
The New Testament attributes a wide range of titles to Jesus by the authors of the gospels, by Jesus himself, a voice from Heaven (often assumed to be God) during the Baptism and Transfiguration, as well as various groups of people such as the disciples, and even demons throughout the narrative. The emphasis on the titles used in each of the four canonical gospels gives a different emphasis to the portrayal of Jesus in that gospel.
Two of the key titles used for Jesus in the New Testament are Christ and Son of God. The opening words in Mark 1:1 attribute both Christ and Son of God as titles, reaffirming the second title again in Mark 1:11. The Gospel of Matthew also begins in 1:1 with the Christ title and reaffirms it in Matthew 1:16. Beyond the declarations by the Gospel writers, titles are attributed in the narrative. The statement by Peter in Matthew 16:16 ("you are the Christ, the Son of the living God") is a key turning point in the Gospel narrative, where Jesus is proclaimed as both Christ and Son of God by his followers and he accepts both titles. The immediate declaration by Jesus that the titles were revealed to Peter by "my Father who is in Heaven" not only endorses both titles as divine revelation but includes a separate assertion of sonship by Jesus within the same statement.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of God far more frequently than in the synoptic gospels. In a number of other episodes Jesus claims sonship by referring to the Father, e.g. in Luke 2:49 when he is found in the temple a young Jesus calls the temple "my Father's house", just as he does later in John 2:16 in the Cleansing of the Temple episode. However, scholars still debate if Jesus was making a claim to divinity in these statements. In John 11:27 Martha tells Jesus "you are the Christ, the Son of God", signifying that both titles were later used (yet considered distinct) in the narrative. While the Gospel of John frequently uses the Son of God title, the Gospel of Luke emphasizes Jesus as a prophet.
One of the most frequent titles for Jesus in the New Testament is the Greek word ''Kyrios'' (κύριος) which can mean God, Lord or master and is used to refers to him over 700 times. In everyday Aramaic, ''Mari'' was a very respectful form of polite address, well above "Teacher" and similar to Rabbi. In Greek this has at times been translated as Kyrios. The Rabbi title is used in several New Testament episodes to refer to Jesus, but more often in the Gospel of John than elsewhere and does not appear in the Gospel of Luke at all. Although Jesus accepts this title in the narrative, in Matthew 23:1-8 he rejected the title of Rabbi for his disciples, saying: "But be not ye called Rabbi".
Some New Testament scholars argue that Jesus claimed to be God through his frequent use of "I am" (''Ego eimi'' in Greek and ''Qui est'' in Latin). This term is used by Jesus in the Gospel of John on several occasions to refer to himself, seven times with specific titles. It is used in the Gospel of John both with or without a predicate. The seven uses with a predicate that have resulted in titles for Jesus are: ''Bread of Life'', ''Light of the World'', ''the Door'', ''the Good Shepherd'', ''the Resurrection of Life'', ''the Way, the Truth and the Life'', ''the Vine''. It is also used without a predicate, which is very unusual in Greek and Christologists usually interpret it as God's own self-declaration. In John 8:24 Jesus states: "unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins" and in John 8:59 the crowd attempts to stone Jesus in response to his statement that "Before Abraham was, I am". However, many modern scholars believe that Jesus never made a claim to divinity. John Hick says that this "is a point of broad agreement among New Testament scholars".
The Gospel of John opens by identifying Jesus as the divine Logos in John 1:1-18. The Greek term Logos () is often translated as "the Word" in English. The identification of Jesus as the Logos which became Incarnate appears only at the beginning of the Gospel of John and the term Logos is used only in two other Johannine passages: 1 John 1:1 and Revelation 19:13. John's Logos statements build on each other: the statement that the Logos existed "at the beginning" asserts that as Logos Jesus was an eternal being like God; that the Logos was "with God" asserts the distinction of Jesus from God; and Logos "was God" states the unity of Jesus with God.
Some authors have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament had meanings in the 1st century quite different from those meanings ascribed today, e.g. "messiah" and “Son of David” is found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish texts to refer to the heir to the throne; "son of God" to refer to a righteous person; and "son of man" to signify the third person in the subjective case and a polite way to refer to one's self.
Historical views
Existence
The Christian gospels were written primarily as theological documents rather than historical chronicles. However, the question of the existence of Jesus as a historical figure should be distinguished from discussions about the historicity of specific episodes in the gospels, the chronology they present, or theological issues regarding his divinity. A number of historical non-Christian documents, such as Jewish and Greco-Roman sources, have been used in historical analyses of the existence of Jesus. Most critical historians agree that Jesus existed and regard events such as his baptism and his crucifixion as historical.
Robert E. Van Voorst states that the idea of the non-historicity of the existence of Jesus has always been controversial, and has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines, and that classical historians, as well as biblical scholars now regard it as effectively refuted. Walter P. Weaver, among others, states that the denial of Jesus’ existence has never convinced any large number of people, in or out of technical circles.
Separate non-Christian sources used to establish the historical existence of Jesus include the works of 1st century Roman historians Josephus and Tacitus. Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman has stated that "few have doubted the genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in Antiquities 20, 9, 1 and it is only disputed by a small number of scholars. Bart D. Ehrman states that the existence of Jesus and his crucifixion by the Romans is attested to by a wide range of sources, including Josephus and Tacitus.
The historical existence of Jesus as a person is a separate issue from any religious discussions
about his divinity, or the theological issues relating to his nature as man or God. Leading scientific atheist Richard Dawkins specifically separates the question of the existence of Jesus from the attribution of supernatural powers to him, or the accuracy of the Christian gospels. Dawkins does not deny the existence of Jesus, although he dismisses the reliability of the gospel accounts. This position is also held by leading critic G. A. Wells, who used to argue that Jesus never existed, but has since changed his views and no longer rejects it.
