The Coming Of Jesus: How Did Jesus Claim To God?

Rather than being called the Messiah, Luke refer to Jesus as “The Savior.” The use of the word Messiah is more so used in the Jewish context. Jesus is called “The Savior” because Luke is appealing to a larger audience. Within the Greco-Roman context, the term “Savior was referred to the work of the gods or emperors. They suggested that Jesus is the true savior and take the place of the Greek gods and the Roman

Matthew opens his argument by describing Jesus: born of a virgin in Bethlehem, in the line of David, worshipped by Gentile Magi, brought out of Egypt, and raised in Nazareth.1 Matthew employs this list of prophecies from Mosaic Law and describes how Jesus fulfilled them all, simultaneously, as Blomberg’s notes in his portrait of Jesus, Matthew describes Jesus as “Son of David, King, and Royal Messiah,” and “Son of God.”2 Moreover, Matthew’s examples of the use of these titles throughout Matthew bear witness to Jesus’ divinity, as well as, how God could be understood through Jesus.3 Matthew proves not only Jesus’ Messiahship but His title of the Son of God.

Jewish tradition passed down the oral and written story of Messianic prophecies for generations. To provide the correlation between the anticipated Messiah and the fulfillment through Jesus, Matthew affirmed prophecies throughout the birth story with two significant fulfillments—Abraham’s promised seed [offspring] and the virgin birth.

In the Bible there are 4 different so called eye witness accounts of the life of Jesus Christ which are supposedly written by Matthew and John, two of Jesus’ disciples, Luke, a journalist and historian while Jesus was alive and Mark was a teenage Jew during the time that Jesus visited Jerusalem. Although many scholars do not agree with some of the specific episodes described in these texts, it is still believed that these documents present a fairly accurate portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ. One of the reasons that have to believe this was the time when these texts were written and how close this was to the death of Jesus Christ. It is generally believed that the gospel of Luke was written in the year 60 AD, the gospel of Mark in the year 70 AD and the gospels of Matthew and John within the years 70-100 AD. This is so significant because these books were all written within one generation of the life and death of Jesus Christ and it shows that the people writing these texts were really around to witness the events that they quoted in their texts. Another reason that historians have to believe that these texts are accurate accounts of the life of Jesus is the amount of copies of original manuscripts that still exist today. These images on the screen are just some of the ancient original texts of the bible, all of which were written before 300 AD and all of which still exist today. Although there are no original documents of any of the books of the Bible, there are several original copies by monks whose profession was to accurately copy texts so that they copies of these texts could be distributed amongst many

Other characteristics include being in agony or being self-sacrificing (Foster 126). Although these are characteristics of a Christ figure, the character is not required to have all of these aspects in order to be considered a Christ figure (Foster 127). Jesus Christ chose to be crucified rather than falsely confess to accusation made against him. Although some believed him, many were against

Jesus did claim to be God in human form not once, nor on a few occasions, but frequently and consistently throughout his sermons. This is established in all four gospels, and in Paul's letters to the early church. Jesus himself claimed to be God, in what he said, his miracles and in what he did. The earliest Christians recognize that Jesus was God in human form starting with Peter's prediction before the resurrection. The whole theology of Christianity has been centered on the divinity of Jesus Christ throughout history.

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 KJV). This familiar passage of scripture recorded in the Gospel of John indicates the deity and or preexistence of Jesus Christ prior to time as we know it and before the creation of earth. The strongest proof that the Lord Jesus Christ is God are the divine attributes, divine names, divine works, divine worship, divine claims and divine relationship ascribed to Him.

One of the first major points that describes who Jesus Christ is how he displays the “…image of the invisible God…” however, he is God but in human form being Christ. He reflects the nature of his father, God. His son, Jesus, is the image of God. He is “… the firstborn of all creation” meaning that

There is a lot of evidence which point to the truth of Christianity. If the resurrection of Jesus truly occurred, then Jesus is God the son. If the resurrection did not occur, then he is not God the son.

The early beginnings of the Common Era displayed several Jewish expectations of the Messiah that were complex. As compiled in the Dr. Peter Flint, some was expecting the return of Elijah (Mal 4:5-6, Mark 6:15), or even Moses (Deut 18:15-19, John 1:21) and many expected the Messiah to be a descendent of King David, one that would arrive in Bethlehem . Apart from the background of messianic expectations seen in modern Bibles, several sectarian scrolls shed light on such expectations. Four select texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls in Cave 4 helps shed some light into this area of messianic expectations and will aid help answering this question on who was the Messiah.

In all three gospels Jesus asks his disciples what the people think of Jesus and who he is. They reply with characters like John the Baptist, Elijah, or just another prophet. Then Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is. Peter replies with a varying statement of, “Christ, Son of the living God.” Jesus then tells his disciples to go and not speak to anyone about what they have learned. Jesus then continues to say that he must be rejected by the elders, he must be killed, and then he will rise again on the third day. Peter then rebukes Jesus as he is afraid for Jesus’ life. Jesus responds with, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are to on the side of God but of men.”

When exploring the concept of ‘God the Son’, the incarnation and attributes of God as seen in Christ enter the picture. In order for human sin to be covered, a human sacrifice is all that could meet the requirement ordained by God, yet, they had to be sinless. Only the incarnate God could fulfill this role, exhibiting qualities of God Himself, such as selflessness, unconditional love, and purity. Another core trait was humbleness, although Jesus held the highest status in all the world, which shone brightly in His ministry, as He also served the children of God. Paul captured the essence of Jesus as God and the reality of the incarnation in these verses, “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God…made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7, NKJV).

As human, Christ had a body, he had a soul and spirit, he had human characteristics, and he was called by human names. In Luke 2:52, it is written that Christ, even though he had a virgin birth, He was born with a human body that was conceived by a human body. Christ's humanity included both the material and immaterial aspects of the human body (he was flesh but at the same time he was also Soul and Spirit).

It is here that Simon Peter answers “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matt 16:13-16). Jesus acknowledges this truth and tells Peter that the only way he could

In the Gospel of Mark (10:45) it states, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." The issue with this verse lies in the various ways one could interpret it. Solely based on the text, one could say that the main concept of this verse is to illustrate both the identity and responsibility of Jesus as servant and savior. Jesus came to earth for the purpose of servitude and to become an impeccable physical model of “true sacrifice” through his suffering, so that we could live. If one considers themselves a true believer and follower of Jesus, they should be living a life of humility through service by helping their fellow man (Crowder 2013).