Jesus

A real person in history

Jesus was born into a Jewish family and grew up in the land now known as Israel and the Palestinian territories. He lived under Roman rule and shared in the Scriptures, worship and hopes of the Jewish people.

The four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—tell what Jesus did and taught, how he died, and why his followers proclaimed that he had risen from the dead.

Christian faith therefore begins with a real person who lived at a particular time and place in human history.

The Christian claim about Jesus

Christians do not believe Jesus was merely a prophet, moral teacher or exceptionally holy person. They believe he is the Son of God—God the Son—who came into the world as a human being.

This does not mean that God had a child in the ordinary biological sense, or that Jesus is a second or lesser god. Christians believe God the Son has eternally shared the one divine identity.

In Jesus, God did not merely send information about himself. He came among humanity personally. Christians therefore worship Jesus, trust him for forgiveness and eternal life, and believe that his character and actions reveal what God is like.

Jesus and the Trinity

Christians believe there is one God who eternally exists as three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, yet they are not three gods. They are the one God.

This belief is called the Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three parts that together make up God. Nor are they merely three different names or appearances of one person. They are distinct persons, perfectly united and equally divine.

The Trinity helps explain how Christians can believe both that Jesus is God and that Jesus speaks to and is sent by the Father. The Father sends the Son, the Son becomes human as Jesus, and the Holy Spirit makes God present and active among his people.

Christians recognise that this is difficult to picture fully. The Trinity is not intended as an extra puzzle added to Christianity, but as a way of expressing what Christians believe God has revealed about himself.

Do not worry if you do not fully understand it. Christians do not expect to understand the infinite nature of God completely. For this reason, the Trinity is often described as a mystery, not because it is meaningless or contradictory, but because God is greater than the human mind can fully comprehend.

Fully God and fully human

Christians believe God the Son became genuinely human without ceasing to be God. Jesus became tired, hungry, distressed and vulnerable. He experienced friendship, rejection, suffering and death.

At the same time, Christians believe he remained fully divine. He lived without sin, forgave sins, received worship, spoke with God’s authority and claimed a unique relationship with the Father.

Jesus was not partly divine and partly human. Christians believe he was fully God and fully human in one person.

His humanity means that God did not rescue humanity from a distance. He entered human life and shared its suffering. His divinity means that his life, death and resurrection have a significance no merely human teacher could possess.

Jesus revealed God through words and actions

Jesus announced that the kingdom of God was near. He called people to turn back to God, trust the good news and live under God’s loving rule.

He taught people to love God and their neighbour, forgive others, care for those in need, seek peace, tell the truth and examine their own hearts rather than merely judging others.

His teaching was demanding because he treated sin seriously. It was also hopeful because he taught that God seeks those who are lost, welcomes those who return and gives mercy to people who recognise their need.

The Gospels also describe Jesus healing the sick, feeding hungry people, welcoming outsiders, calming storms, confronting evil and forgiving sins.

Christians see these actions as signs of both who Jesus is and the world God intends to restore. Jesus showed compassion towards people who were ignored or condemned, while also demonstrating authority over sickness, sin, nature and death.

His words and actions belonged together: he did not only describe God’s character and kingdom, but showed them through the way he lived.

Why Jesus came

Christians believe Jesus came not only to teach humanity how to live, but to rescue humanity from sin and separation from God.

Teaching alone could show people what is right, but it could not remove their guilt or restore their broken relationship with God. Jesus came to do what humanity could not do for itself.

Jesus lived without sin and willingly died on the cross in our place, bearing the judgement and punishment that human sin deserves. Christians believe he then rose bodily from the dead, showing that sin and death had not defeated him. Therefore those who turn to God and trust in him can be forgiven, restored to a relationship with God and given the gift of eternal life.

The central question

Christianity ultimately depends on who Jesus is. Christians believe he is the fully human and fully divine Son of God, who reveals God and came to rescue humanity.

Jesus did not invite people merely to admire his teaching. He called them to discover who he is, trust him and follow him.