In antiquity, the existence of Jesus was never denied by those who opposed Christianity. While theological differences existed among early Christians regarding the nature of Jesus (e.g. monophysitism, miaphysitism, Docetism, Nestorianism, etc.) these were debates in Christian theology, not about the historical existence of Jesus. Although a very small number of modern scholars argue that Jesus never existed, that view is a distinct minority and most scholars consider theories that Jesus' existence was a Christian invention as implausible.
Language, race and appearance
Jesus grew up in Galilee and much of his ministry took place there. The languages spoken in Galilee and Judea during the 1st century AD/CE include the Semitic Aramaic and Hebrew languages as well as Greek, with Aramaic being the predominant language. Most scholars agree that during the early part of 1st century AD/CE Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all women in Galilee and Judae. Most scholars support the theory that Jesus spoke Aramaic and that he may have also spoken Hebrew and Greek. In a review of the state of modern scholarship, Amy-Jill Levine stated: "Beyond recognizing that 'Jesus was Jewish' rarely does scholarship address what being 'Jewish' means."
The New Testament includes no description of the physical appearance of Jesus before his death and its narrative is generally indifferent to racial appearances and does not refer to the features of the people it discusses. The synoptic gospels include the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus during which he was glorified with "his face shining as the sun" but do not provide details of his everyday appearance. The Book of Revelation describes the features of a glorified Jesus in a vision (1:13-16), but the vision refers to Jesus in heavenly form, after his death. Old Testament references about the coming Messiah have been projected forward to form conjectures about the appearance of Jesus on theological, rather than historical grounds; e.g. Isaiah 53:2 which refers to the coming Messiah as "no beauty that we should desire him" and Psalm 45:2-3 which describes him as "fairer than the children of men", often interpreted as a description of his physical appearance.
Despite the lack of direct biblical or historical references, from the 2nd century, various theories about the race of Jesus were advanced, e.g. by Justin Martyr based on arguments on the genealogy of Jesus. These arguments have been subject to debate for centuries among modern scholars. Another suggestion by anti-Christian pagan author Celsus (who was likely aware of the gospel texts, and mocked them) that Jesus' father was a Roman soldier named Pantera drew responses from Origen who considered it a fabricated story, and scholars continue to view it as having no historical basis.
By the Middle Ages a number of documents, generally of unknown origin, were circulating with details of the appearance of Jesus, e.g. a forged letter by Publius Lentulus, the Governor of Judea, to the Roman Senate, which according to most scholars dates to around the year 1300 and was composed to compensate for the lack of any physical description of Jesus in the Bible. Other spurious references include the Archko Volume and the letter of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar, the descriptions in which were most likely composed in the Middle Ages.
By the 19th century theories that Jesus was of Aryan descent, in particular European, were developed and later appealed to those who wanted nothing Jewish about Jesus, e.g. Nazi theologians. These theories usually also include the reasoning that Jesus was Aryan because Galilee was an Aryan region, but have not gained scholarly acceptance. By the 20th century, theories had also been proposed that Jesus was of black African descent, e.g. based on the argument that Mary his mother was a descendant of black Jews. By the 21st century the race of Jesus was being addressed on television, e.g. a 2001 BBC program that suggested specific physical characteristics for him. In the 21st century, the race of Jesus also had a cultural component in cinematic portrayals, e.g. actor James Caviezel was made-up to look semitic as he portrayed Jesus.
Depictions
Despite the lack of biblical references or historical records, for two millennia a wide range of depictions of Jesus have appeared, often influenced by cultural settings, political circumstances and theological contexts. As in other
Christian art, the earliest depictions date to the late 2nd or early 3rd century, and survivors are primarily found in the
Catacombs of Rome. In these early depictions, which use popular rather than elite Greco-Roman styles, Jesus is usually shown as a youthful figure without a beard and with curly hair, often with different features from the other men in the scenes, such as his disciples or the Romans.
Although some images exist at the synagogue at Dura-Europos, Judaism forbade images, and there is no record of its influence on the depictions of Jesus. Christian depictions of the 3rd and 4th centuries typically focused on New Testament scenes of healings and other miracles. Following the conversion of Constantine in the 4th century, Christian art found many wealthy donors and flourished. In this period Jesus began to have more mature features, and was shown with a beard. A new development at this time was the depiction of Jesus without a narrative context, but just as a figure by himself.
By the 5th century depictions of the Passion began to appear, perhaps reflecting a change in the theological focus of the early Church. The 6th century Rabbula Gospels includes some of the earliest surviving images of the crucifixion and resurrection. By the 6th century the bearded depiction of Jesus had become standard in the East, though the West, especially in northern Europe, continued to mix bearded and unbearded depictions for several centuries. The depiction with a longish face, long straight brown hair parted in the middle, and almond shaped eyes shows consistency from the 6th century to the present. Various legends developed which were believed to authenticate the historical accuracy of the standard depiction, such as the image of Edessa and later the Veil of Veronica. Partly to aid recognition of the scenes, narrative depictions of the Life of Christ focused increasingly on the events celebrated in the major feasts of the church calendar, and the events of the Passion, neglecting the miracles and other events of Jesus's public ministry, except for the raising of Lazarus, where the mummy-like wrapped body was shown standing upright, giving an unmistakable visual signature. A cruciform halo was worn only by Jesus (and the other persons of the Trinity), while plain halos distinguished Mary, the Apostles and other saints, helping the viewer to read increasingly populated scenes.
The Byzantine Iconoclasm acted as a barrier to developments in the East, but by the 9th century art was permitted again. The Transfiguration of Jesus was a major theme in the East and every Eastern Orthodox monk who had trained in icon painting had to prove his craft by painting an icon of the Transfiguration. However, while Western depictions aim for proportion, in the Eastern icons the abolition of perspective and alterations in the size and proportion of an image aim to reaches beyond man's earthly dwellings.
The 13th century witnessed a turning point in the portrayal of the powerful Kyrios image of Jesus as a wonder worker in the West, as the Franciscans began to emphasize the humility of Jesus both at his birth and his death via the nativity scene as well as the crucifixion. The Franciscans approached both ends of this spectrum of emotions and as the joys of the Nativity of were added to the agony of crucifixion a whole new range of emotions were ushered in, with wide ranging cultural impact on the image of Jesus for centuries thereafter.
