INCARNATION Aside from the doctrine of the Trinity, no other doctrine in the Christian faith is as essential as the doctrine of the person of Jesus, Son of God, and Son of Man. If Jesus wasn’t God, then all He did while on earth was for nothing. This is an issue that has been hotly debated for centuries. It is at the very heart of Christianity. If Jesus was just another prophet, or good teacher, than all world religions would be equal. It is the Deity of Jesus, the fact that God became human, that sets us apart from all other religions. Before Jesus came to earth as the Son of Man, He existed in Heaven with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. If Jesus came into existence at the time of His earthly birth, then there would be three problems …show more content…
Because it’s a hard concept to understand, some people have tried to use human reasoning to “reason out” the concept of the two natures of Jesus residing within the one human body. These concepts are some things to be on the lookout for; they are dangerous to the Christian faith because they make Jesus less than Who He is.
In the first century, the Docetists denied Jesus’ humanity. They said that while Jesus was on earth He only seemed to be human. It was all an illusion. Jesus was like a ghost.
In the second century, the Ebionites acknowledged Jesus’ humanity yet denied that Jesus was really born of Mary. They believed that Jesus was the natural child of Joseph and Mary, not the Son of God. At some point in His life the presence and power of God was manifested.
By the fourth century, the Arians came out with the belief that while Jesus was human, He was not eternal or God. They believed He was similar to God but not God Himself. They believed that Jesus was the first created being and God created everything through
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Matt 1:18, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (ESV) and Luke 1:26-38, “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary” (ESV). Matthew and Luke both write of the birth of Jesus, each from their own perspective therefore it’s important that both of them separately acknowledge the virgin birth (referring to the conception) of Jesus. For both men to have written about the conception of Jesus, means the information was most likely common
The Meaning of Jesus begins with Borg speaking about how we know about Jesus. Borg explains that the gospels have two natures. First, they are a developing tradition and second, the gospels are a mixture of history “remembered” and history “metaphorized”. Borg believes that some of the material is from Jesus and some is from the Christian community. The material from the Christian community should be considered metaphors, so this material is history metaphorized. Borg also states that there are two ways to refer to Jesus: pre and post-Easter Jesus; human and divine. The importance of pre-Easter Jesus is that, according
Jesus was different than other human being because he was the Son of God and p the second person in the Trinity. The Trinity consist of the Father (God), The Son (Jesus) and the Holly Sprit. The bible has many verses on the Trinity and is largely in the in the New Testament there are places in the Old Testament a few of texts are Genesis 1:26-27,Isaiah 43:10-11 and Psalm 2 (The Trinity in the Bible Thomas K. Johnson).
b) Biblical Foundation Many question if Jesus ever claimed to be God. First, Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God, resulting in the Jewish leaders stoning Him ‘because you,’ the leaders said, ‘a mere man, claim to be God’ (John 10:33). On another occasion, a High Priest asked him: ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ to which Jesus replied ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’ (Mark 14:61-62). Jesus also claimed to possess the same attributes of God. In the Bible, Jesus has never been recorded saying the exact words, “I am God.” However, Jesus’ original spectators seemed to think He said “I am the Father.” They were even ready to kill Him right there. The controversy is: Jesus didn’t have to say the specific words “I am God,” to claim this. Jesus did, however,...
Long time ago, there was only one religion, Judaism. However as time passing by, the society had a lot of changes. Because of the changing of emperors and the geographic changes, Judaism occurred a lot of variations with those changes. More and more branches started to emerge under the Judaism. Christian became the strongest branch and had their own theological beliefs. Then Christian gradually began to separate from the Judaism. In the Bible, the New Testament part recorded the faith of Christianity. Christian based mostly on the New Testament. In the New Testament of the Bible, it describes the birth and preaches of Jesus, as well as the Paul’s Epistles explains the faith of the Christian. However, the descriptions of the Jesus in the gospels are different. They have many places paralleled.
...ipture it is specifically shown that God has a one-ness, that though it is not directly stated, it is implied that there is a Trinity, and it is also specifically stated that Christ was fully human (his humanity) and fully God (his deity) at the same time.
Jesus was created by God and deemed to be his son. He preached Jewish reform to all who would listen. In addition, he was known to heal the sick and cast away evil demons. Jesus was always able to control, but not create. He didn’t create any defense for himself when he was about to be killed, but he did make a martyr of himself. The death of Jesus creates a completely separate religion from Judaism. This split God’s people into two different sections. Later, one began persecuting the other, and in some places, hasn’t stopped to this day. This is not the outcome that God would’ve wanted.
