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Jesus Christ is the human-divine Son of GOD born of the Virgin Mary; the great High Priest who intercedes for His people at the right hand of GOD; the founder of the Christian church and central figure of the human race.
To understand who Jesus was and what He accomplished, students of the New Testament must study: (2) His life, (2) His teachings, (3) His person, and (4) His work.
The Life of Jesus: The twofold designation Jesus Christ combines the personal name Jesus and the title Christ, meaning "anointed" or "Messiah". The significance of this title became clear during the scope of His life and minstry>
Birth and Unbringing: Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a town about ten km. (6 mi.) south of Jerusalem, toward the end of Herod the Great's reign as king of the Jews (37-4 B.C.). Early in His life He was taken to Nazareth, a town of Galilee. There He was brought up by His mother, Mary, and her husband, Joseph, a carpenter by trade. Hence He was known as "Jesus of Nazareth" or, more fully, "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (John 1:45).
Jesus was His mother's firstborn child; he had four brothers (James, Joses, Judas, and Simon) and an unspecified number of sisters (Mark 6:3). Joseph apparently died before Jesus began His public ministry. Mary, with the rest of the family, lived on and became a member of the church of Jerusalem after Jesus' death and resurrection.
The only incident preserved from Jesus' first 30 years (after his infancy) was His trip to Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary when He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-52). Since He was known in Nazareth as "the carpenter" (Mark 6:3), He may have taken Joseph's place as the family breadwinner at an early age.
The little village of Nazareth overlooked the main highway linking Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and Egypt. News of the world outside Galilee probably reached Nazareth quickly. During His boyhood Jesus probably heard of the revolt led by Judas the Galilean against the Roman authorities. This happened when Judea, to the south, became a Roman province in A.D. 6 and its inhabitants had to pay tribute to Caesar. Jews probably heard also of the severity with which the revolt was crushed.
Galilee, the province in which Jesus lived, was ruled by Herod Antipas, youngest son of Herod the Great. So the area where he lived was not directly involved in this revolt. But the sympathies of many Galileans were probably stirred. No doubt the boys of Nazareth discussed this issue, which they heard their elders debating. There is no indication of what Jesus thought about this event at the time. But we do know what he said about it in Jerusalem 24 years later (Mark 12:13-17).
Sepphoris, about six km (4 mi) northwest of Nazareth, had been the center of an anti-Roman revolt during Jesus' infancy. The village was destroyed by the Romans, but it was soon rebuilt by Herod Antipas. Antipas lived there as tetrarch of Galilee and Perea until he founded a new captial for his principality at Tiberias, on the western shore of the Lake of Galilee (A.D. 22). Reports of happenings at his court, while he lived in Sepphoris, were probably carried to Nazareth. A royal court formed the setting for several of Jesus' parables.
Scenes from Israel's history could be seen from the rising ground above Nazareth. To the south stretched the Valley of Jezreel, where great battles had been fought in earlier days. Beyond the Valley of Jezreel was Mount Gilboa, where King Saul fell in battle with the Philistines. To the east Mount Tabor rose to 562 meters (1,843 feet), the highest elevation in that part of the country. A growing boy would readily find his mind moving back and forth between the stirring events of former days and the realities of the contemporary situation: the all-pervasive presence of the Romans.
Beginnings of Jesus' Ministry: Jesus began His public ministry when He sought baptism at the hands of John the Baptist. John preached between A.D. 27 and 28 in the lower Jordan Valley and baptized those who wished to give expression to their repentance (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9=11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34). The descent of the dove as Jesus came out of the water was a sign that He was the One anointed by the Spirit of GOD as the Servant-Messiah of His people (Is. 11;2; 42:1; 61:1).
A voice from heaven declared, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). This indicated that He was Israel's anointed King, destined to fulfill His kingship as the Servant of the LORD described centuries earlier by the prophet Isaiah (Is. 42:1; 52:13).
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus' baptism is followed immediately by His temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). This testing confirmed His understanding of the heavenly voice and His acceptance of the path which it marked out for Him. He refused to use His power as GOD's Son to fulfill His personal desires, to amaze the people, or to dominate the world by political and military force.
Apparently, Jesus ministered for a short time in southern and central Palestine, while John the Baptist was still preaching (John 3:22-4:42). But the main phase of Jesus' ministry began in Galilee after John's imprisonment by Herod Antipas. This was the signal, according to Mark 1:14-15, for Jesus to proclaim GOD's Good News in Galilee: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of GOD is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." What is the character of this kingdom? How was it to be established?