The Renaissance brought forth a number of artists who focused on the depictions of Jesus and after Giotto, Fra Angelico and others systematically developed uncluttered images that focused on the depiction of Jesus with an ideal human beauty. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper which is considered the first work of High Renaissance art due to its high level of harmony became well known for depicting Jesus surrounded by varying emotions of the individual apostles at the announcement of the betrayal. Meanwhile, the Protestant Reformation, especially in its first decades, violently objected to almost all public religious images as idolaterous, and vast numbers were destroyed.
By the end of the 19th century, new reports of miraculous images of Jesus had appeared and continue to receive significant attention, e.g. Secondo Pia's 1898 photograph of the Shroud of Turin, one of the most controversial artifacts in history, which during its May 2010 exposition it was visited by over 2 million people. Another 20th century depiction of Jesus, namely the Divine Mercy image based on Faustina Kowalska's reported vision has over 100 million followers. The first cinematic portrayal of Jesus was in the 1897 film ''La Passion du Christ'' produced in Paris, which lasted 5 minutes. Thereafter cinematic portrayals have continued to show Jesus with a beard in the standard western depiction that resembles traditional images.
Analysis of the gospels
The historical-critical method (or higher criticism) is used to examine the Bible for clues about the historical Jesus, whereby sayings and events that are more likely to be genuine in the opinion of scholars are used to construct their portraits of Jesus. Standard historical methods are used to discern the authorship of each book, and its likely date of composition.
The earliest extant texts which refer to Jesus are Paul's letters (mid-1st century), which affirm Jesus' crucifixion. Keulman and Gregory hold that the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus, predates the four orthodox gospels, and believe it may have been composed around mid-1st century.
Biblical scholars hold that the works describing Jesus were initially communicated by oral tradition, and were not committed to writing until several decades after Jesus' crucifixion. After the original oral stories were written down in Greek, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. The books of the New Testament had mostly been written by 100 AD/CE, making them, at least the synoptic gospels, historically relevant. The Gospel tradition certainly preserves several fragments of Jesus' teaching. The Markan priority hypothesis holds that the Gospel of Mark was written first ''c.'' 70 AD/CE. Matthew is placed at being sometime after this date and Luke is thought to have been written between 70 and 100 AD/CE. According to the Q source hypothesis supported by a majority of modern scholars, the gospels were written not by the four evangelists themselves but derived from other sources. A minority of prominent scholars, such as J. A. T. Robinson, have maintained that the writers of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John were either apostles and eyewitness to Jesus' ministry and death, or were close to those who had been. Sayings attributed to Jesus are deemed more likely to reflect his character when they are distinctive, vivid, paradoxical, surprising, and contrary to social and religious expectations, such as "Blessed are the poor". Short, memorable parables and aphorisms capable of being transmitted orally are also thought more likely to be authentic.
Scholars use textual criticism to determine which variants among manuscripts is original and how much they may have changed. Contemporary textual critic Bart D. Ehrman cites numerous places where he maintains that the gospels, and other New Testament books, were apparently altered by Christian scribes. Craig Blomberg, F. F. Bruce and Gregory Boyd view the evidence as conclusive that very few alterations were made by Christian scribes, while none of them (three or four in total) were important. By the end of the 19th century hundreds of such accounts existed, and in the early 20th century this resulted in the ''Quest for the historical Jesus'', a term coined by Albert Schweitzer.
The historical analysis has relied on Biblical criticism, as well as the political, cultural, and religious crises and movements in late Second Temple Judaism and in Roman Judaea, including differences between Galilee and Judaea, and between different sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots, In the 1950s the second ''Quest'' began and resulted in a number of new models and theories. The third ''Quest'' began in the 1990s, and continued into the 21st century, producing a variety of perspectives on the life of Jesus. Scholars generally agree that Jesus was a Jewish Galilean, but not a Roman citizen. Christina Kreinecker states that Jesus was simply a ''peregrinus'' (i.e. subject) of the Judea Province of the Roman Empire.
However, although scholars agree on basic historical facts such as the crucifixion of Jesus, the various "portraits of Jesus" they construct often differ from each other, and from the image found in the gospels.
The portraits of Jesus constructed by scholars often share a number of common, and at times overlapping building blocks, such as healer, philosopher, sage, apocalyptic preacher, or social reformer. However, Bart Ehrman and separately Andreas Köstenberger contend that given the scarcity of historical sources, it is generally difficult for any scholar to construct a portrait of Jesus that can be considered historically valid beyond the basic elements of his life. However, some scholars have suggested caution when reading modern meanings into terms such as rabbi at Jesus' time. At the time of Jesus the title rabbi was merely a general title for "teachers of the Law" and did not involve an official appointment. Martin Hengel states that as a "teacher of Wisdom", Jesus was not a typical representatives of the official establishment of the time. William Herzog states that although Jesus was called a rabbi and a teacher he rejected the title rabbi in the synoptic gospels and did not identify himself with the established notion of rabbi at the time.
An attribute used by many scholars to describe Jesus is a healer, a number of the same scholars also stating that he preached the restoration of God's kingdom. Many scholars also hold that the movement Jesus led (and his eschatology) were apocalyptic, as were the preachings of John the Baptist, but some scholars makes a distinction between John's apocalyptic ministry and Jesus' ethical teachings. Another attribute used to describe Jesus are a sage who preached the wisdom of God, offering new interpretations of Old Testament teachings. Two other views of Jesus are as a cynic philosopher and a social reformer who renounced material possessions and taught a new form of egalitarianism, social justice and equality among men and women as well as the abandonment of social class hierarchies. Some historians argue that Jewish and Roman authorities in Jerusalem were wary of Galilean patriots, and that Jesus' preachings were regarded as troubling, and he was hence executed on political charges.
