...Characteristics of Jesus and His Resurrection Manny Roche’ Liberty University Reflection Paper 1 It is amazing to me how within four weeks of taking this course it has made quite an impact in my life. The two topics that I will be discussing are what have bettered my understanding of what it is to be a Christian or a better follower of the Jesus Christ. The increasing understanding of the characteristics of Jesus makes the need for him to be the fundamental foundation of my faith completely overwhelming. I have always understood as a child what Christ has done for me and how I need him in my life. This course has opened my eyes to how truly perfect our Savior is and how necessary his resurrection is to all of us as a whole. Jesus’ infallible example during his life while in the flesh and his conquer over death makes him the ultimate example of who to follow. The characteristics of Jesus Christ as 100% man and 100% God is one of the topics that will be focused on. The Bible has multiple references of who Jesus is and what he has done. It describes Jesus as a human being like the rest of us, having feelings of sadness, hunger, thirst, and being tempted. Jesus experienced all the emotion and the temptations that humanity has become custom to and in doing so, was able to demonstrate his true humaneness. The exception to all that Christ did and felt was his absolute sinless life and perfection. Jesus wept. (John 11:35, English Standard Version) This verse shows his recognition of...
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...Jesus (/ˈdʒiːzəs/; Greek: Ἰησοῦς Iesous; 7–2 BC to AD 30–33), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ,[e] is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God. Christianity regards Jesus as the awaited Messiah (or Christ) of the Old Testament,[12] while Islam regards Jesus as a major prophet, second in importance only to Muhammad.[13] Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically,[f] and historians consider the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to be the best sources for investigating the historical Jesus.[20][21][22][23] Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Galilean, Jewish rabbi[24] who preached his message orally,[25] was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.[26] In the current mainstream view, Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher and the founder of a restoration movement within Judaism, although some prominent scholars argue that he was not apocalyptic.[21][27] After Jesus' death, his followers believed he was resurrected, and the community they formed eventually became the Christian church.[28] The widely accepted calendar era, abbreviated as "AD" or sometimes as "CE", is based on the birth of Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus has a "unique significance" in the world.[29] Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary, performed miracles...
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...THE QUEST FOR HISTORICAL JESUS. DATE: MAY, 2016 It is worthy of note that the first four centuries of the life of the Church was nearly marred by the Christological heresies. Argument about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Arguments abound concerning the Historicity of the Christian religion, while many has maintained that Jesus had not intended a development of faith from his teachings, the quest to identify the historical Jesus and differentiate between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith is going on. One of those devastating heresies called Docetism appeared in the time of John the beloved, propounded by the Marcions and the Gnostics, a teaching that denied the human nature of Jesus Christ claiming that the body is matter and matter is evil, so that the body was just a “Phantom” a body merely given a human appearance in nature but not necessarily human, because they believe that God cannot associate with evil. So John wrote in his first epistle that “every Spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” 1John 4:3. The Jesus of History is the Jesus of the Historical Quests which is by now is on the 3rd stage. The Christ of Faith is the Christ of the Christian belief. To have any sort of separation between the two is like having a separation between the WORD and the CHRIST contrary to the Christian faith that was in the beginning with God as mentioned by John in John 1:2, 14. One cannot separate Jesus from Christ or try to successfully...
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...Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem a village of Palestine. Jesus was born to Virgin Mary and was proclaimed as the “Son of the Most High” the “Savior of Men” (Luke 1:26-38.) There are scattered information and accounts about the younger years of Jesus and most of the stories that were told is unreliable information. Most of the stories of Jesus life start after the age 30 when Jesus started his public ministering. Up to the point of age 30 Jesus worked as a carpenter in Galilean a town of Nazareth. At the age of 30 Jesus started teaching God’s word and performing amazing miracles. Jesus started attracting large crowds with his preaching of God’s word and his performing of miracles. Jesus performed miracles such as turning water into wine, walking on water and giving sight to the blind. Jesus amazed his followers as well as his enemies with his moral purity and sinless ways. Jesus demonstrated power and authority with his power of miracles and spoken words. His words were spoken with authority and contained remarkable insight about mankind. Jesus proclaimed that the words spoken were the words of God himself. Jesus life was pure, and full of righteous behavior. Jesus fulfilled every single command that God demanded. Jesus continually showed compassion for the poor and oppressed. Jesus looked beyond the outward appearance of men, but looked into their hearts instead. Jesus always helped people regardless of their importance or social status. Jesus was humble and never boasted...