A popular view was that the kingdom of GOD meant throwing off the oppressive yoke of Rome and establishing an independent state of Israel. Judas Maccabeus and his brothers and followers had won independence for the Jewish people in the second century B.C. by guerrilla warfare and diplomatic skill. Many of the Jewish people believed that with GOD's help, the same thing could happen again. Other efforts had failed, but the spirit of revolt remained. If Jesus had consented to become the military leader, which the people wanted, many would gladly have followed Him. But in spite of His temptation, Jesus resisted taking this path.
Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of GOD was accompanied by works of mercy and power, including the healing of the sick, particularly those who were demon-possessed. These works also proclaimed the arrival of the kingdom of GOD. The demons that caused such distress to men and women were signs of the kingdom of Satan. When they were cast out, this proved the superior strength of the kingdom of GOD.
For a time, Jesus' healing aroused great popular enthusiasm throughout Galilee. But the religious leaders and teachers found much of Jesus activity disturbing. He refused to be bound by their religious ideas. He befriended social outcasts. He insisted on understanding and applying the law of GOD in the light of its original intention, not according to the popular interpretation of the religious establishment. He insisted on healing sick people on the Sabbath day. He believed that healing people did not profane the Sabbath but honored it, because it was established by GOD for the rest and relief of human beings (Luke 6:6-11).
This attitude brought Jesus into conflict with the scribes, the official teachers of the law. Because of their influence, he was soon barred from preaching in the synagogues. But this was no great inconvenience. He simply gathered larger congregations to listen to Him on the hillside or by the lakeshore. He regularly illustraed the main themes of His preaching by parables. These were simple stories from daily life which would drive home some special point and make it stick in the hearer's understanding.
The Mission of the Twelve and Its Sequel: From among the large number of His followers, Jesus selected 12 men to remain in His company for training that would enable them to share his preaching and healing ministry. When He judged the time to be ripe, Jesus sent them out two by two to proclaim the kingdom of GOD throughout the Jewish districts of Galilee. In many places, they found an enthusiastic hearing.
Probably some who heard these disciples misunderstood the nature of the kingdom they proclaimed. Perhaps the disciples themselves used language that could be interpreted as stirring political unrest. News of their activity reached Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, arounsing His suspicion. He had recently murdered John the Baptist. Now he began to wonder if he faced another serious problem in Jesus.
On the return of His 12 apostles, they withdrew under Jesus' leadership from the publicity that surrounded them in Galilee to the quieter territory east of the Lake of Galilee. This territory was ruled by Antipas' brother Philip - "Philip the tetrarch" - who had only a few Jews among his subjects. Philip was not as likely to be troubled by Messianic excitement.
But even here Jesus and His disciples found themselves pursued by enthusiastic crowds from Galilee. He recognized them for what they were, "sheep without a shepherd," aimless people who were in danger of being led to disaster under the wrong kind of leadership.
Jesus gave these people further teaching, feeding them also with loaves and fishes. But this only stimulated them to try to compel Him to be the king for whom they were looking. He would not be the kind of king they wanted, and they had no use for the only kind of king He was prepared to be. From then on, His popularity in Galilee began to decline. Many of His disciples no longer followed Him.
He took the Twelve further north, into Gentile territory. Here He gave them special training to prepare them for the crisis they would have to meet shortly in Jerusalem. He knew the time was approaching when He would present His challenging message to the people of the capital and to the Jewish leaders.
At the city of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus decided the time was ripe to encourage the Twelve to state their convictions about His identity and His mission. When Peter declared that He was the Messiah, this showed that he and the other apostles had given up most of the traditional ideas about the kind of person the Messiah would be. But the thought that Jesus would have to suffer and die was something they could not acept. Jesus recognized that He could now make a beginning with the creation of a new community. In this new community of GOD's people, the ideals of the kingdom He proclaimed would be realized.
These ideals which Jesus taught were more revolutionary in many ways than the insurgent spirit that survived the overthrow of Judas the Galilean. The Jewish rebels against the rule of Rome developed into a party known as the Zealots. They had no better policy than to counter force with force, which , in Jesus' view, was like invoking Satan to drive out Satan. The way of nonresistance which He urged upon the people seemed impractical. But it eventually proved to be more effective against the might of Rome than armed rebellion.
Jerusalem - the last phase: At the Feast of tabernacles in the fall of A.D. 29, Jesus went to Jerusalem with the Twelve. He apparently spent the next six months in the southern part of Palestine. Jerusalem, like Galilee, needed to hear the message of the kingdom. But Jerusalem was more resistant to it even than Galilee. The spirit of revolt was in the air; Jesus' way of peace was not accepted. This is why He wept over the city. He realized the way which so many of its citizens preferred was bound to lead to their destruction. Even the magnificent Temple, so recently rebuilt by Herod the Great, would be involved in the general overthrow.