In the Christian Worldview God is to be a spirit according to Luke 24:39 (New King James Version) “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
The birth narrative of Matthew begins with a long genealogy of Jesus, which basically shows how Jesus is son of Abraham who is the father of the nation of Israel, and David the King of the Jews. This may not seem important but this genealogy shows how Jesus is connected to the Davidic line. Then we have Mary, who just found out she was pregnant and Joseph decides it is best to divorce her because he wanted to break his union with someone who is pregnant, by someone else. But behold the angel comes down and reassures Joseph that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that he should take her back into his house. The angel also said to name the child Emmanuel. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and King Herod heard of this new newborn king of the Jews and he ordered that all boys under the age of 2 be killed. The magi gave Jesus the gifts and left. In a dream, the angel of the lord told Joseph to take the child and go to Egypt and hide, Herod then died, and Jesus was safe.
According to the book of Matthew, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,” indicating he was born between 6 and 4 BCE (Matthew 2:1). The Bible refers to this as the virgin birth because Joseph and Mary never conceived him. He was a human being in which God took his form. Very little is known about his childhood and the Bible only reveals a picture of Jesus and his teachings when he was approximately 30 years of age. Whatever happened to Jesus during these years is a mystery to us all, but whatever happened transformed him into the divine being which he is today.
The concept of the Deity of Christ is one of great complexity. Numerous students, scholars, theologians and philosophers have studied Christ and His attributes. One of the most asked questions and sought after answers has been thoroughly dissected and examined to be able to even begin comprehending such a mystery. Millions ask: “How can Jesus Christ, the Son of God be one-hundred percent man, and one-hundred percent God at the same time? Also, how is it even possible that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can also be God Himself?”
that Jesus was brought to Earth as God but in the form of man. It
The sources of understanding of the figure of Jesus Christ in the two religions are, of course, Quran and the Holy Bible — the most respectable books, which include the main concepts of each faith. The information about this important figure cannot be denied, because even historians admitted his existence. The birth of the little child was described in a similar way by the two religious believes. Both: the Bible and the Quran believe that he was born by the virgin woman, whose name was Mary. Bible says: “..."the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger" (Luke 1:6-7, Christianity and Islam).On the other hand the Quran also describe Jesus and...
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This verse - John 3:16 - is perhaps the most important in the Bible. Jesus Christ was the son of God, but he was also the son of man.
There are well accepted accounts from the bible that Christians and others never question. Events and locations that are part of the story told of Christ and his history. One such is the account of John 1, of the birth of Christ in the lower Galilee town of Nazareth. This town is not mentioned at all, in the old testament, nor in any of the extensive rabbinical literature,and the only established site there, is the ancient town water well. Now refered to as (no surprise) as Mary's well. The modern town is covered with churches also no surprise, and although modern archeology can offer no support at all for them the Nazarenes can point out sites such as Joseph's carpentry shop, the spot where Mary received the annunciation as well as the exact location of mensa Christi, the table at which Jesus dined after his resurrection and the site of the synagogue where Jesus preached as a you boy.
Freud said, “God is a projection of our inner desires”. Marx said, “It was just a way of keeping the hungry masses quiet”. (3) Even with all this negative opposition and doubt, can the hard- line skeptic honestly deny the existence of Jesus? We see proof of Jesus’s existence in the New Testament. The New Testament is a compile of stories after Jesus’s death written by people who believed passionately in what he had done and said. The gospel writer’s were people who saw the stories happen with their own eyes; they were his followers. . “What non-Christian sources are there for Jesus? (Answer: a reference in the Jewish historian Josephus, a reference in the Roman historian Tacitus, and one possible allusion in a more scurrilous Roman writer, Suetonius.)” (23) We can try to ignore the facts because we did not physically see it happen and we did not experience it but, I think there is enough evidence to keep an open mind. In the search of truth that we seek we need to understand who Jesus is. He first came into the public’s eye in the late 20’s of the first century. With only being in the public eye for three short years, he was one of the greatest teachers, spiritual leaders, moralist and healer. The authorities in Jerusalem soon became threatened with the impact he had on society and arrested him for being a would-be rebel leader. He was executed as the “king of the Jews.” All four gospels make note of this phrase and said