Historicity of events
Modern scholars consider the
baptism of Jesus and
his crucifixion to be the two historically certain facts about him,
James Dunn stating that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent". Dunn states that these two facts "rank so high on the 'almost impossible to doubt or deny' scale of historical facts" that they are often the starting points for the study of the historical Jesus.
Bart Ehrman states that the crucifixion of Jesus on the orders of
Pontius Pilate is the most certain element about him.
John Dominic Crossan states that the crucifixion of Jesus is as certain as any historical fact can be.
Craig Blomberg states that most scholars in the third quest for the historical Jesus consider the crucifixion indisputable. Although scholars agree on the historicity of the crucifixion, they differ on the reason and context for it, e.g. both E.P. Sanders and Paula Fredriksen support the historicity of the crucifixion, but contend that Jesus did not foretell of his own crucifixion, and that his prediction of the crucifixion is a Christian story. Geza Vermes also views the crucifixion a historical event but provides his own explanation and background for it. John P. Meier views the crucifixion of Jesus as historical fact and states that based on the ''criterion of embarrassment'' Christians would not have invented the painful death of their leader. Meier states that a number of other criteria, e.g. the criterion of ''multiple attestation'' (i.e. confirmation by more than one source), the ''criterion of coherence'' (i.e. that it fits with other historical elements) and the ''criterion of rejection'' (i.e. that it is not disputed by ancient sources) help establish the crucifixion of Jesus as a historical event.
Role of archaeology
No documents written by Jesus exist, and no specific archaeological remnants are directly attributed to him. The 21st century has witnessed an increase in scholarly interest in the integrated use of archaeology as an additional research component in arriving at a better understanding of the historical Jesus by illuminating the socio-economic and political background of his age.
James Charlesworth states that few modern scholars now want to overlook the archaeological discoveries that clarify the nature of life in Galilee and Judea during the time of Jesus. Jonathan Reed states that chief contribution of archaeology to the study of the historical Jesus is the reconstruction of his social world. An example archaeological item that Reed mentions is the 1961 discovery of the Pilate Stone, which mentions the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, by whose order Jesus was crucified.
Reed also states that archaeological finding related to coinage can shed light on historical critical analysis. As an example, he refers to coins with the ""Divi filius" inscription. Although Roman Emperor Augustus called himself "Divi filius", and not "Dei filius" (Son of God), the line between been god and god-like was at times less than clear to the population at large, and the Roman court seems to have been aware of the necessity of keeping the ambiguity. Later, Tiberius who was emperor at the time of Jesus came to be accepted as the son of ''divus Augustus''. Reed discusses this coinage in the context of (known as Render unto Caesar...) in which Jesus asks his disciples to look at a coin: "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" and then advises them to "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Reed states that "the answer becomes much more subversive when one knows that Roman coinage proclaimed Caesar to be God".
David Gowler states that an interdisciplinary scholarly study of archeology, textual analysis and historical context can shed light on Jesus and his teachings. An example is the archeological studies at Capernaum. Despite the frequent references to Capernaum in the New Testament, little is said about it there. However, recent archeological evidence show that unlike earlier assumptions, Capernaum was poor and small, without even a forum or agora. This archaeological discovery thus resonates well with the scholarly view that Jesus advocated reciprocal sharing among the destitute in that area of Galilee. Other archeological findings support the wealth of the ruling priests in Judea at the beginning of the first century.
First century Jewish religious movements
Scholars refer to the religious background of the early 1st century to better reconstruct Jesus' life. Some scholars identify him with one or another group.
Pharisees were a powerful force in 1st-century Judaea. Early Christians shared several beliefs of the Pharisees, such as resurrection, retribution in the next world, angels, human freedom, and Divine Providence. After the fall of the Temple, the Pharisaic outlook was established in Rabbinic Judaism. Some scholars speculate that Jesus was himself a Pharisee. In Jesus' day, the two main schools of thought among the Pharisees were the House of Hillel, which had been founded by the eminent Tanna, Hillel the Elder, and the House of Shammai. Jesus' assertion of hypocrisy may have been directed against the stricter members of the House of Shammai, although he also agreed with their teachings on divorce. Jesus also commented on the House of Hillel's teachings (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a) concerning the greatest commandment and the Golden Rule. Historians do not know whether there were Pharisees in Galilee during Jesus' life, or what they would have been like.
Sadducees were particularly powerful in Jerusalem. They accepted the written Law only, rejecting the traditional interpretations accepted by the Pharisees, such as belief in retribution in an afterlife, resurrection of the body, angels, and spirits. After Jesus caused a disturbance at the Temple, it was to have been the Sadducees who had him arrested and turned over to the Romans for execution. After the fall of Jerusalem, they disappeared from history.
Essenes were apocalyptic ascetics, one of the three (or four) major Jewish schools of the time, though they were not mentioned in the New Testament. Some scholars theorize that Jesus was an Essene, or close to them. Among these scholars is Pope Benedict XVI, who supposes in his book on Jesus that "it appears that not only John the Baptist, but possibly Jesus and his family as well, were close to the Qumran community."
Zealots were a revolutionary party opposed to Roman rule, one of those parties that, according to Josephus inspired the fanatical stand in Jerusalem that led to its destruction in the year 70 AD/CE. Luke identifies Simon, a disciple, as a "zealot", which might mean a member of the Zealot party (which would therefore have been already in existence in the lifetime of Jesus) or a zealous person. The notion that Jesus himself was a Zealot does not do justice to the earliest Synoptic material describing him.
Mythical view
The term "Christ myth theory" is an umbrella term that applies to a range of arguments that in one way or another question the authenticity of the existence of Jesus or the essential elements of his life as described in the Christian gospels. One viewpoint is that there was no real historical figure Jesus and that he was invented by Christians. Another viewpoint is that there was a person called Jesus, but much of the teachings and miracles attributed to him were either invented or symbolic references. Yet another view holds that the Jesus portrayed in the gospels is a composite character constructed from multiple people over a period of time.
Supporters of the various Christ myth theories point to the lack of any known written references to Jesus during his lifetime and the relative scarcity of non-Christian references to him in the 1st century, and dispute the veracity of the existing accounts about him.