During the week before Passover in A.D. 30, Jesus taught each day in the Temple area, debating with other teachers of differing beliefs. He was invited to state His opinion on a number of issues, including the question of paying taxes to the Roman Emperor. This was a test question with the Zealots. In their eyes, to acknowledge the rule of a pagan king was high treason against GOD, Israel's true King.
Jesus replied that the coinage in which these taxes had to be paid belonged to the Roman emperor because his face and name were stamped on it. Let the emperor have what so obviously belonged to him, Jesus declared; it was more important to make sure that GOD received what was due Him.
This answer disappointed those patriots who followed the Zealot line. Neither did it make Jesus popular with the priestly authorities. They were terrified by the rebellious spirit in the land. Their favored position depended on maintaining good relations with the ruling Romans. If revolt broke out, the Romans would hold them responsible for not keeping the people under control. They were afraid that Jesus might provoke an outburst that would bring the heavy hand of Rome upon the city.
The enthusiasm of the people when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey alarmed the religious leaders. So did his show of authority when he cleared the Temple of traders and moneychangers. This was a "prophetic action" in the tradition of the great prophets of Israel. Its message to the priestly establishment came through loud and clear. The prophets' vision of the Temple - "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations" (Is. 56:7) - was a fine ideal. But any attempt to make it measure up to reality would be a threat to the priestly privileges. Jesus' action was as disturbing as Jeremiah's speech foretelling the destruction of Solomon's Temple had been to the religious leaders six centuries earlier (Jer. 26:1-6).
To block the possibility of an uprising among the people, the priestly party decided to arrest Jesus as soon as possible. The opportunity came earlier than they expected when one of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, offered to deliver Jesus into their power without the risk of a public disturbance. Arrested on Passover Eve, Jesus was brought first before a Jewish court of inquiry, over which the high priest Caiaphas presided.
The Jewish leaders attempted first to convict Him of being a threat to the Temple. Protection of the sanctity of the Temple was the one area in which the Romans still allowed the Jewish authorities to exercise authority. But this attempt failed. Then Jesus accepted their charge that He claimed to be the Messiah. This gave the religious leaders an occasion to hand Him over to Pilate on a charge of Treason and sedition.
While "Messiah" was primarily a religious title, it could be translated into political terms as "king of the Jews". Anyone who claimed to be king of the Jews, as Jesus admitted He did, presented a challenge to the Roman emperor's rule in Judea. On this charge Pilate, the Roman governor, finally convicted Jesus. This was the charge spelled out in the inscription fixed above His head on the cross. Death by crucifixion was the penalty for sedition by one who was not a Roman citizen.
With the death and burial of Jesus, the narrative of His earthly career came to an end. But with His resurrection on the third day, He lives and works forever as the exalted LORD. His appearances to His disciples after His resurrection assured them He was "alive after His suffering" (Acts 1:3). These appearances also enabled them to make the transition in their experience from the form in which they had known Him earlier to the new way in which they would be related to Him by the Holy Spirit.
The Teachings of Jesus: Just as Jesus' life was unique, so His teachings are known for their fresh and new approach. Jesus taught several distinctive spiritual truths that set Him apart from any other religious leader who ever lived.
The Kingdom of GOD: The message Jesus began to proclaim in Galilee after John the Baptist's imprisonment was the good news of the kingdom of GOD. When He appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, He continued "speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of GOD" (Acts 1:3). What did Jesus mean by the kingdom of GOD?
When Jesus announced that the kingdom of GOD was drawing near, many of His hearers must have recognized an echo of those visions recorded in the Book of Daniel. These prophecies declared that one day "the GOD of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed" (Dan. 2:44). Jesus' announcement indicated the time had come when the authority of this kingdom would be exercised.
The nature of this kingdom is determined by the character of the GOD whose kingdom it is. The revelation of GOD lay at the heart of Jesus' teaching. Jesus called Him "Father" and taught His disciples to do the same. But the term that He used when He caled GOD "Father" was Abba (Mark 14:36), the term of affection that children used when they addressed their father at home or spoke about him to others. It was not unusual for GOD to be addressed in prayer as "my Father" or "our Father". But it was most unusual for Him to be called Abba. By using this term, Jesus expressed His sense of nearness to GOD and His total trust in Him. He taught His followers to look to GOD with the trust that children show when they expect their earthly fathers to provide them with food, clothes, and shelter.
