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 Jesus Christ (the Son of Man)
being nailed to the cross
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In the bible, Jesus (Greek Iēsous) often refers to Himself as the Son of Man.
32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise." (Mark 10:32-34 ESV)
Christian interpretation The phrase son of man took on Messianic significance within the Christian movement primarily due to the Jewish eschatology during the time of its early conception. Originating in the book of Daniel —7:13, in a vision, one like a son of man is described coming upon the clouds of the sky to unite the world. |
As a result, some Christians believe that in the body of the New Testament, son of man is used forty-three times as a distinctive title of Jesus within this Messianic context. Other Christians interpret it as Jesus showing humility, avoiding using titles like Messiah and Son of God. Still other Christians believe the title is meant to signify Jesus upholding his identification with his humanity and fellowship with mankind, perhaps also conveying the idea that Jesus is the man par excellence. In this last context it serves as putting humans and Jesus on the same level.
Jewish interpretation
- As generally interpreted by Jews, denotes mankind generally, with special reference to their weakness and frailty —Job 25:6; Psalms 8:4; 144:3; 146:3; Isaiah 51:12, etc.
- It is a title frequently given to the prophet Ezekiel, probably to remind him of his human weakness.
Additionally, the Biblical book of Daniel mentions the prophet's vision of the coming of one 'like a son of man'; possibly implying that this is not actually a man but a divine figure.
When interpreting the Bible, one cannot exclusively rely on English translations. Son of man in Job 25 is ben adam (Hebrew: בן־אדם), and "son of man" in Psalms 144 is ben enosh (Hebrew: בן־אנוש). This phrase also appears in the non-canonical Book of Enoch.
Scholarly interpretation
Geza Vermes, professor emeritus of Jewish studies at Wolfson College, Oxford, has argued that "the son of man" in the Gospels is unrelated to these Hebrew Bible usages. He begins with the observation that there is no example of "the" son of man in Hebrew sources. He suggests that the term originates in Aramaic — bar nasha (see also: Aramaic of Jesus). Based on his study of Aramaic sources, he concludes that in these sources and in the Christian Bible, "son of man" is simply a synonym for man, and a substitute for the indefinite pronoun ("one"). Based on context, he claims that one should translate "bar nasha" as someone, anyone or I. He further argues that "son of man" is in no way a title. Although the Aramaic "bar nasha" can be translated generically, as somebody or anyone, the expression may have been recognized as a title if it were used within a Hebrew sentence.
However, below we see a quotation from the Psalms in which "son of man" appears to refer to humanity in general, but which the author of Hebrews appears to interpret as referring specifically to Jesus.
—Hebrews 2:6-9
But one testified in a certain place, saying: "What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet." [quoted from Psalm 8:3-5] For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
Regardless of what Jesus meant when He soft often referred to himself as the "Son of Man," the point is that, He was referring to Himself.
23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"
Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
34The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ [or Messiah] will remain forever, so how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?"
35Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.
—John 12:23-35 ESV
The name of Jesus, meaning "Savior" in Christian usage, derived from the Aramaic and Hebrew Yeshua and Joshua, meaning Yahweh is salvation (see: YHVH). Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and the prophesied Hebrew Messiah (Anointed One, deliverer of Israel). Also known as "Jesus Christ", "Jesus of Nazareth", and "Jesus the Nazarene".
Christian views of Jesus (known as Christology) are both diverse and complex. Most Christians are Trinitarian and affirm the Nicene Creed, believing that Jesus is both the Son of God and God made incarnate1, sent to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by atoning for the sins of humanity.
Other Christians, however, do not believe that the Nicene Creed correctly interprets Scripture.
The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the Gospel of Matthew (probably written between 60 and 85 AD/CE) and the Gospel of Luke (probably written between 60 and 100 AD/CE). There is considerable debate about the details of Jesus' birth even among Christian scholars, and few scholars claim to know either the year or the date of his birth or of his death.
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| Gospels of the shepherds' activities, the time of year depicted for Jesus' birth could be spring or summer. However, as early as 354, Roman Christians celebrated it following the December solstice in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia (or more specifically, Sol Invictus). Before then, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the feast of Theophany, also known as Epiphany, which commemorated not only Jesus' birth but also his baptism by John in the Jordan River and possibly additional events in Jesus' life. The traditional date of Jesus's birth is celebrated as "Christmas".
