Encyclopedia
Jesus , also known as
Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of
Christianity. He is commonly referred to as
Jesus Christ, where "Christ" is a Greek-derived title meaning "Anointed One" which corresponds to the
Hebrew-derived "Messiah".
The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the
four canonical Gospels of the
New Testament: Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. Most scholars in the fields of biblical studies and history agree that Jesus was a
Jewish teacher from
Galilee who was regarded as a healer, was baptized by
John the Baptist, was accused of sedition against the
Roman Empire, and on the orders of Roman Governor
Pontius Pilate was sentenced to death by
crucifixion. A small minority of scholars, based on their
analysis and dating of the relevant biblical and extra-biblical sources, question the
historical existence of Jesus.
Christian views of Jesus are both diverse and complex. Most Christians are
Trinitarian and believe that Jesus is simultaneously the Son of God and
God made incarnate, sent to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by atoning for the sins of humanity. Nontrinitarian Christians adopt various other interpretations regarding the divinity of Jesus. Most Christians believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, crucified and buried in a tomb,
resurrected on the third day of death, and ascended into
Heaven where he resides with God the Father until the Second Coming. Most Christians also believe that Jesus performed miracles and fulfilled biblical prophecy.
In
Islam, Jesus is considered one of
God's most beloved and important prophets, a bringer of divine scripture, and also the Messiah. Furthermore, the Virgin Birth of Jesus is an article of faith.
Muslims, however, do not share the Christian belief in the crucifixion or divinity of Jesus. Islam teaches that Jesus was raised to heaven. Most Muslims believe that Jesus will return to the earth as Messiah in the company of the Mahdi once the earth has become full of sin and injustice.
Chronology
The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke . There is considerable debate about the details of Jesus' birth among even Christian scholars, and few scholars claim to know precisely either the year or the date of his birth or of his death.
The nativity accounts in Matthew and Luke do not mention a date or time of year for the birth of Jesus.
In Western Christianity, it has been traditionally celebrated in the
liturgical season of Christmastide as
Christmas on 25 December, a date that can be traced as early as 330 among Roman Christians. Before then, and still today in
Eastern Christianity, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the feast of Theophany, also known as Epiphany, which commemorated not only Jesus' birth but also his
baptism by
John in the
Jordan River and possibly additional events in Jesus' life. Many scholars note that the account in Luke of the shepherds' activities suggest a spring or summer date for Jesus' birth. Scholars speculate that the date of the celebration was moved in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia .
Life and teachings according to the Gospels
As few of the details of Jesus' life can be independently verified, it is difficult to gauge the historical accuracy of the
Biblical accounts. The four canonical
gospels are the main sources of information for the traditional Christian narrative of Jesus' life.
Genealogy and family
Of the four gospels, only Matthew and Luke give accounts of Jesus' genealogy. Matthew's account gives the male line through his legal father
Joseph; Luke either gives the male line or, according to another interpretation, the line though Jesus' mother, Mary.
Both accounts trace his line back to
King David and from there to
Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David, but they differ between David and Joseph. Matthew starts with
Solomon and proceeds through the kings of
Judah to the last king, Jeconiah. After Jeconiah, the line of kings terminated when Babylon conquered Judah. Thus, Matthew shows that Jesus is the legal heir to the throne of Israel. Luke's genealogy is longer than Matthew's; it goes back to
Adam and provides more names between David and Jesus.
Joseph appears only in descriptions of Jesus' childhood. With Jesus commending
Mary into the care of the
beloved disciple during his crucifixion , it is likely that he had died by the time of Jesus' ministry. The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Galatians tell of Jesus' relatives, including possible brothers and sisters. The Greek word
adelphos in these verses is often translated as
brother in many Bible translations. However, the word can refer to any familial relation, and most Catholics and certain other Christians translate the word as
kinsman or
cousin.
Nativity and childhood
According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea to
Mary, a
virgin, by a
miracle of the
Holy Spirit. The Gospel of Luke gives an account of the
angel Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her that she was chosen to bear the Son of God . According to Luke, an order of Caesar Augustus forced Mary and Joseph to leave their homes in
Nazareth and come to the home of Joseph's ancestors, the house of
David, for the Census of Quirinius. After Jesus' birth, the couple was forced to use a manger in place of a crib because there was no room for them in the town's inn . According to Luke, an
angel announced Jesus' birth to shepherds who came to see the newborn child and subsequently publicized what they had witnessed throughout the area . Matthew also tells of the "
Wise Men" or "
Magi" who brought gifts to the infant Jesus after following a star which they believed was a sign that the Messiah, or King of the Jews, had been born , and of the
flight to Egypt after Jesus' birth in order to escape Herod's
Massacre of the Innocents.