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...Online 29 July 2008 Death and Resurrection of Jesus To get a clear understanding of the complicated events that took place leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is first necessary to understand the background. Lots of things have been written about these courses of events. But it is sometimes difficult to combine all the details into a single story. The events of some days follow each other in calm sequence, while others are more of a swirling, splashing stream. Lots of things happen around the same time. We are dealing with two levels of events: things that actual happen and the intention behind the action. Along with the events leading to the death and resurrection, we also have divergent interests at work: interests of Judas, the Sanhedrin, the people and the disciples. Sometimes things coincide, sometimes they become entangled. For the sake of organizational purposes, we will interact: the plot against Jesus, the Passover Feast, Jesus’ trial, his approach to death and crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus. At first we might be lead to think only the plot to have Jesus arrested by means of a traitor (Judas). If you do more in depth studying, you will see that this does not do justice to the facts. After facing much opposition for his teaching, Jesus is betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Judas, like the other disciples expected Jesus to start a political rebellion and overthrow Rome. As...
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... What Can Be Discerned about Jesus from His Words Concerning Issues Other than the Kingdom and Himself 3 III. What Can Be Discerned about Jesus from His Deeds and Words Proclaiming the Kingdom of God 3 IV. What Can Be Discerned about Jesus from His Words Concerning Himself… 3 V. Hosea and “the Son of the Living God” in Mattew 16:16b 3 VI. Jesus as Messiah in the Gospel of Luke 3 VII. Narrative Christology and the SON OF MAN: What the Marken Jesus says instead 3 VIII. Conclusion 3 IX. Reference 4 I. The meaning of Christology The Greek for “Messiah” is Christos, whence “Christ”. So, “christology” would discuss how Jesus came to be called the Messiah or Christ and what was meant by that designation. In a broader sense, “christology” discusses any evaluation of Jesus in respect to who he was and the role he played in the divine plan. Scholars distinguish different kinds of Christology. “Low christology” covers the evaluation of him in terms that do not necessarily include divinity, e.g. Messiah, Rabbi, Prophet, High Priest, Savior, Master. “High christology” covers the evaluation of Jesus in terms that include an aspect of divinity, e.g. Lord, Son of God, God. There are a wide range of conceivable possibilities in understanding the degree or manner of Jesus’ divinity. As to degree, theoretically Jesus could be seen as divine but as lesser than, e.g. angels who were known in the OT as “sons of God”; or Jesus could be deemed equal in divinity...
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...History of Jesus and Muhammad hum130 March 20, 2011 Michael Emmart The History of Jesus and Muhammad The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." --Luke 2:10-11 The religion Christianity was founded on the life and teachings Of Jesus Christ. Around or just before the Common Era, about 2000 years ago Jesus was born in a small town called Bethlehem. Jesus was born unto a devout Jewess by the name of Mary and a carpenter named Joseph. Jesus was conceived by a miracle of the Holy Spirit before Mary and Joseph had any sexual relationship. Jesus was born in Bethlehem because the Roman emperor stated that all families register for a census in their ancestral hometowns. Joseph and Mary made the long difficult trip to Bethlehem, only to find that all the inns were full, with no inns to stay at, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable among the animals. The Gospels do not talk a lot about Jesus’ early life, but some information can be traced back to some references elsewhere. Jesus was from a town called Nazareth, where he probably worked with his father and trained to be a carpenter. At the age of twelve Jesus wander away from his parents into Jerusalem to discuss religion in the temple; the rabbis were very impressed on the knowledge, understanding and answers when discussing the Torah. When his parents finally found him, Jesus asked...
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...The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a complicated historical event which is discussed from many perspectives including the biblical perspective that includes Christian theology, with Jesus’ death being a necessary event for the atonement of humanity’s sins. A more historical perspective gives attention to the Romans, where we can look at why crucifixion was the chosen means to punish Jesus. Also, a Jewish perspective is also required to complete the picture. There are not many primary sources on this matter as it occurred 2000 years ago, so interpretations of the New Testament, more specifically the gospels, are the sources of information that can be used on this matter. The gospels were also most likely written in the Aramaic language and later translated to Greek, and now translated to English. So there is also a large possibility of misinterpretation through these translations. Because of these limitations, the truth of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is not entirely clear, though, a picture can be painted using these perspectives mentioned, however unclear. Despite the lack of clarity of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, there are still events we can say that occurred with a fair amount of certainty, even 2000 years ago. Even the existence of Jesus himself is argued by some scholars but we will agree he was a real man for the sake of this article. As for the crucifixion itself, we can also agree on some facts. Firstly, Jesus was crucified under...