In the 248th year of the Diocletian Era (based on Diocletian's ascension to the Roman throne), Dionysius Exiguus attempted to pinpoint the number of years since Jesus' birth, arriving at a figure of 753 years after the founding of Rome.
Dionysius then set Jesus' birth as being December 25 1 ACN (for "Ante Christum Natum", or "before the birth of Christ"), and assigned AD 1 to the following year—thereby establishing the system of numbering years from the birth of Jesus: Anno Domini (which translates as "in the year of our Lord"). This system made the then current year 532, and almost two centuries later it won acceptance and became the established calendar in Western civilization due to its championing by the Venerable Bede.
However, based on a lunar eclipse that Josephus reports shortly before the death of Herod the Great (who plays a major role in Matthew's account), as well as a more accurate understanding of the succession of Roman Emperors, Jesus' birth would have been some time before the year 4 BC/BCE. Having fewer sources and being further removed in time from the authors of the New Testament, establishing a reliable birth date now is particularly difficult.
The exact date of Jesus' death is also unclear. The Gospel of John depicts the crucifixion just before the Passover festival on Friday 14 Nisan, called the Quartodeciman, whereas the synoptic gospels describe the Last Supper, immediately before Jesus' arrest, as the Passover meal on Friday 15 Nisan. Further, the Jews followed a lunisolar calendar with phases of the moon as dates, complicating calculations of any exact date in a solar calendar. According to John P. Meier's A Marginal Jew, allowing for the time of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate and the dates of the Passover in those years, his death can be placed most probably on April 7, 30 or April 3, 33.
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 The Mandylion of Edessa from the private chapel of the pope in the Vatican is considered to be the earliest painting of Jesus.
(larger image)that he is:
Most Christians hold that the Gospels also teach that Jesus is divine and equal to God the Father —John 8:58, 10:30; however, other groups, citing John 14:28 and various other verses, adhere to different interpretions of the nature of Jesus.
According to the Gospels, Jesus was born in Bethlehem to Mary, a virgin, by a miracle of the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Luke gives an account of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her that she was chosen to bear the son of God —Luke 1:26-28.
Catholics call this the Annunciation. Joseph of Nazareth, Mary's betrothed husband, appears only in stories of Jesus' childhood. With Jesus commending Mary into the care of John the Apostle during his crucifixion, it is likely that Joseph had died by the time of Jesus' ministry.
Spiritual Significance of Luke 3:23The spitirtual significance of the comment in Luke 3:23 "as was supposed" (in some translations "so it was thought") (of Joseph's fatherhood) is in the fact that God is letting us know that Jewish society did NOT understand the real paternity of Jesus...that of the Holy Spirit.. thus was incapable of understanding His ministry.. as was certainly exhibited by the actions and attitudes of the scribes, Pharisees, lawyers, etc. to whom parentage and ancestry had become a cumbersome and burdensome legalism that blighted New Testament Judaism. They completely missed the Messianic note in the lists of both Matthew and Luke.. except for a very small minority like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, eventually..or Simeon or Anna of Luke 2 (see also Genealogy of Jesus).
Major events in Jesus' life in the Gospels
Both Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 tell of Jesus' siblings. Mark 6 reports that Jesus was "Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon," and also states that Jesus had sisters. The 1st-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus describes James as "the brother of Jesus who is called Christ", though this passage has been suggested as an interpolation. Additionally, the Christian historian Eusebius of Caesarea (who wrote in the 4th century but quoted much earlier sources that are now lost) refers to James the Just as Jesus' brother (See Desposyni). However, Jerome argued that they were Jesus' cousins, which the Greek word for "brother" as used in the Gospels would encompass. This was based on the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition that Mary remained a perpetual virgin, thus having no biological children before or after Jesus. The Gospel of Luke records that Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:36), though the exact relationship is unspecified.
