Jesus Reflection Paper

No matter how one refers to Him, He is fully God and fully human. Because of humanity’s departure from wisdom, God decided to become man as a last ditch effort to save His people. This is best demonstrated in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Jesus lived among His followers teaching them about the good news of the Bible and when it was time, He willing sacrificed Himself in order to forgive the sins of those who believed and guaranteed his/her salvation. Once He ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit remained, filling those who believed with the eternal love and guidance so that he/she may now spread the good news, just as His disciples did. Jesus’ identity and work is significant to the Christian worldview because they are the very core of this faith-based belief system. One learns from the Bible that one does not have to witness these works, just by merely believing will lead one to salvation. According to Merrick (2014), “Jesus Christ represents all humanity and offers to God a sacrifice that reconciles humanity and God” (final

So we see that Jesus did not regard His equality with God as something to be “grasped.” This word means to be utilized or asserted. Instead of asserting His equality with the Father, Jesus “emptied Himself” which means he laid aside His privileges as God and took on the form of a man.

My understanding of the gospel prior to this class was that God sent his only son to earth so that we may be forgiven of our sins. The gospel to me was also about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. As I was growing up I also learned about the great commission. While I learned about the great commission I realized all Christians are required to go out and take the gospel and share it weather as a missionary in a foreign country or the work place such as a school teacher. I grew up in the church and went to a small private Christian school where I was immersed in the teaching of the gospel. The

Today, as I attend school with the major heading as “Missions,” I hear a lot of talk about different methods in creating disciples. However, “Paul’s modus operandi for training was time on task” (pp. 59). In other words, disciples were made through time spent rather than strictly content. It sounds like relationship was a key aspect. Paul also focused on transferring these converts into true believers. It seems a lot in churches today, individuals are more focused on content rather than time. Therefore, they spend more time in the church “learning” than spending time with those that need “discipled.” With that, people in the church tend to “convert” others or brag about increased attendance, but have no plan to turn these individuals into true believers.

John nine verses one through seven is the being of the grace giving and truth telling of Jesus in this section. When Jesus spoke with the man that was blind I believe he ministered to him and gave him a brief explanation of who he was. The disciples asked him if this man sinned from birth or did his parents sin? Jesus used the truth telling when he answered the disciples by saying this man didn't sin at birth and neither has his parents sinned. It also gives truth-telling by letting the disciples know that it was to give God the glory. Now for the grace-giving part of Jesus, is him giving the Blind man back his sight. The reason why this was grace-giving was because this man had been blind his whole life, but when he came in contact with Jesus, he showed him grace by healing him.

Did you know that Jesus was hiding inside of that Ram when Abraham slaughtered it on the alter? God Himself had prepared this supplying and it materialized at the specific second it was essential. What took place in this trade is that God obligated Himself to perform what He had promised by way of the obedience of a gentleman. From this level on Jesus in human form is essential to carry forth the deliverance of our species from mortality. PS, He obtained the task carried out. This brings us to the on earth ministry of Jesus in human type.

On September 8, 2015, I have decided to interview my cousin Sally Chia about her relationship with Jesus. My cousin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is 28 years old. She currently lives in Las Vegas and works as a pharmacist. I chose to interview her because I figured she had a close relationship with Jesus. This is because when I was growing up she was the one who taught me about Jesus and his teachings. I have known my cousin Sally all my life, which is for about 14 years. During the interview I asked questions about her own personal relationship with God, and she answered my questions with great answers.

The story of Jesus' life is described and depicted in each of the four Gospels in the Bible. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are also known as the synoptic books, which means see things the same. There are some beliefs that Mark was written as a summary of the book of Matthew, but more scholars actually believe now that Mark was the first of the Gospels to be written. The book of Mark paints a vivid picture of Jesus' life, and all that he carried out on earth. Many examples of Jesus healing, forgiving and teaching are given throughout the book.