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... 2011 Introduction “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.” John 20:30-31 (HCSB) In the Gospel of John there are eight recorded sign miracles that Jesus Christ performed. This paper will briefly describe each miracle and how it reveals the deity of Jesus Christ. Turning of Water into Wine The first miracle Jesus performed was changing water into wine. He and His disciples arrived at a wedding celebration that was already in progress. Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to Him and told Him they had run out of wine, presumably because she knew that He was capable of doing something about the dilemma.[1] Jesus responded by telling her that His hour had not yet come. While scholars disagree on what Jesus meant by this statement, it is obvious that Mary, as a woman of faith, understood enough that she instructed the servants at the wedding to do whatever Jesus asked them to do.[2] Jesus did in fact direct the servants to fill six pots with water, which He then miraculously changed into a fine quality wine. “The changing of water into wine is surely meant to bring out the power of Jesus to bring about new beginnings.”[3] We might parallel the higher quality of wine that Jesus made from the water with the higher quality of life that Jesus made available through His death and resurrection. John...
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...Lessons of Jesus Christ When we talk about Jesus as a leader, we may imply two different forms: Jesus as the only Son of God, God of the universe, or the risen Christ as being one with God; or Jesus as the 1st century flesh and blood human being, the historical figure. Since the purpose of studying leadership is to improve one's own leadership skills, it makes sense to analyze Jesus' applicable traits, actions, and accomplishments as a good leader—in his historical role—so his leadership skills can be feasibly related to ourselves as human beings. I will attempt to analyze, using modern leadership criteria, how Jesus of Nazareth, the Jew and carpenter's son, was an effective spiritual leader of his time. Let us first examine the leadership attitude Jesus showed in his ministry. According to the address Thomas Cronin delivered at the Western Academy of Management in 1982, part of what makes leaders appealing is their confidence and faith: Leaders have those indispensable qualities of contagious self-confidence, unwarranted optimism, and incurable idealism that allow them to attract and mobilize others to undertake tasks these people never dreamed they could undertake. (To Lead or Not to Lead, Unit One 36) Jesus had infectious self-confidence that attracted all types of people to his cause. A teacher of the law said to Jesus, “Teacher, I will follow your wherever you go” (Matt. 8:19). He was also an optimist: Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom...
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... “How did Jesus face and understand death when it closed in on him? Did he interpret his death in advance as the climax of his mission? Or did he experience panic and even succumb to the fear that ‘all might come to nothing’? We can glean some answers by taking matters in stages,” (147). I think this is the thesis because this chapter states how Jesus appear to have understood his death by exploring different “stages”. In each section, O’ Collins compares the differences in each Gospel and states his own points about each “state” in Jesus’ death. Methodology: Source: Mark, Luke, Isaiah, John, Matthew, Acts, the beatitude and the Lord’s Prayer, Paul, Exodus, Psalms, Wisdom, Maccabees, S. McKnight, R. Bauckham, Martin Hengel and M. Bockmuehl. Audience: In this chapter, O’Collins does not state what the audience is. It seems that the audience should be all religious followers. Argument and Summary of Main Points: What Jesus Said of Himself In this section, O’ Collins states that the Parable of the Vineyard and the Tenants (Mark 12”1-12) is the only parable in which Jesus spoke clearly about his own mission. In the parable, the vineyard owner is God, and the tenant farmers are the leaders of Israel, and the servants who try to collect the owner’s share in the produce are the prophets. However, the farmers mistreat these agents of the owner, and even kill some of them. Finally, the owner (God) sends his son who is Jesus, but farmers also kill Jesus (148). After...