Jesus' childhood home is represented as Nazareth in Galilee. Aside from a flight to Egypt in infancy to escape Herod's Massacre of the Innocents and a short trip to Tyre and Sidon, all other events in the Gospels are set in ancient Israel. Only one incident between his infancy and his adult life, the Finding in the Temple, is mentioned in the canonical gospels (see biblical canon), although New Testament apocrypha (not in the canonical Hebrew Scriptures nor in the Authorized Version) fill in the details of this time, some quite extensively. For most Christians, only the virgin birth and the Incarnation itself are major articles of faith for this period of time before the beginning of Jesus' ministry. |
 The Baptism of Christ. Artist: Piero della Francesca, c. 1440-1450, Oil on panel. location: National Gallery. source: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei : von der Antike bis zum Beginn der Moderne. Publisher: Berlin : The Yorck Project, 2002.
(larger image)At the height of his ministry, Jesus attracted huge crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, primarily in the areas of Galilee (in modern-day northern Israel) and Perea (in modern-day western Jordan). Though many of his followers were considered disciples, the focus of his ministry was toward his closest adherents, the twelve disciples (from the Latin word discipulus meaning "student"), later called the Twelve Apostles (from the Greek word apostolos meaning "to send out").
The twelve disciples were commissioned, by Jesus, to continue the work of His ministry on Earth. According to the Gospels, Jesus also performed various miracles, including healings, exorcisms, walking on water, turning water into wine, and raising several people, such as Lazarus, from the dead. |
 Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man!"), Pontius Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus of Nazareth to the people of JerusalemHis teaching castigated the Pharisees primarily for their legalism —Matthew 15:9 and hypocrisy —Luke 18:10-14, although he also had followers among religious leaders such as Nicodemus. Jesus was also known as a social reformer. Jesus introduced and preached the concept of agape (literally "[God kind of] love"). Jesus also preached about faith, service and humility, the forgiveness of sin, and attaining everlasting life in "The Kingdom of God." Many interpret the Gospels to suggest that Jesus was opposed to much of traditional Jewish law, advocating more the spirit than the letter of the law. Some contend, for example, that Jesus preached a "higher level" of morality than in Jewish law, since, for instance, he preached to love not only your "neighbor" but your "enemy" as well —Matthew 5:43-48. But despite the many unique aspects of Jesus' teaching, recent Christian and Jewish scholarship have moderated the perception of opposition between Jesus and the Jewish teachers of his day by showing his substantial agreement with trends in the Jewish religious thinking. It is commonly thought that Jesus preached for a period of three years, but this is never mentioned explicitly in any of the four gospels, and some interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year. Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the end of his ministry is usually associated with the Passover Feast (15 Nisan or spring), as stated in the New Testament, which indicates that the waving of palm fronds and other greetings from the crowd were intended to hail him as the Messiah —John 12:13. The Hosanna shout and the waving of palm fronds, ordinarily a part of the feast of Sukkoth (15 Tishri or fall), appear to have been moved by the followers of Jesus to Passover because of their Messianic associations. According to the Gospels, Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival, and created a disturbance at the Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers there.
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He was subsequently arrested on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the high priest, Caiaphas, for blasphemy, because he claimed to be the Messiah —Mark 14:62 and because, the Jews believed, he had made himself to be God (John 10:33). He was identified to the guards by one of his apostles, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus by a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane, after which another apostle (identified as Peter in the Gospel of John), used a sword to attack one of the captors, cutting off his ear, which Jesus immediately healed. After his arrest, Jesus' apostles went into hiding. Jesus was condemned for blasphemy by the Sanhedrin and turned over to the Romans, charged with sedition for claiming to be King of the Jews. The usual penalty for sedition was a humiliating death by crucifixion, but, according to the Gospels, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate did not find Jesus to be guilty of any crime.
So Pilate first had Jesus flogged, and then, remembering that it was a custom at Passover for the Roman governor to free a prisoner, Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Jesus of Nazareth and an insurrectionist named Barabbas. |
 Jesus' crucifixion as portrayed by Diego VelázquezPilate washed his hands to display that he himself was innocent of the injustice of the decision. All four Gospels say Pilate then ordered Jesus to be crucified with a charge placed atop the cross (called the titulus crucis) which read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". (The titulus crucis is often written as INRI, the Latin acronym.) According to Matthew and Mark, his last words were "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (taken from Psalm 22), according to John, "It is finished," and according to Luke, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." While it was common practice to let a body hang upon the cross for days and decay, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were allowed to take his body down and place it in a tomb.