This attitude is especially expressed in the LORD's Prayer, which may be regarded as a brief summary of Jesus' teaching. In this prayer the disciples were taught to pray for the fulfillment of GOD's eternal purpose (the coming of His kingdom) and to ask Him for daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from temptation.
In Jesus' healing of the sick and proclamation of good news to the poor, the kingdom of GOD was visibly present, although it was not yet fully realized. Otherwise, it would not have been necessary for Him to tell His disciples to pray, "Your kingdom come" (Matt. 6:10). One day, He taught, it would come "with power" (Mark 9:1), and some of them would live to see that day.
In the kingdom of GOD the way to honor is the way of service. In this respect, Jesus set a worthy example, choosing to give service instead of receiving it.
The death and resurreciton of Jesus unleashed the kingdom of GOD in full power. Through proclamation of the kingdom, liberation and blessing were brought to many more than could be touched by Jesus' brief ministry in Galilee and Judea.
The Way of the Kingdom: The ethical teaching of Jesus was part of His proclamation of the Kingdom of GOD. Only by His death and resurrection could the divine rule be established. But even while the kingdom of GOD was in the process of inauguration during His ministry, its principles could be translated into action in the lives of his followers. The most familiar presentation of these principles is found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7), which was addressed to His disciples. These principles showed how those who were already children of the kingdom ought to live.
Jesus and the Law of Moses: The people whom Jesus taught already had a large body of ethical teaching in the Old Testament law. But a further body of oral interpretation and application had grown up around the Law of Moses over the centuries. Jesus declared that he had come to fulfill the law, not to destroy it (Matt. 5:17). But He emphasized its ethical quality by summarizing it in terms of what He called the two great commandments: "You shall love the LORD your GOD" (Deut. 6:5) and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). "On these two commandments," He said, "hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 22:40).
Jesus did not claim uniqueness or originality for His ethical teaching. One of His purposes was to explain the ancient law of GOD. Yet there was a distinctiveness and freshness about His teaching, as He declared His authority: "You have heard that it was said...But I say to you" (Matt. 5:21-22). Only in listening to His words and doing them could a person build a secure foundation for his life (Matt. 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49).
In His interpretation of specific commandments, Jesus did not use the methods of the Jewish rabbis. He dared to criticize their ruling, which had been handed down by word of mouth through successive generations of scribes. he even declared that these interpreteations sometimes obscured the original purpose of the commandments. In appealing to that original purpose, He declared that a commandment was most faithfully obeyed when GOD's purpose in giving it was fulfilled. His treatment of the Sabbath law is an example of this approach.
In a similar way, Jesus settled the question of divorce by an appeal to the original marriage ordinance (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:24-25). Since husband and wife were made one by the Creator's decree, Jesus pointed out, divorce was an attempt to undo the work of GOD. If the law later allowed for divorce in certain situations (Deut. 24:1-4), that was a concession to men's inability to keep the commandment. But it was not so in the beginning, He declared, and it should not be so for those who belong to the kingdom of GOD.
Jesus actually injected new life into the ethical principles of the Law of Moses. But He did not impose a new set of laws that could be enforced by external sanctions; he prescribed a way of life for His followers. The act of murder, forbidden in the sixth commandment, was punishable by death. Conduct or language likely to provoke a breach of the peace could also bring on legal penalties. No human law can detect or punish the angry thought; yet it is here, Jesus taught, that the process which leads to murder begins. Therefore, "whoever is angry with his brother...shall be in danger of the judgment" (Matt. 5:22). But He was careful to point out that the judgment is GOD's not man's.
The law could also punish a person for breaking the seventh commandment, which forbade adultery. But Jesus maintained that the act itself was the outcome of a person's internal thought. Therefore, "whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28).
Jesus' attitude and teaching also made many laws about property irrelevant for His followers. They should be known as people who give, not as people who get. If someone demands your cloak (outer garment), Jesus said, give it to him, and give him your tunic (undergarment) as well (Luke 6:29). There is more to life than abundance of possessions (Luke 12:15); in fact, He pointed out, material wealth is a hindrance to one's spiritual life. The wise man therefore will get rid of it: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of GOD" (Mark 10:25). In no area have Jesus' followers struggled more to avoid the uncompromising rigor of his words than in His teaching about the danger of possessions.
Jesus insisted that more is expected of his followers than the ordinary morality of decent people. Their ethical behavior should exceed "the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees" (Matt. 5:20). "If you love [only] those who love you," He asked, "what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them" (Luke 6:32). The higher standard of the kingdom of GOD called for acts of love to enemies and words of blessing and goodwill to persecutors. The children of the kingdom should not insist on their legal rights but cheerfully give them up in response to the supreme law of love.
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