Who Was JESUS, The CHRIST?

Does it really matter who Christ was? Does it make any difference in the life of the individual and society whether people believe that Jesus was God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, or man? In my opinion it shouldn't and it wouldn't, if Christians concentrated on Christ's message and how to follow his example. Unfortunately, however, the main concern of Christians is to propagate far-fetched dogmas that cause strife and division among believers and offend common sense and God-given reason. The result? Christian fanaticism pushes many intelligent people to atheism or to other religions. So, then, who was Jesus? The truth about Jesus the Christ is to be found in the Bible, the very book from which the various Christian doctrines also derive. It is all there: the wheat and the chaff, the meat and the bones. However it takes unconditional love of the Truth and fearlessness to shake off erroneous old beliefs. >From many verses of the New Testament, it is evident that Jesus considered himself as being a prophet. His disciples and all those who believed his message and followed him during his ministry also considered him as a prophet. The following scriptures testify to this: "Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Luke 13: 33-34) As a prophet whom God sent to the Jews, Jesus longed to gather Jerusalem's children together and guide them to the right path. However, they were not willing. Worse still, they planned to kill him in Jerusalem, as they had done to many other prophets before him. Let us look at more relevant scriptures: "For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country." (John 4: 44) " And they were offended in him. But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house'. And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." (Matt. 13: 57-58) In the previous two verses Jesus leaves no doubt that he considered himself as prophet and nothing more. That's why he was not surprised that he could not do many miracles in Nazareth, his hometown. His family as well as his compatriots did not take him seriously. Some might have been jealous of him. This was usual for a prophet and it is verified throughout the ages. It is almost an axiom. Other prophets, before Jesus, had not been accepted by their own people. He couldn't be an exception. "When the people saw the sign which he (Jesus) had done, they said, 'this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!'" (John 6:14) The sign was the feeding of the multitudes with five barley loaves and two fish. Indeed at that time the Jews expected a prophet to come to the world, and some recognized him in Jesus. "When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is this?' The crowds answered, 'This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee'." (Matt. 21: 1-11) Apparently, the crowds that believed and followed Jesus who was riding on a donkey, in his triumphant entrance to Jerusalem, considered Jesus as prophet. "And he said to them, 'What things?' And they said to him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him." (Luke 24: 19- 20) These are the words of two of Jesus' disciples on their way to a village called Emmaus, after his crucifixion. Even his disciples considered Jesus as a mighty prophet and nothing more! As regards the divinity of Jesus, for those who have "eyes to see and ears to hear", here are some Biblical passages that clarify the issue: <<"I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came--and Scripture cannot be broken-- do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." >> John 10:30-38 It is interesting that Jesus did not refer to his alleged miraculous conception in order to prove that he was the Son of God! Instead, he referred to an O.T. Scripture that implies that every one is a son of God! Why? Let me quote here the verse from the Old Testament Jesus referred to: "I said, 'You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you die as men, and fall like one of the princes'." (Psa. 82: 6-7) Naturally, if all men are sons of the Most High, they must partake in His divine nature, i.e. they must be potentially gods, although they don't know it. Let us now see what the New Testament says about divine sonship, and further what Jesus said about himself and his heavenly Father. Did he claim to be the unique, the only begotten Son of God? "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (...) And the tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread'." (Matt. 4: 1,3) In the beginning of Jesus' mission, the "devil", having taken the permission of the Holy Spirit, tempted Jesus in what he had claimed to be, i.e. Son of God. "And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so violent that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, saying: What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before our time?" (Matt. 8: 28-29) Here we have the demons, speaking through the demoniacs of Gergesenes, addressing Jesus, whom they had not seen before, as Son of God, acknowledging that he had power over them. Notice that they didn't address him as God. "Blessed be the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Matt.5: 9) Jesus said that all peacemakers shall be called sons of God. Peace is so important for the welfare of mankind that those who endeavor to establish it among men shall be called sons of God! "But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. 5: 44-45) Another sure way to become sons and daughters of our heavenly Father and manifest some of His qualities is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. It remains for us to discern if Jesus was the unique Son of God or a Son of God. The following scriptures will help us to answer this question. "And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother'." (Mark 3: 34-35) Jesus calls all those who do the will of God, brothers and sisters. In other words, whosoever does the will of God is a son of God, just as Jesus was. "Jesus said to her, 'Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'." (John 20: 17) By these words Jesus asserts, once again, that God, his Father, is also God and Father of his disciples. Apparently, he does not claim to be anything different from his disciples. Let us now see the scriptures where Jesus clearly states that his Father is greater than him: "If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I." (John 14: 28b) The verse is very clear on this: the Father is greater than the Son. Doesn't this contradict the doctrine of equality of three persons in the Holy Trinity? "My sheep listen to my voice; (...) My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." (John 10: 27a, 29) Once again Jesus declares that the Father is greater than all. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." (Matt. 24: 36) But if the three persons of the Holy Trinity were equal and inseparable, as Christians believe, then how could there be any secrets among them? Whatever the Father knew the other two persons would also know. But the above verse says that there are things that only the Father knows! "As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. (...) The Jews answered him, 'Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?' 'I am not possessed by a demon' said Jesus, 'but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge'." (John 8: 40a, 48-50) Here we are told that the truth Jesus came to tell the world was not his own! He heard it from his Father! And Jesus was not seeking glory for himself. Let them who praise and glorify Jesus contemplate on these scriptures... "And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone'." (Mark 10: 17-18) Strange as it may sound, Jesus even denies that he is good! He says that God alone is good! Do we need more evidence that Jesus did not believe himself to be equal to God? "Then Jesus said unto them, 'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority; but I speak just what the Father has taught me. And He who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone; for I always do what is pleasing to Him'." (John 8: 28-29) So, it was the Father who taught Jesus the Truth! Jesus did nothing on his own authority. And the Father was with Jesus, because he did what was pleasing to the Father! By these words Jesus confirms that the Father is greater than he, and he implies that if he didn't do what was pleasing to God, the Almighty would not be with him! "Jesus answered, 'My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. (...) Why are you trying to kill me?' 'You are demon-possessed', the crowd answered. 'Who is trying to kill you?' Jesus said to them, (...) Why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." (John 7: 16-17, 19b, 20, 21a, 23b, 24) There are many more scriptures that support that Jesus was a unique prophet, totally devoted to God, who was "sent" to speak the Truth, as all true prophets before him were. God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and He endowed him with wisdom and power to do miracles. He attained Christhood after his baptism and the 40 days' fasting in the wilderness, where he overcame all fleshly temptations. Would Jesus need an anointing if he were God himself? Would the Anointer need to be anointed by another? His very name "CHRIST", from the Greek verb "chrizo", i.e. anoint, speaks clearly of his office and leaves no room for misunderstanding. Anyway, in the times Jesus walked on earth, it was usual of people to consider as god any miracle worker. I close this article with the following passages from the New Testament, which is indicative of this tendency, and offers much food for thought: "Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, 'Stand upright on your feet.' And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, 'The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!' Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 'Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them'." Acts 14: 8-15