According to the New Testament, Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. This day is celebrated by Christians as Resurrection Sunday during Easter.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke state that on the third day of death, an angel appeared near the tomb of Jesus and announced his ressurection to the women who had arrived to anoint the body. The sight of the same angel had apparently left the Roman guards unconscious (Matthew 28:2-4). (According to Matthew 27:62-66, the high priests and Pharisees, with Pilate's permission, had posted guards in front of the tomb to prevent the body from being stolen by Jesus' disciples.) Mark 16:9 states that the morning of his resurrection, Jesus first appeared to his disciple, Mary Magdalene. John 20:11-18 states that when Mary Magdalene looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus—even by his voice—until he called her by her name. The Acts of the Apostles tell of several appearances of Jesus to various people in various places over a period of forty days before he ascended into heaven. Hours after his resurrection, he appeared to two travelers on the road to Emmaus. To his assembled disciples he showed himself on the evening after his resurrection. According to John, during one of these visits, Jesus' disciple Thomas initially doubted the resurrection, but after placing his finger in Jesus' peirced side, said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Thereafter, Jesus went to Galilee and showed himself to several of his disciples by the lake and on the mountain. These disciples were present when he returned to the Mount of Olives, between Bethany and Jerusalem, and was lifted up to heaven and a cloud concealed him from their sight. According to Acts, Paul of Tarsus also saw Jesus during his Road to Damascus experience. Most scholars agree the Gospels were written after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. According to most critical historians, Jesus probably lived in Galilee for most of his life and he probably spoke Aramaic and Hebrew. Many have sought to reconstruct Jesus's life in terms of contemporaneous political, cultural, and religious currents in Israel, including differences between Galilee and Judea; between different sects such the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, and in terms of conflicts among Jews in the context of Roman occupation. See Josephus on Jesus, historicity of Jesus and Aramaic for more about Israel in Jesus' day and what effect this may have had on his life. Examining the New Testament account of Jesus in light of historical knowledge about the time when Jesus was purported to live, as well as historical knowledge about the time during which the New Testament was written, has led several scholars to reinterpret many elements of the New Testament accounts. Of special interest has been the names and titles ascribed to Jesus. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name rendered Joshua in English. It literally means "God saves". Before the J written glyph was invented in the 16th century, Jesus was written as Iesus in English, as seen in the 1611 KJV Bible. Christ (which is a title and not a part of his name) is an Anglicization of the Greek term for Messiah, and literally means "anointed one". Historians have debated what this title might have meant at the time Jesus lived; some historians have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament (e.g. Lord, Son of Man, and Son of God) had meanings in the first century quite different from those meanings ascribed today: see Names and titles of Jesus. The Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution brought skepticism regarding the historical accuracy of these texts. Although some critical scholars, including archeologists, continue to use them as points of reference in the study of ancient Near Eastern history some have come to view the texts as cultural and literary documents, generally regarding them as part of the genre of literature called hagiography, an account of a holy person regarded as representing a moral and divine ideal. Hagiography has a principal aim of the glorification of the religion itself and of the example set by the perfect holy person represented as its central focus. Most modern 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. The earliest extant texts which refer to Jesus are Paul's letters, which are usually dated from the mid-1st century. Paul saw Jesus only in visions, but he claimed that they were divine revelations and hence authoritative —Galatians 1:11-12. The earliest extant texts describing Jesus in any detail were the four New Testament Gospels. These texts, being part of the Biblical canon, have received much more analysis and acceptance from Christian sources than other possible sources for information on Jesus. Many apocryphal texts have also surfaced detailing events in Jesus' life and teachings, though they were not included in the Bible due to a belief that they were not divinely inspired, in the sense that an apostle was not the author, and they were written too long after his death. Chief among them the Gospel of Thomas, a "sayings gospel" or logia, consisting primarily of phrases attributed to Jesus. Other New Testament apocrypha, generally considered less important, include
- the Gospel of the Hebrews,
- the Gospel of Mary Magdalene,
- the Infancy Gospels,
- the Gospel of Peter,
- the Unknown Berlin Gospel,
- the Naassene Fragment,
- the Secret Gospel of Mark,
- the Egerton Gospel,
- the Oxyrhynchus Gospels and
- the Fayyum Fragment
A number of Christian traditions (such as Veronica's veil and the Assumption of Mary) are found not in the canonical gospels but in these and other apocryphal works, such as the Acts of Pontius Pilate. Some texts with even earlier historical or mythological information on Jesus are speculated to have existed prior to the Gospels, though none have been found. Based on the unusual similarities and differences (see synoptic problem) between the Synoptic Gospels — Matthew, Mark and Luke, the first three canonical gospels — many Biblical scholars have suggested that oral tradition and logia (such as the Gospel of Thomas and the theoretical Q document) probably played a strong role in initially passing down stories of Jesus, and may have inspired some of the Synoptic Gospels.