Jesus' childhood home is stated in the Bible to have been the town of
Nazareth in
Galilee. According to Luke, Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth before Jesus' birth and returned there afterwards. According to Matthew, the family remained in Egypt until Herod's death, whereupon they moved to Nazareth in order to avoid living under the authority of Herod's son and successor Archelaus .
Aside from the
flight to Egypt and a short trip to
Tyre and
Sidon, all other events in the Gospels are set in
ancient Israel. Luke's
Finding in the Temple is the only event between Jesus' infancy and adult life mentioned in any of the canonical Gospels, although the New Testament apocrypha filled in the details of this time, some quite extensively.
Baptism and temptation
The
Gospel of Mark begins with the
Baptism of Jesus by
John the Baptist, which Biblical scholars describe as the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. According to Mark, Jesus came to the
Jordan River where John the Baptist had been preaching and baptizing people in the crowd. Matthew adds to the account by describing an attempt by John to decline Jesus' request for baptism, saying that it is Jesus who should baptize John. Jesus insisted however, claiming that baptism was necessary to "fulfill all righteousness." . After Jesus had been baptized and rose from the water, Mark states Jesus "saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven saying: ‘You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’" .
Following his baptism, according to Matthew, Jesus was led into the desert by God where he fasted for forty days and forty nights. During this time, the
devil appeared to him and tempted Jesus to demonstrate his
supernatural powers as proof of being the Son of God, although each temptation was refused by Jesus with a quote of
scripture from the Book of Deuteronomy. In all, he was tempted three times. The Gospels state that having failed, the devil departed and
angels came and brought nourishment to Jesus .
Ministry
The Gospels state that Jesus, as Messiah, was sent to "give his life as a ransom for many" and "preach the good news of the Kingdom of God." Over the course of his ministry, Jesus performed various miracles, including healings,
exorcisms, walking on water,
turning water into wine, and raising several people, such as
Lazarus, from the dead .
The Gospel of John describes three different
passover feasts over the course of Jesus' ministry. This implies that Jesus preached for a period of three years, although some interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year. The focus of his ministry was toward his closest adherents, the
Twelve Apostles, though many of his followers were considered
disciples. Jesus led what many believe to have been an
apocalyptic following. He preached that the
end of the current world would come unexpectedly; as such, he called on his followers to be ever alert and faithful.
At the height of his ministry, Jesus attracted huge crowds numbering in the thousands, primarily in the areas of
Galilee and Perea . Some of Jesus' most famous teachings come from the
Sermon on the Mount, which contained the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer. Jesus often employed parables, such as the
Prodigal Son, and the Parable of the Sower. His teachings centered around unconditional self-sacrificing God-like love for God and for all people. During his sermons, he preached about service and humility, the forgiveness of sin, faith, turning the other cheek,
love for one's enemies as well as friends, and the need to follow the spirit of
the law in addition to the letter.
Jesus often met with society's outcasts, such as the publicani , including the apostle Matthew; when the Pharisees objected to meeting with sinners rather than the righteous, Jesus replied that it was the sick who need a physician, not the healthy . According to Luke and John, Jesus also made efforts to extend his ministry to the
Samaritans, who followed a different form of the Israelite religion. This is reflected in his preaching to the Samaritans of Sychar, resulting in their conversion .
Arrest, trial, and death
According to the Gospels, Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival where a large crowd came to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!" Following his
triumphal entry, according to the synoptic gospels, Jesus created a disturbance at
Herod's Temple by
overturning the tables of the moneychangers operating there, claiming that they had made the Temple a "den of robbers." . Later that week, according to the synoptic gospels, Jesus and his disciples gathered for what is known as the
Last Supper, in which he prophesied his future betrayal by one of his apostles and ultimate execution. Following the supper, Jesus and his disciples went to pray in the
Garden of Gethsemane.
