Who is Jesus Christ?

People call Jesus many things: a wise teacher, a prophet, a moral example. The Gospels give a fuller answer.

A real man from Nazareth

Jesus was a Jew, born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth in Galilee (Luke 2:4–7). Luke notes that He was about thirty when He began His ministry and that people took Him for Joseph’s son (Luke 3:23). Thirty was the usual age for taking up a public office in Israel, so Luke probably gives a round figure, and his wording reminds the reader once more that Joseph was not His real father.

The Gospels show a man who was truly human. He grew tired on a journey (John 4:6) and wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus (John 11:35). As God He never needed to tire, but as man He did, and His tears were real human tears. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He could be tempted, but He could not sin. And because He went through what we go through, He understands us.

His name and title say who He is. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, meaning “the Lord saves,” and the angel explained it: He would rescue His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Christ is not a surname. Messiah is the Hebrew word for the Anointed One, used of Israel’s kings and priests, and Christ is its Greek translation. Both are titles, not personal names (John 1:41).

The eternal Son of God who became human

John opens his Gospel with the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1). The Word did not begin to exist; He always was, before anything was made. Then John writes:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 · King James Version (1769)

The divine nature was not changed into a human one. John Gill puts it in one line: “Christ remained what he was, and became what he was not.” The word translated “dwelt” means to pitch a tent, an echo of the tabernacle where God met with Israel.

Paul describes the same Person:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:15–17 · King James Version (1769)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, and all things were made through Him and hold together in Him. On the word “firstborn,” commentators take two routes to the same conclusion. John MacArthur explains that it usually means first in rank, the one who holds the rights of the heir. Matthew Henry reads it as born before all creation, which is Scripture’s way of speaking of eternity. Neither reading makes Christ a creature, since the passage says that all things were created through Him.

When Thomas saw the risen Jesus, he called Him his Lord and his God (John 20:28). Albert Barnes observes that Jesus did not correct him, though no godly man would have let anyone speak to him that way. It is the greatest confession a person can make.

What Jesus said about Himself

In John’s Gospel Jesus calls Himself the light of the world (John 8:12), the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11) and the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). He also forgave sins. The scribes were right that only God can forgive sins, and wrong to call Jesus a blasphemer (Mark 2:5–7). A man who forgives sins is claiming to be God.

On the night before His death He said:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6 · King James Version (1769)

There are not many ways to God but one. William MacDonald adds that Jesus does not merely show the way; He is the way, and salvation is found in His Person.

Paul sums up the message the first Christians received: Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose on the third day, as the Scriptures had foretold (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 53 had spoken of His suffering and resurrection. He died not for His own sins, but for ours.

Who do you say He is?

At Caesarea Philippi Jesus asked what people were saying about Him, and then made the question personal:

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Matt 16:15–16 · King James Version (1769)

Peter answers for all twelve. By calling Jesus the Christ he means the long-awaited King promised in the Old Testament, and Son of God here is not a pagan demigod but the title God gave to that promised King. The living God stands in contrast to the dead idols of the nations.

John tells us why he wrote his Gospel: so that readers would come to trust Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, and through that faith receive life (John 20:31). This is the purpose of the whole book. The best way to answer Jesus’ question for yourself is to read one of the Gospels, perhaps Mark or John, and ask God to show you who Jesus is.