Specifically, many scholars believe that the Q document and the Gospel of Mark were the two sources used for the gospels of Matthew and Luke; however, other theories, such as the older Augustinian hypothesis, continue to hold sway with some Biblical scholars. Another theoretical document is the Signs Gospel, believed to have been a source for the Gospel of John. There is little consensus concerning how and when any of these documents were circulated, if they existed at all.
As a result of the several-decade time gap between the writing of the Gospels and the events they describe, the accuracy of all early texts claiming the existence of Jesus or details of Jesus' life have been disputed by various parties. However, most scholars accept many details of the gospel narratives. The authors of the gospels are traditionally thought to have been witnesses to the events included. After the original oral stories were written down, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. However, several Biblical historians have responded to claims of the unreliability of the gospel accounts by pointing out that historical documentation is often biased and second-hand, and frequently dates from several decades after the events described. Some say that the Gospel accounts are neither objective nor accurate, since they were written or compiled by his followers and seem to exclusively portray a positive, idealized view of Jesus whilst others point to the lack of contemporary non Christian sources. Those who have a naturalistic view of history, as a general rule, do not believe in divine intervention or miracles, such as the resurrection of Jesus mentioned by the Gospels. One method used to estimate the factual accuracy of stories in the gospels is known as the "criterion of embarrassment", which holds that stories about events with embarrassing aspects (such as the denial of Jesus by Peter, or the fleeing of Jesus's followers after his arrest) would likely not have been included if those accounts were fictional.
Many scholars, such as Michael Grant, do not see significant similarity between the pagan myths and Christianity. Grant states in Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels that "Judaism was a milieu to which doctrines of the deaths and rebirths, of mythical gods seemed so entirely foreign that the emergence of such a fabrication from its midst is very hard to credit."
However, some scholars believe that the gospel accounts of Jesus have little or no historical basis. At least in part, this is because they see many similarities between stories about Jesus and older myths of pagan godmen such as Mithras, Apollo, Attis, Horus and Osiris-Dionysus, leading to conjectures that the pagan myths were adopted by some authors of early accounts of Jesus to form a syncretism with Christianity. While these connections are disputed by many, it is nevertheless true that many elements of Jesus' story as told in the Gospels have parallels in pagan mythology, where miracles such as virgin birth were well-known. Some Christian authors, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, account for this with the belief that such myths were created by ancient pagans with vague and imprecise foreknowledge of the Gospels.
Jesus has an important role in two religions, Christianity and Islam. Most other religions, however, do not consider Jesus to have been a supernatural or holy being. Some of these religions, like Buddhism, do not take any official stance on Jesus' life. Judaism rejects claims of his divinity and of his being the Jewish Mashiach (see also: Messiah for the Christian perspective regarding the Messiah). Generally speaking, most Christians believe that Jesus is a member of the Holy Trinity - that he is one of the three divine persons who are God (the other two being God the Father and the Holy Spirit). They believe Jesus is the Son of God, and the Messiah or Christ. Christians have also identified Jesus as "the Word" (or Logos, see: the names of God). It is believed that since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Book of Genesis (known to Christians and Jews as The Fall), people have been born flawed with the tendency to sin (original sin), and this "separated" humankind from God, making them liable to condemnation to eternal punishment in Hell. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
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 Three empty crosses after the crucifixion of Jesus
(larger image)Most Christians—even those who do not hold to the literal truth of everything in the canonical gospel accounts—accept the New Testament presentation of the Resurrection as a historical account of an actual event central to faith. Belief in the resurrection is one of the most distinctive elements of Christian faith; and defending the historicity of the resurrection is usually a central issue of Christian apologetics. Conservative Christian scholars such as Gary Habermas, F. F. Bruce, Norman Geisler and William Lane Craig believe that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead and that he was raised in spiritual body.