While in the garden, Jesus was
arrested by
Roman soldiers on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the high priest, Caiaphas. The arrest took place clandestinely at night to avoid a riot, as Jesus was popular with the people at large . According to the synoptics,
Judas Iscariot, one of his apostles, betrayed Jesus by identifying him to the guards with a kiss. Another apostle used a sword to attack one of the captors, cutting off his ear, which, according to Luke, Jesus immediately healed. Jesus rebuked the apostle, stating "all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword" . After his arrest, Jesus' apostles went into hiding.
During the
Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, the high priests and elders asked Jesus, "Are you the Son of God?", and upon his reply of "You say that I am", condemned Jesus for
blasphemy . The high priests then turned him over to the Roman Prefect
Pontius Pilate, based on an accusation of sedition for claiming to be King of the Jews. While before Pilate, Jesus was questioned "Are you the king of the Jews?" to which he replied, "It is as you say." According to the Gospels, Pilate personally felt that Jesus was not guilty of any crime against the Romans, and since there was a custom at Passover for the Roman governor to free a prisoner , Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Jesus of Nazareth and an insurrectionist named
Barabbas. The crowd chose to have Barabbas freed and Jesus crucified. Pilate washed his hands to display that he himself was innocent of the injustice of the decision .
According to all four Gospels, Jesus died before late afternoon. The wealthy Judean
Joseph of Arimathea, according to Mark and Luke a member of the Sanhedrin, received Pilate's permission to take possession of Jesus' body, placing it in a tomb. According to John, Joseph was joined in burying Jesus by
Nicodemus, who appears in other parts of John's gospel . The three Synoptic Gospels tell of an earthquake and of the darkening of the sky from twelve until three that afternoon.
Resurrection and Ascension
According to the Gospels, Jesus was
raised from the dead on the third day after his
crucifixion. The Gospel of Matthew states that an angel appeared near the tomb of Jesus and announced his resurrection to the women who had arrived to anoint the body. According to Luke it was two angels, and according to Mark it was a youth dressed in white. Mark states that on the morning of his resurrection, Jesus first appeared to
Mary Magdalene . John states that when Mary looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus until he spoke her name .
The
Acts of the Apostles state that Jesus appeared to various people in various places over the next forty days. Hours after his resurrection, he appeared to two travellers on the road to
Emmaus. To his assembled disciples he showed himself on the evening after his resurrection. Although his own ministry had been specifically to Jews, Jesus is said to have sent his apostles to the Gentiles with the Great Commission and ascended to heaven while a cloud concealed him from their sight. According to Acts,
Paul of Tarsus also saw Jesus during his Road to Damascus experience. Jesus promises to come again to fulfill the remainder of Messianic prophecy.
Historicity
Scholars arguing in favor of the existence of Jesus as a historical figure present probable reconstructions of his life by using the historical method. This is to be distinguished from the
Biblical Jesus, which derives from a
theological reading of the Gospel texts. Some scholars dispute the
historicity of Jesus.
Historical and archeological reconstructions of Jesus' day to day life
Most scholars agree the Gospels were written shortly before or after the destruction of
the Jewish Temple in the year 70 by the Romans. Examining the New Testament account of Jesus in light of historical knowledge about the time when Jesus was purported to live, as well as historical knowledge about the time during which the New Testament was written, has led several scholars to reinterpret many elements of the New Testament accounts. Many have sought to reconstruct Jesus' life in terms of contemporaneous political, cultural, and religious currents in Israel, including differences between Galilee and Judea; between different sects such the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots; and in terms of conflicts among Jews in the context of Roman occupation.
The Gospels record that Jesus was a Nazarene, but the meaning of this word is vague. Some scholars assert that Jesus was himself a Pharisee. In Jesus' day, the two main schools of thought among the Pharisees were the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai. Jesus' assertion of hypocrisy may have been directed against the stricter members of the House of Shammai, although he also agreed with their teachings on divorce . Jesus also commented on the House of Hillel's teachings concerning the
greatest commandment and the Golden Rule .
Other scholars assert that Jesus was an Essene, a sect of Judaism not mentioned in the
New Testament. Still other scholars assert that Jesus led a new apocalyptic sect, possibly related to
John the Baptist, which became
Early Christianity after the Great Commission spread his teachings to the Gentiles. This is distinct from an earlier commission Jesus gave to the
twelve Apostles, limited to "the lost sheep of Israel" and not including the Gentiles or Samaritans .