Among the variants of the Jesus myth theory, the notion that Jesus never existed has little scholarly support, and although some modern scholars adhere to it, they remain a distinct minority; most scholars involved with historical Jesus research believe that his existence can be established using documentary and other evidence.
In the context of historical theories, the hypothesis that Jesus never existed is a rather recent topic, and in antiquity his existence was never doubted, even by those who were critical of Christian teachings. In the early 18th century, friction between the church establishment and some theologians, coupled with the growing emphasis on rationalism, resulted in discord between the English deists and the church, and John Toland, Anthony Collins and Thomas Woolston planted the seeds of discontent.
The beginnings of the formal denial of the existence of Jesus can be traced to late 18th-century France, and the works of Constantin-Volney and Charles Dupuis. The more methodical writings of David Friedrich Strauss caused an uproar in Europe in 1835, and Strauss became known as the founder of Christ myth theory, his approach having been influenced by the epistemological views of Leibniz and Spinoza. Strauss did not deny the existence of Jesus, but believed that very few facts could be known about him and characterized the miraculous accounts in the gospels as "mythical". At about the same time in Berlin, Bruno Bauer supported somewhat similar ideas. Although both Strauss and Bauer drew on Hegel, their views did not coincide, and often conflicted. Karl Marx, a student and at the time a close friend of Bauer, was significantly influenced by him, as well as Hegel and Strauss, setting the stage for the denial of Jesus within communism.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Arthur Drews, William B. Smith and John M. Robertson became the most recognized proponents of the Christ myth theory. However, these authors were not performing purely atheist attacks on Christianity, e.g. Drew did not consider religion as outdated, but argued for a different form of religious consciousness. W. B. Smith argued for a symbolic interpretation of gospel episodes and contended that in a parable such as Jesus and the rich young man the rich young man never existed and symbolically referred to the land of Israel. Smith also argued that Jesus never healed anyone physically, but only spiritually cured them of their paganism. J. M. Robertson on the other hand viewed the gospel accounts as a collection of myths gathered by a large number of anonymous authors, over time.
When Marxist–Leninist atheism became part of the state ideals in communist Russia in 1922, the theories of Arthur Drew gained prominence there. The communist state not only supported the Christ myth theory but embellished it with scientific colloquialisms, and school textbooks began to teach that Jesus never existed, making Russia a bastion of Jesus denial. These ideas were rebuffed in Russia by Sergei Bulgakov and Alexander Men, copies of whose book began to circulate underground via typewriters in the 1970s to reintroduce Christianity to Russia.
In the 20th century, scholars such as G. A. Wells, Alvar Ellegård, and Robert M. Price produced a number of arguments to support the Christ myth theory. Non-scholarly works on the Jesus myth theory have since been published by mass-media authors such as Doherty, Freke and Gandy. In parallel, a number of historians and biblical scholars such as Paula Fredriksen, Geza Vermes, E.P. Sanders and others involved in the quest for the historical Jesus performed detailed analyses of historical and biblical documents. Almost all of these scholars accept the existence of Jesus, but differ on the accuracy of the details of his life within the biblical narratives. Robert Van Voorst stated that among "New Testament scholars and historians the theory of the non-existence of Jesus remains effectively dead as a scholarly question".
The Christ myth theory is still being debated in the 21st century, with Graham Stanton stating in 2002 that the most thorough analysis of the theory had been by G. A. Wells. But Wells' book ''Did Jesus Exist?'' was criticized by James D.G. Dunn in his book ''The Evidence for Jesus''. And the debates continue, e.g. Wells changed his views over time and while he used to argue that there was no historical evidence supporting the existence of Jesus, he later modified his position, and in his later book ''The Jesus Myth'' accepted the possible existence of Jesus based on historical sources, although still disputing the gospel portrayals of his life.
Religious perspectives
By and large, the Jews of Jesus' day rejected his claim to be the Messiah, as do Jews today. For their part, Christian Church Fathers, Ecumenical Councils, Reformers, and others have written extensively about Jesus over the centuries. Christian sects and schisms have often been defined or characterized by competing descriptions of Jesus. Meanwhile, Gnostics, Mandaeans, Manichaeans, Muslims, Baha'is, and others have found prominent places for Jesus in their own religious accounts.
Christian views
Although Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to summarize key elements of the shared beliefs among major denominations based on their
catechetical or
confessional texts. Christian views of Jesus are derived from various sources, but especially from the
canonical Gospels, and New Testament letters, such as the
Letters of Paul and
Johannine writings. Christians predominantly hold that these works are historically true.
These documents outline the key beliefs held by Christians about Jesus, including his divinity, humanity, and earthly life. Generally speaking, adhering to the Christian faith requires a belief that Jesus is the Son of God and the ''Christ''. In the New Testament Jesus indicates that he is the Son of God by calling God his father. However, not all Christian denominations agree on all doctrines, and both major and minor differences on teachings and beliefs have persisted throughout Christianity for centuries.
Christians consider Jesus the Christ and believe that through his death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life. These teachings emphasize that as the willing Lamb of God, Jesus ''chose to'' suffer in Calvary as a sign of his full obedience to the will of the Eternal Father, as an "agent and servant of God". The choice Jesus made thus counter-positions him as a the new and last Adam, new man of morality and obedience, in contrast to Adam's disobedience.
Most Christians believe that Jesus was both human and the Son of God. While there have been theological debate over the nature of Jesus, Trinitarian Christians generally believe that Jesus is the Logos, God incarnate, God the Son, and "true God and true man" (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again. According to the Bible, God raised him from the dead. He ascended to heaven, to sit at the "Right Hand of God," and he will return to earth again for the Last Judgment and the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the World to Come.
Christians not only attach theological significance to the works of Jesus, but also to his name. Devotions to the Holy Name of Jesus go back to the earliest days of Christianity. These devotions and feasts exist both in Eastern and Western Christianity.
