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Unlock This CourseJesus is the central figure of Christianity. Christians believe he is not only a great teacher or prophet. They believe he is the Son of God, God made human. You have already met the Trinity in The Trinity and the Nature of God: one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This lesson is about the second person, the Son, and what Christians believe happened when he entered human history.
Key terms:
Christians believe Jesus was fully God and fully human, both at the same time. As God, he shares God's nature and power. As a human, he was born, grew up, got tired and hungry, felt joy and sadness, and died. Christians do not say he was half God and half human, or God pretending to be human. They say he was truly both.
Christians base this belief on the Bible, especially the New Testament. Four sources matter most.
The Gospel of John opens: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Later it says: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Christians read this as the clearest statement of the incarnation. The Word is God and also became a human being.
In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel tells Mary she will have a son. He says the child will be called the Son of the Most High and, because the Holy Spirit will come on her, the holy one will be called the Son of God. The birth stories are covered in Christmas, Advent and Epiphany. Here the key point is the title.
When Jesus was baptised, the Gospels say a voice from heaven spoke. In Mark 1:11 it says, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." You met this scene in The Trinity and the Nature of God. It shows God the Father naming Jesus as his Son.
In Matthew 16:16, Jesus asks his followers who they think he is. Peter answers, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Christians see this as an early and clear statement of faith in who Jesus is.
John 14:9 adds another idea. Jesus says that anyone who has seen him has seen the Father. Christians take this to mean that Jesus shows what God is like.
The New Testament gives Jesus several titles. Each one says something about who Christians believe he is.
A creed is a statement of Christian belief, as you saw earlier. Both main creeds put the incarnation into words. The Apostles' Creed says Jesus is God's only Son and our Lord, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The Nicene Creed goes further. It says Jesus is "of one Being with the Father", meaning he is truly God, and that for our salvation he came down from heaven and became human. It was agreed by church leaders in the 300s, partly because people disagreed about who Jesus was. In 451 a council at Chalcedon also stated that Jesus is one person with two natures, fully divine and fully human. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and most Protestant churches accept this teaching, and many say these creeds in worship.
Because Jesus lived as a human, Christians believe God understands pain, hunger, temptation and grief from the inside. Hebrews 4:15 says Jesus can sympathise with human weakness. This gives comfort in hard times.
Christians believe Jesus shows what God is like. His kindness to outsiders, his forgiveness and his love are seen as the character of God. Many Christians look at his life to know how to live.
Many Christians believe that only someone fully human could stand in for humanity, and only someone fully God could save it. The death and resurrection are covered in The Trials, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Christian traditions share the belief but may stress different parts of it. Orthodox Christians put great weight on the incarnation. Their icons of Jesus are painted because they believe God really took a human, visible form. Many Protestants stress the Bible's own words, such as John 1:14, as the basis of their faith.
A few groups see Jesus differently. Unitarians see him as a teacher and example, not as God, and Jehovah's Witnesses see him as the Son of God but not equal to the Father. Most Christians hold the view in the creeds.
(a) Outline two titles given to Jesus in the New Testament. [4 marks]
(b) Explain why the belief in the incarnation is important for Christians. [6 marks]
(c) "Jesus' human nature matters more to Christians than his divine nature." Discuss this statement, considering the arguments for and against. In your answer you should include: reference to teachings; other (divergent) points of view, either within the religion or from other religions; your opinion or point of view using reasoned arguments. [10 marks]
(a) One title is Son of God (1), which shows Jesus has a unique relationship with God the Father and shares his divine nature (1). Another title is Messiah or Christ (1), which shows Christians believe he is the saviour promised by God (1).
(b) The incarnation is the belief that God the Son became human in Jesus, as John 1:14 says: "the Word became flesh". It is important because Christians believe Jesus shows what God is like, so his love and forgiveness are seen as God's own character. It is also important because Christians believe God understands human life from the inside, having lived as a human, which brings comfort in suffering. Finally, many Christians believe only someone fully God and fully human could bring salvation, so the belief is at the heart of their faith. It is also written into the creeds, which Christians say in worship.
(c) Plan. For: his humanity shows God understands suffering (Hebrews 4:15), and gives a life Christians can copy. Against: the creeds state Jesus is "of one Being with the Father", and John 1:1 says the Word was God, and without his divinity he could not bring salvation. Divergent views: Unitarians see him as a human teacher only, while Orthodox Christians stress the incarnation of God in visible form. Possible conclusion: both matter, but the divine nature is what makes the human life saving, so most Christians would say the two cannot be ranked.
In part (b), do not just say what the incarnation is. Add "because" or "this means" after each point to show why it matters to Christians, and use terms such as incarnation and the Word.