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 A 16th-century painting of the resurrection of Jesus by Matthias Grünewald.There are several differing views within Christian groups as to whether or not Jesus was divine (and on other issues). The majority of Christian laypeople, theologians, and clergy hold that the Bible states Jesus to be divine, to claim divinity, and to claim equality with God the Father. Most also believe that Jesus' resurrection is additional proof that he is God.
Contrarily, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that the Bible states that Jesus was not equal with God, never claimed to be God, that the resurrection is additional proof that he is not God, and that other passages often used as "proof texts" are ambiguous about such claims.
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| They view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotten Son" —John 3:16, the "firstborn of all creation" Colossians 1:15.
Judaism considers the idea of Jesus being God, or part of a Trinity, or a mediator to God, as heresy.(Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5) Judaism also does not consider Jesus to be the Messiah primarily because it does not consider him to have fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Tanakh, nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
The Mishneh Torah (an authoritative work of Jewish law) states:
Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, “And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled” (Daniel 11:14). 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 commandmends. 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.” (Zephaniah 3.9). 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 uncircumcized of heart. (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12.) 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. (Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68).
According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after 420 BC/BCE, Malachi being the last prophet, who lived centuries before Jesus. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the Torah to prove that he was a prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Even if Jesus had produced such a sign, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preachings was that of repentance, forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus extensively trained disciples who, after his death, interpreted and spread his teachings. Within a few decades his followers comprised a religion clearly distinct from Judaism. Christianity spread throughout The Roman Empire under a version known as Nicene Christianity and became the state religion under Constantine the Great. Over the centuries, it spread to most of Europe, and around the world.
Jesus has been drawn, painted, sculpted, portrayed on stage and in films in many different ways, both serious and humorous. Many of the sayings attributed to Jesus have become part of the culture of Western civilization. There are many items purported to be relics of Jesus, of which the most famous are the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo. Other legacies include a view of God as more fatherly, merciful, and more forgiving, and the growth of a belief in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus and his message have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Jesus has been explained notably by Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, and more recently by C.S. Lewis, and N.T. Wright.
For some, the legacy of Jesus has been a long history of Christian anti-Semitism, although in the wake of the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect. For others, Christianity has often been linked to European colonialism conversely, Christians have often found themselves as oppressed minorities outside of Europe and the Americas. Most also believe that Jesus' resurrection is additional proof that he is God. Contrarily, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that the Bible states that Jesus was not equal with God, never claimed to be God, that the resurrection is additional proof that he is not God, and that other passages often used as "proof texts" are ambiguous about such claims. They view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotten Son" —John 3:16, the "firstborn of all creation" —Colossians 1:15.
Judaism considers the idea of Jesus being God, or part of a Trinity, or a mediator to God, as heresy.(Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5) Judaism also does not consider Jesus to be the Messiah primarily because it does not consider him to have fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Tanakh, nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
The Mishneh Torah (an authoritative work of Jewish law) states:
Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, “And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled” —Daniel 11:14. 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 commandmends. 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.” (Zephaniah 3.9). 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 uncircumcized of heart. (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12.)
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. (Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68).
According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after 420 BC/BCE, Malachi being the last prophet, who lived centuries before Jesus. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the Torah to prove that he was a prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Even if Jesus had produced such a sign, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preachings was that of repentance, forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus extensively trained disciples who, after his death, interpreted and spread his teachings. Within a few decades his followers comprised a religion clearly distinct from Judaism. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire under a version known as Nicene Christianity and became the state religion under Constantine the Great. Over the centuries, it spread to most of Europe, and around the world.
Jesus has been drawn, painted, sculpted, portrayed on stage and in films in many different ways, both serious and humorous. Many of the sayings attributed to Jesus have become part of the culture of Western civilization. There are many items purported to be relics of Jesus, of which the most famous are the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo. Other legacies include a view of God as more fatherly, merciful, and more forgiving, and the growth of a belief in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus and his message have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Jesus has been explained notably by Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Calvin and more recently by C.S. Lewis.
For some, the legacy of Jesus has been a long history of Christian anti-Semitism, although in the wake of the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect. For others, Christianity has often been linked to European colonialism (see British Empire); conversely, Christians have often found themselves as oppressed minorities outside of Europe and the Americas.
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