Jewish views
Classic texts of Rabbinic Judaism reject any notion of an anthropomorphic God. Tractate Ta'anit of the Jerusalem Talmud states explicitly that “if a man claims to be God, he is a liar.” Furthermore Exodus Rabba 29 says, "'I am the first and I am the last, and beside Me there is no God' I am the first, I have no father; I am the last, I have no brother. Beside Me there is no God; I have no son."
Judaism rejects the idea of Jesus being God, or a person of a Trinity, or a mediator to God. Judaism also holds that Jesus is not the Messiah, arguing that he had not fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah. According to Jewish tradition, there were no prophets after Malachi, who delivered his prophesies about 420 BC/BCE.
The Talmud includes stories which some consider accounts of Jesus in the Talmud, although there is a spectrum from scholars, such as Maier (1978), who considers that only the accounts with the name ''Yeshu'' refer to the Christian Jesus, and that these are late redactions, to scholars such as Klausner (1925), who suggested that accounts related to Jesus in the Talmud may contain traces of the historical Jesus. However the majority of contemporary historians disregard this material as providing information on the historical Jesus. Many contemporary Talmud scholars view these as comments on the relationship between Judaism and Christians or other sectarians, rather than comments on the historical Jesus.
The ''Mishneh Torah'', an authoritative work of Jewish law, provides the last established consensus view of the Jewish community, in ''Hilkhot Melakhim'' 11:10–12 that Jesus is a "stumbling block" who makes "the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God".
Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world — there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him — there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, "Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder." Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcised of heart.}}
According to Conservative Judaism, Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah have "crossed the line out of the Jewish community". Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states "For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate".
Islamic views
In
Islam, Jesus ( '''') is considered to be a
Messenger of God and the ''
Masih'' (
Messiah) who was sent to guide the
Children of Israel (''banī isrā'īl'') with a new scripture, the ''
Injīl'' or
Gospel. The belief in Jesus (and all other messengers of God) is required in Islam, and a requirement of being a
Muslim. The
Qur'an mentions Jesus twenty-five times, more often, by name, than
Muhammad.
There is no mention of Joseph in the Quran, but it includes the annunciation to Mary (Arabic: Maryam) by an angel that she is to give birth to Jesus while remaining a virgin, a miraculous event which occurred by the will of God (Arabic: Allah). The details of the Mary's conception are not discussed during the angelic visit, but elsewhere the Quran states (21:91 and 66:12) that God breathed "His Spirit" into Mary while she was chaste. In Islam, Jesus is called the "Spirit of God" because he was born through the action of the spirit, but that belief does not include the doctrine of his pre-existence, as it does in Christianity.
Numerous other titles are given to Jesus in Islamic literature, the most common being ''al-Masīḥ'' ("the messiah"). Jesus is also, at times, called "Seal of the Israelite Prophets", because, in general Muslim belief, Jesus was the last prophet sent by God to guide the Children of Israel. Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter's coming. To aid in his ministry to the Jewish people, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles, all by the permission of God rather than of his own power.
The Qur'an emphasizes that Jesus was a mortal human being who, like all other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God's message. Islamic texts forbid the association of partners with God (''shirk''), emphasizing a strict notion of monotheism (''tawhīd''). Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is considered to have been a ''Muslim'' (i.e., one who submits to the will of God), as he preached that his followers should adopt the "straight path" as commanded by God.
Islam rejects the Christian view that Jesus was God incarnate or the son of God, that he was ever crucified or resurrected, or that he ever atoned for the sins of mankind. The Qur'an says that Jesus himself never claimed any of these things, and it furthermore indicates that Jesus will deny having ever claimed divinity at the Last Judgment, and God will vindicate him. According to Muslim traditions, Jesus was not crucified but instead, he was raised up by God unto the heavens. This "raising" is understood to mean through bodily ascension. Muslims believe that Jesus will return to earth near the day of judgment to restore justice.
Ahmadiyya views
The
Ahmadiyya Movement considers Jesus a mortal man who died a natural death. According to the early 20th century writings of
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement), Jesus survived his ordeal on the cross, and after his apparent death and resurrection, he fled Palestine and migrated eastwards to further teach the gospels. Jesus eventually died a natural death of old age in
Kashmir, India and is believed to be buried at
Roza Bal.
Although the view of Jesus having migrated to India has also been researched in the publications of independent historians with no affiliation to the movement, the Ahmadiyya Movement are the only religious organization to adopt these views as a characteristic of their faith. The general notion of Jesus in India is older than the foundation of the movement, and is discussed at length by Grönbold and Klatt.
The movement also interprets the second coming of Christ prophesied in various religious texts would be that of a person "similar to Jesus" (''mathīl-i ʿIsā''). Thus, Ahmadi's consider that the founder of the movement and his prophetical character and teachings were representative of Jesus and subsequently a fulfillment of this prophecy.
Bahá'í views
The
Bahá'í Faith, founded in 19th-century
Persia, considers Jesus, along with
Muhammad, the
Buddha,
Krishna, and
Zoroaster, and other messengers of the great religions of the world to be
Manifestations of God (or
prophets), with both human and divine stations. Bahá'ís refer to this concept as
Progressive Revelation, which means that God's will is revealed to mankind progressively as mankind matures and is better able to comprehend the purpose of God in creating humanity. In this view, God's word is revealed through a series of messengers: Moses, Jesus, Mohammed,
Bahá'u'lláh (the founder of the Bahá'í Faith) among them. In the
Book of Certitude, Bahá'u'lláh claims that these messengers have two natures: divine and human. Examining their divine nature, they are more or less the same being. However, when examining their human nature, they are individual, with distinct personalities. For example, when Jesus says "I and my Father are one", Bahá'ís take this quite literally, but specifically with respect to his nature as a Manifestation. When Jesus conversely stated "...And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me", Bahá'ís see this as a simple reference to the individuality of Jesus. This divine nature, according to Bahá'u'lláh, means that any Manifestation of God can be said to be the return of a previous Manifestation, though Bahá'ís also believe that some Manifestations with specific missions return with a "new name", and a different, or expanded purpose. Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is, in both respects, the return of Jesus.
