There are only a few things in life that spark as much controversy as religion. Mainly due to the fact that religion seeks to answer the deeper, spiritual, and existential questions of life.
Such as; When did life begin? Who am I? Why am I here? What meaning does life have? And where am I going?
Christians believe the when, why, what, where and how of life are answered in one person, “The Who” – Jesus Christ.
But who is this Jesus? And why should we believe Him or what people say about Him? Is He God or just some other prophet or good guy?
Let’s talk a little bit about Him.
What People Say About Jesus
Everyone born in this 21st century must at some point have heard about Jesus. Knowledge has increased a thousand-fold since he came on earth two millennia ago. In addition, there are reported to be around 2 Billion people who profess to follow Jesus. This is very close to a third of the current population on Earth.
Some polytheists believe Him to be a deity or prophetic but no more special than the other gods in their belief.
Other monotheistic religions such as Islam refer to both the Holy Bible as well as Jesus but see Him as different from their god and just a prophet or great man. Those of the Judaic faith know that He existed but do not believe He was the promised Messiah from their history.
Atheists and agnostics are unsure about Him or think there is not enough evidence to prove his deity.
So is He just a great man, a prophet, one in a line of other deities, or just a man in history who wasn’t Messianic?
History teaches us a little more.
What History Says About Jesus
Writings that we have about Jesus are staggering in the amount in this present age. However, what scholars tend to look for as proper evidence are the ones in a similar era as Himself. Many would be surprised to know that aside from the New Testament writers, those in the Jewish and Greek tradition also spoke of Jesus.
The writers making references to Jesus included people such as Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger, the Babylonian Talmud, and Lucian. Not only are these people historians, but mostly Non-Christians, who lived within the 1st-2nd century A.D. and could corroborate many things said about Jesus at the time. [Remember Jesus lived between 1-33 A.D.].
Of course, these writers didn’t believe that Jesus was God. However, what is striking is that they note very plainly, similar things that the gospel writers claim about Jesus.
Examples of this similarity are that Jesus was:
– regarded as wise
– a powerful and revered teacher
– a performer of miraculous feats
– crucified
– living in the time of the governorship of Pontius Pilate
– killed on the eve of the Passover
– followed by many who believed He was resurrected
– followed by many who saw Him as Christ, the Messiah, or God
Sounds familiar?
According to BeThinking.org, “Perhaps the most remarkable reference to Jesus outside the Bible can be found in the writings of Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian.” He referenced Jesus twice in His ” Jewish Antiquities,” once speaking about James, his brother, and another time stating what scholars called the “Testimonium Flavianum” which has a relevant section that says:
“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he … wrought surprising feats…. He was the Christ. When Pilate …condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared … restored to life…. And the tribe of Christians … has … not disappeared.”
The Bible, which is also a book of history, has separate books created long before Jesus came and gives even more clues to who He is.
What The Bible Says About Jesus
The Bible is just as controversial as its author, Jesus. Christians believe the Bible to be inerrant, the word of God, and written by men inspired by God.
The prophecies in the Old Testament point to a Messiah who would come to save the world. However, the New Testament writers state and confirm the earlier writings and that it was Jesus who these prophets were referring to.
The Apostle John in his Gospel concentrated a lot on the mystery and identity of Jesus. From his first statement in John 1:1, he attempted to link Jesus as Divine and there from The Beginning.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
In his last statement, John 21:25, he declared that Jesus was too big and indescribable to be contained in books.
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
The other thing we should realize is that other persons declared Jesus God and He did not refute them.
Matthew 16:16 related how Peter called Him “the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus confirmed and said only The Father could have revealed it to Peter.
John 20:27-28 mentioned the Apostle Thomas declared Jesus to be “My Lord, and My God.” Jesus confirmed and said it was good that Thomas saw Him and believed but those who have not seen Him and will believe are also blessed.
What Jesus Said About Himself
The next amazing thing about Jesus is that He Himself said that He was God (both explicitly and implicitly). In fact, He defined Himself as timeless and eternal. Jesus also stated He was like “The Father.”
John 8:58 mentions that Jesus claimed He was before Abraham. And even makes an analogy between Himself and the “YHWH” statement Jews gave to Jehovah-God which means “I AM.”
John 5:17-18 declares that Jesus was sure God was His Father and that He was equal to Him. Jesus also alerts us to the clues as to why He came, which was to do God’s work. The people of the time contested with Jesus for working on the Sabbath and He put Himself as God again by saying He was the “Lord of the Sabbath.”
John 10:30 professes that Jesus said he was One with the Father. This showed a less commonly understood fact that God was a being with a boundless, everlasting Trinity.
Jesus also declared to:
– his parents that He was “about His Father’s business” (Luke 2:49-52)
– many that the Father sent Him (John 7:28-29)
– many that He could save them from their sins (John 3-4, Luke 5:17-31, John 8:1-11)
– the chief priests that they were right in saying He was the Son of God (Matthew 26:64)
– Pontius Pilate that He was the truth of life (John 18:37)
It’s quite obvious that Jesus saw Himself as equal to The Father, Divine, able to forgive sins, and the holder of all wisdom. Only God has these characteristics and attributes.
What Will You Say About Him?
With so many thoughts on if Jesus was God or not. Some people consider this a dilemma.
The great Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis presented an even more fascinating concept of a trilemma. Is Jesus Lord, or just a Liar or Lunatic? (The Good, Bad, or Mad Complex).
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”
C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity, London: Collins, 1952, pp. 54–56. (In all editions, this is Bk. II, Ch. 3, “The Shocking Alternative.”)
Some later scholars considered even a quadrilemma. Is Jesus Lord, a Liar, A Lunatic, or a Legend? Lewis battled with the first three queries in his statement above.
History and its knowledge relate that Jesus must have been and battles the last question on if Jesus is just legendary. In fact, our time is separated by His advent. B.C., C.E., and A.D. all speak of Before Christ, Common Era, and Ano Domini (After Our Lord/Christ)
What is left for all humankind is that faith to believe in the evidence presented about Him.
Your answer to this question about Jesus and your eventual conviction may be what saves you and gives you an understanding of your meaning and destiny.