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...Jaimie Scherer GS 2210 Jesus of Nazareth The Existence of Jesus Final Paper 2.27.15 Introduction To this day, the existence of Jesus Christ is still a debate. Not a debate on whether or not He turned water into wine, or was the Son of God, but His actual, human existence is still questioned. The existence of Jesus, and who He was, is a basis of world history. To dispel Jesus’ existence would be rewriting history and the Christianity religion as a whole. Not everyone has to believe the gospels, but Jesus did exist and was an important political figure to the world. Religion is something that is meant to bring people together to create family outside of our bloodline. However, religion is putting larger walls up between us and is the cause of the world’s wars, both past and present. Jesus didn’t want religion to break us down, but bring us together, without judgment, prejudice, or different beliefs. Even though there is much documentation, including outside of the gospels, of Jesus’ existence, people are still skeptical and question His existence. Including documentation, there has been physical, archeologist evidence supporting the places Jesus visited, walked through, and stayed. This paper will outline that Jesus was a person that walked this earth and was very impactful in our history. Continuous efforts of debating this topic should be put to rest and we should discuss Jesus in our history lessons, not as a religious figure, but as a historian who made...
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...Jesus and Mohammed Paper Jesus and Mohammed Jesus Christ and Mohammad are two prophets that have changed many individuals’ views on both Christian and also Islamic religion. Both religions originate from the Middle East. Christianity and Islam worshippers obey the Ten Commandments. It is also important for each worshipper of the two religions to love their neighbor as well as forgive one another. Although there are many similarities within the two religions there are also major differences that separate the two. Jesus as well as Mohammad’s death had a major impact on the path of Christianity as well as Islamic religion. Life of Jesus Christ Jesus was born in Bethlehem to a spiritual Jewess Mary and a carpenter named Joseph. It is taught that Jesus was conceived by a miracle of the Holy Spirit (Religion Facts 2010). The Gospels do not have any narratives on the early life of Jesus Christ. The book of Luke goes on to explain the life of Christ as age 12. During this time in his life Jesus was found discussing religion in the temple to a rabbi about the torah. The answers that he gave to the rabbi he left many astonished. This was a turning point in Christ life; he was discovered to be the Son of God. At the age of 30 Jesus began his ministry. One of his first acts was when he was baptized by John the Baptist. John the Baptist was known as a captivating and alluring person. He called many to repent and baptized those that responded to his calling...
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...There are many different variations of the story of Jesus that are told all the time. In the movie Ben Hur, there were multiple parallels that were drawn between the character Judah and Jesus. The parallels that are in the movie as well as in the story of Jesus are the following: being baptised, the suffering that both go through, losing everything that they have, being the messiah, saying similar words when they come faced to death, both were thought to be dead, and saving someone from dying. These parallels are hard to notice at first, but when seen are easy to recognize. Some may wonder how they can learn about Jesus by looking at Judah’s story? They can learn that Jesus gave Judah the hope to survive by giving him water when Judah was not allowed to have any. When one looks at the parallels they will understand how the story of Jesus went through the eyes of another person who has been through similar events; however, some might not see the difference that Judah is more human than Jesus. Judah has hate in his eyes at some times where as Jesus does not show hate for anyone at anytime. The first parallel that is in the movie is the baptism of Judah. This happens when Judah is a salve for Rome and is being taken to the gallies. The guards stop to get water for them and their horses. At this...
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...Knox, I L22937066 | And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:30-31 NKJV Everywhere Jesus went people were amazed at His miraculous powers. The Apostle John uses Jesus miracles as an organizing principle in his gospel. He calls them semeia, or “signs” indicating that each miracle was a concrete demonstration of Jesus’ divinity and messiah ship. The purpose of the signs were to produce belief as they did for the disciples at the wedding at Cana (John 2:11) and the household of the Nobleman (John 4:53). But these same miracles would incite anger and violence as in the case of healing the man born blind in John 11. (Earl D. Radmacher 1997) The first sign miracle Jesus performed in John’s Gospel was changing water into wine found in John 2:1-12. Jesus and His new disciples arrived at a wedding celebration that had already begun. Mary the mother of Jesus came to Him and told Him that the wine had run out. “Mary was simply informing him of the need, not ordering Him. Her statement is in fact much like a prayer made to Jesus. She knew he could do something.” (Towns 2002) Jesus directed the servants to fill six water pots, which he then turned into wine. “The changing of water into wine is surely meant to bring out the power of Jesus to bring about new beginnings” (Morris...
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