Other views
Buddhist views of Jesus differ. Some
Buddhist views on Jesus including
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama regard Jesus as a
bodhisattva who dedicated his life to the welfare of human beings. It was recorded in
101 Zen Stories that the 14th century Zen master
Gasan Jōseki, on hearing some of the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels, remarked that he was "an enlightened man", and "not far from Buddhahood".
In a letter to his daughter Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote, "All over Central Asia, in Kashmir and Ladakh and Tibet and even farther north, there is a strong belief that Jesus or Isa travelled about there."
Mandaeanism, a very small Mideastern, Gnostic sect that reveres John the Baptist as God's greatest prophet, regards Jesus as a false prophet of the false Jewish god of the Old Testament, Adonai, and likewise rejects Abraham, Moses, and Muhammad.
Manichaeism accepted Jesus as a prophet, along with Gautama Buddha and Zoroaster.
The New Age movement entertains a wide variety of views on Jesus. The creators of ''A Course In Miracles'' claim to trance-channel his spirit. However, the New Age movement generally teaches that Christhood is something that all may attain. Theosophists, from whom many New Age teachings originated, refer to Jesus of Nazareth as the Master Jesus and believe the Christ, after various incarnations occupied the body of Jesus.
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, a deist, created the Jefferson Bible, an early (but not complete) gospel harmony that included only Jesus' ethical teachings because he did not believe in Jesus' divinity or any of the other supernatural aspects of the Bible.
Criticism
Criticism of Jesus has existed since the earliest days of Christianity. The New Testament states that Jesus was criticized by the Jewish authorities of his time, e.g. the
Pharisees and
scribes who criticized Jesus and his disciples for not observing the Mosaic Law, not washing their hands before eating (, ), or gathering grain on the Sabbath (). Later critics included
Celsus in the 2nd century and
Porphyry who wrote a 15 volume attack on Christianity as a whole.
Jesus continued to be criticized by Judaism, and in the early 12th century, the Mishneh Torah (the last established consensus of the Jewish community) called Jesus as a "stumbling block" who makes "the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God". Criticism of Jesus continued into the 19th century, with Nietzsche being highly critical of Jesus. For instance, Nietzsche considered Jesus' teachings anti-natural in their treatment of topics such as sexuality. In the 20th century Bertrand Russell was also critical of Jesus in Why I Am Not a Christian stated that Jesus was "not so wise as some other people have been, and He was certainly not superlatively wise."
See also
Views on Jesus
* Jesuism
* Jews for Jesus
* Lost years of Jesus
Related lists
* List of books about Jesus
* List of founders of religious traditions
* List of messiah claimants
* List of people claimed to be Jesus
* List of people who have been considered deities
References
Bibliography
The Bible
Allison, Dale. ''Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999. ISBN 0-8006-3144-7
Brown, Raymond E. ''An Introduction to the New Testament.'' New York: Doubleday, 1997. ISBN 0-385-24767-2
D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris. ''An Introduction to the New Testament.'' Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.
Cohen, Shaye J.D.. ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah''. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0-664-21911-6
Cohen, Shaye J.D. ''The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0-520-22693-3
Crossan, John Dominic.
* ''The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant.'' New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. ISBN 0-06-061629-6
* ''Who Killed Jesus?: exposing the roots of anti-semitism in the Gospel story of the death of Jesus''. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995. ISBN 978-0-06-061671-7
Davenport, Guy; and Urrutia, Benjamin (trans.) ''The Logia of Yeshua: The sayings of Jesus''. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 1996. ISBN 978-1-887178-70-9
De La Potterie, Ignace. ''The hour of Jesus: The passion and the resurrection of Jesus according to John''. New York: Alba House, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8189-0575-9
Durant, Will. ''Caesar and Christ.'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. ISBN 0-671-11500-6
Ehrman, Bart. ''The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-514183-0
Ehrman, Bart. ''The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-515462-2
Fredriksen, Paula. ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity.'' New York: Vintage, 2000. ISBN 0-679-76746-0
Fredriksen, Paula. ''From Jesus to Christ: The origins of the New Testament images of Christ.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-300-08457-3
Finegan, Jack. ''Handbook of Biblical Chronology'', revised ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1-56563-143-9
Fuller, Reginald H., ''The Foundations of New Testament Christology''. New York: Scribners, 1965. ISBN 0-227-17075-X
Michael Grant, ''Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels'', Scribner’s, 1977.
Meier, John P., ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'', New York: Anchor Doubleday,
* V. 1, ''The Roots of the Problem and the Person'', 1991. ISBN 0-385-26425-9
* V. 2, ''Mentor, Message, and Miracles'', 1994. ISBN 0-385-46992-6
* V. 3, ''Companions and Competitors'', 2001. ISBN 0-385-46993-4
*Newbigin, J.E.L. ''The Gospel In a Pluralist Society''. London: SPCK, 1989.
O'Collins, Gerald. ''Interpreting Jesus.'' "Introducing Catholic theology". London: G. Chapman; Ramsey, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983. ISBN 978-0-8091-2572-2
Pelikan, Jaroslav. ''Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07987-7
Robinson, John A. T. ''Redating the New Testament.'' Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001 (original 1977). ISBN 1-57910-527-0.
Sanders, E.P. ''The Historical Figure of Jesus.'' London: Allen Lane Penguin Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-7139-9059-1
Sanders, E.P. ''Jesus and Judaism.'' Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8006-2061-5
Vermes, Géza.
* ''Jesus the Jew'' Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973.
* ''Jesus in his Jewish Context.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0-8006-3623-6
* ''Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1981. ISBN 0-8006-1443-7
* ''The Religion of Jesus the Jew.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1993. ISBN 0-8006-2797-0
Wilson, A.N. ''Jesus.'' London: Pimlico, 2003. ISBN 0-7126-0697-1
Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," ''Christian History'' 17 (1998)
Wright, N.T.