Jesus is of the same substance as God, and in His nature and essence is equal in power and majesty to God. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, who never slept with a man, and maintained her virginity until the time of Jesus’ birth. Jesus perfectly fulfilled all of the OT prophecies about the Messiah, and in the fullness of time came down to earth as the seed of Abraham and David, a rightful heir to Israel’s throne. Jesus did not sin, as He was “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). “The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, has fully satisfied the justice of His Father” (HC). Jesus suffered an excruciatingly painful death, and died after accepting the full wrath of God, and laid in Joseph’s tomb for three days before rising on Easter Sunday. Jesus presented himself to the disciples and many to great crowds before ascending into heaven. He commanded His disciples to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:18-20). His kingdom is already here, yet is not yet fully realized, as it will come when Jesus returns to judge the world (1 Peter

For the Glory of God, we are created: and that we may worship Him wholeheartedly, He provides our needs on a daily basis.

Women played a most important role in early Christianity Women’s interaction with Jesus is very crucial roles within the life and teachings of Jesus. The resurrection of two people are restored to women, Nain to his unnamed mother (Luke 7:11-17), and Lazarus to Mary and Martha (John 11:1-44). Women attend to Jesus at the cross and are the first to see the resurrection of Jesus. More specifically Jesus infers there should be no hierarchy in Christian relationships (Matthew 20:25-26). Women also played a considerable role in the formation of the church. Many early churches were home churches and the environment was provided by the women. For example, Martha becomes a church leader by offering her house as a home church and by assisting in

friends. Their speaking in foreign tongues became their badge of honor. Competitiveness emerged to see who was more orthodox and more gentle and humble. All their time was devoted to performing good deeds as hurriedly as possible, not wanting their consecration to be challenged. One easy method to prove their devotion was to discover those in hiding without the mark and reveal them to the police. Everyone believed it a duty to report to authorities anyone not giving their loyalty to sweet Jesus. When such sinful people refused to repent, and were publicly executed, Christians of the world shook their heads in disbelief. They could not imagine the extent of the depth of a fallen nature capable of blinding people to such ruin.

Paul is speaking of worldly Christians that are not following the Word of God, but following after Satanic ways. In today's world, we have many that profess Christ, yet they are living a materialistic life, seeking their own will instead of God's will, that are playing church and going through a pretense of a Godly way of life, that are kissing the devil, while saying I love you to Christ. That seems to be the case here. (12)

John Piper gives several reasons for why we as Christians believe that the Son became human without ceasing to be God. The first is brought up in verse 14. It states that the Word “dwelt among us.” So if the Word is God, and the Word dwelt among us, the that means Christ was still one hundred percent God and also man. This is the reason shown in Matthew 1:23 when the angel states that the child born of a virgin’s name will be called “Immanuel,” which means God with us. When the Word became flesh, it did not cease to be God, the Son’s name means that God his here, dwelling among us. The second reason is also in verse 14. It states that “We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” He goes on to specify what the meaning of “as,” actually is. Some try to say that “as,” refers to simply being like or similar to the Son of the Father. However, when it says “as,” it is saying that it really is the Son.

With the knowledge that the human form was fit for Jesus, now the focus can shift to the evidence that he was human and his human form was humanizing. Jesus lived a life on earth and suffered like every other person does. As mentioned previously, Jesus experienced temptation by the Devil as seen in Matthew 4. He experienced hunger as seen in Mark 11:12. He experienced weariness as seen in John 4:6, “So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well” (). He experienced sorrow many times as seen when Lazarus died in John 11 and several other places. He also experience pain and suffering on the cross and he died just as everyone on earth does as well. By every standard Jesus was a human being. He lived and died as everyone else on this planet does. His humanity was humanizing. He was a human being and demonstrated all the characteristics of being one. The only difference is that he was able to live a life without sin. So Jesus’ human nature was in no way dehumanizing; he exhibited every characteristic that humans face and conquered every struggle.