* ''Jesus and the Victory of God.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1997. ISBN 0-8006-2682-6
* ''The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0-8006-2679-6
External links
Complete Sayings of Jesus Christ In Parallel Latin & English
"Jesus Christ." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 12 Nov. 2009
''From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians'' — documentary about Jesus' life and the early Church.
The Jewish Roman World of Jesus
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ace:Isa
af:Jesus van Nasaret
als:Jesus Christus
am:ኢየሱስ
ang:Iesus
ab:Иесуа Қьырста
ar:يسوع
an:Chesús de Nazaret
arc:ܝܫܘܥ
roa-rup:Isa Hristo
ast:Xesús
az:İsa
bm:Yesu Krista
bn:যিশু
zh-min-nan:Iâ-so͘
ba:Ғайса
be:Ісус Хрыстос
be-x-old:Ісус Хрыстос
bcl:Hesukristo
bi:Jisas Kraes
bg:Исус Христос
bo:ཡེ་ཤུ།
bs:Isus
br:Jezuz Nazaret
bxr:Иисус Христос
ca:Jesús de Natzaret
cv:Иисус Христос
ceb:Jesus
cs:Ježíš Kristus
cbk-zam:Jesus
ny:Yesu Kristu
tum:Yesu Khristu
co:Gesù Cristu
cy:Iesu
da:Jesus
pdc:Yeesus Grischdus
de:Jesus von Nazaret
dv:އީސާގެފާނު
nv:Doodaatsaahii (Jíísas)
dsb:Jezus Kristus
et:Jeesus
el:Ιησούς Χριστός
eml:Gesü
es:Jesús de Nazaret
eo:Jesuo Kristo
ext:Jesucristu
eu:Jesus Nazaretekoa
ee:Yesu
fa:عیسی
hif:Jesus
fo:Jesus
fr:Jésus de Nazareth
fy:Jezus Kristus
fur:Jesus
ga:Íosa Críost
gd:Ìosa Chrìosd
gl:Xesús de Nazareth
gan:耶穌
gu:ઇસુ
got:𐌹𐌴𐍃𐌿𐍃 𐍇𐍂𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃/Iesus Xristus
hak:Yâ-sû
ko:예수
ha:Isa Almasihu
hy:Հիսուս
hi:ईसा मसीह
hsb:Jězus
hr:Isus
ig:Jisọs Kraịst
ilo:Jesus
id:Yesus
ia:Jesus Christo
iu:ᐱᐅᓕᑦᓯᔨ
os:Йесо Чырысти
xh:UYesu Kristu
is:Jesús
it:Gesù
he:ישו
jv:Yesus Kristus
kl:Jiisusi-Kristus
kn:ಯೇಸು ಕ್ರಿಸ್ತ
ka:იესო ქრისტე
kk:Иса Мәсіх
kw:Yesu Krist
rw:Yezu Kirisitu
rn:Yezu Kirisitu
sw:Yesu
kv:Исус Кристос
kg:Yesu
ht:Jezi
ku:Îsa
lad:Yeshu
lbe:Эса идавс
lez:Иса (пайгъамбар)
lo:ພະເຍຊູ
ltg:Jezus Krystus
la:Iesus
lv:Jēzus Kristus
lb:Jesus vun Nazaret
lt:Jėzus Kristus
lij:Gesû Cristo
li:Zjezus Christus
ln:Yésu
jbo:iesus
lg:Jesu Kristo
lmo:Gesü de Nazaret
hu:Jézus
mk:Исус Христос
mg:Jesoa
ml:യേശു
mt:Ġesù
mi:Ihu Karaiti
mr:येशू ख्रिस्त
xmf:იოსე ქირსე
arz:يسوع
mzn:عیسی
ms:Yesus Kristus
cdo:Ià-sŭ
mwl:Jasus
mn:Есүс Христ
my:ခရစ်တော်၊ ယေရှု
nah:Yeshua Christós
na:Jesu Kristo
fj:Jisu Karisito
nl:Jezus (traditioneel-christelijk)
nds-nl:Jezus Christus
ne:जिसस क्राइस्ट
ja:イエス・キリスト
nap:Gèsù
pih:Jesus
no:Jesus Kristus
nn:Jesus
nrm:Jésus-Chrît
oc:Jèsus
mhr:Исус Христос
om:Yesuus
uz:Iso Masih
pa:ਈਸਾ ਮਸੀਹ
pnb:یسوع
pap:Hesus
ps:عيسی
koi:Иисус Христос
pms:Gesù ëd Nàsaret
tpi:Jisas
nds:Jesus Christus
pl:Jezus Chrystus
pt:Jesus
ty:Iesu Mesia
ksh:Jesus Christus
ro:Isus din Nazaret
rm:Jesus da Nazaret
qu:Jesus
rue:Ісус Хрістос
ru:Иисус Христос
sah:Исус
se:Jesus
sm:Iesu Keriso
sc:Gesùs
sco:Jesus Christ
nso:Jesu
sq:Jezusi
scn:Gesù Cristu
si:ජේසුස් තුමා
simple:Jesus
ss:Bukhristu
sk:Ježiš Kristus
sl:Jezus Kristus
cu:Їисъ Хрїстъ
szl:Jezus Kristus
so:Ciise
ckb:یەسووع
srn:Jesus Christus
sr:Исус
sh:Isus
fi:Jeesus
sv:Jesus
tl:Hesus
ta:இயேசு கிறித்து
kab:Ɛisa
tt:Ğaysa
te:యేసు
th:พระเยซู
tg:Исо
to:Sīsū Kalaisi
tr:İsa
tk:Isa Pygamber
tw:Yesu Kristo
uk:Ісус Христос
ur:عیسیٰ علیہ السلام
ug:ئەيسا مەسىھ
za:Yesu
vec:Jesu
vi:Giê-su
fiu-vro:Jeesus
wa:Djezus-Cri
vls:Jezus van Nazareth
war:Hesus
wo:Yéesu-kristaa
wuu:耶稣
yi:יעזוס
yo:Jésù
zh-yue:耶穌
bat-smg:Jiezos Krėstos
zh:耶稣