Of special interest has been the names and titles ascribed to Jesus. According to most critical historians, Jesus probably lived in
Galilee for most of his life and he probably spoke
Aramaic and
Hebrew. The name "Jesus" is an
English transliteration of the
Latin which in turn comes from the Greek name . Since most scholars hold that Jesus was an Aramaic-speaking Jew living in Galilee around 30 AD/CE, it is highly improbable that he had a Greek personal name. Further examination of the
Septuagint finds that the Greek, in turn, is a transliteration of the
Hebrew name Yehoshua or the shortened Hebrew/
Aramaic Yeshua or Jeshua . As a result, scholars believe that one of these was most likely the name that Jesus was known by during his lifetime by his peers.
Christ is an Anglicization of the Greek term for
Messiah, and literally means "anointed one". Historians have debated what this title might have meant at the time Jesus lived; some historians have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament had meanings in the first century quite different from those meanings ascribed today: see Names and titles of Jesus.
Historicity of the texts
Most modern Biblical scholars hold that the works describing Jesus were initially communicated by oral tradition, and were not committed to writing until several decades after Jesus' crucifixion. The earliest extant texts which refer to Jesus are
Paul's letters, which are usually dated from the mid-1st century. Paul wrote that he only saw Jesus in visions, but that they were divine revelations and hence authoritative . The earliest extant texts describing Jesus in any detail were the four
New Testament Gospels. These texts, being part of the Biblical canon, have received much more analysis and acceptance from Christian sources than other possible sources for information on Jesus.
Many other early Christian texts have surfaced detailing events in Jesus' life and teachings, though they were not included when the Bible was canonised due to a belief that they were pseudepigraphical, not inspired, or written too long after his death, while others were suppressed because they contradicted what had become the Christian orthodoxy. It took several centuries before the list of what was and was not part of the Bible became finally fixed, and for much of the early period the
Book of Revelation was not included while works like The Shepherd of Hermas were.
The books that did not make it into the final list have since become known as the New Testament apocrypha, and the chief amongst them, is the
Gospel of Thomas, a collection of
logia - phrases and sayings attributed to Jesus without a narrative framework, only rediscovered in the 20th Century. Other important apocryphal works that had a heavy influence in forming traditional Christian beliefs include the Apocalypse of Peter,
Protevangelium of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and Acts of Peter. A number of Christian traditions are found not in the canonical gospels but in these and other apocryphal works.
Possible earlier texts
Some texts with even earlier historical or mythological information on Jesus are speculated to have existed prior to the Gospels, though none have been found. Based on the unusual similarities and differences between the Synoptic Gospels — Matthew,
Mark and Luke, the first three canonical gospels — many Biblical scholars have suggested that oral tradition and logia probably played a strong role in initially passing down stories of Jesus, and may have inspired some of the Synoptic Gospels.
Specifically, many scholars believe that the Q document and the Gospel of Mark were the
two sources used for the gospels of Matthew and Luke; however, other theories, such as the older Augustinian hypothesis, continue to hold sway with some Biblical scholars. Another theoretical document is the Signs Gospel, believed to have been a source for the Gospel of John.
There are also early noncanonical gospels which may predate the canonical Gospels, although few surviving fragments have been found. Among these are the Unknown Berlin Gospel, the Oxyrhynchus Gospels, the Egerton Gospel, the Fayyum Fragment, the Dialogue of the Saviour, the Gospel of the Ebionites, the Gospel of the Hebrews, and the Gospel of the Nazarenes. While the earliest surviving manuscripts and fragments of these texts are dated later than the earliest surviving manuscripts and fragments of the canonical Gospels, they are probably copies of earlier manuscripts whose precise dates are unknown.
Questions of reliability
As a result of the likely several-decade time gap between the writing of the Gospels and the events they describe, the accuracy of all early texts claiming the existence of Jesus or details of Jesus' life have been disputed by various parties. However, most scholars accept many details of the Gospel narratives. The authors of the Gospels are traditionally thought to have been witnesses to the events included. After the original oral stories were written down, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. Several Biblical historians have responded to claims of the unreliability of the gospel accounts by pointing out that historical documentation is often biased and second-hand, and frequently dates from several decades after the events described.
The
Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution brought skepticism regarding the historical accuracy of these texts. Although some critical scholars, including archeologists, continue to use them as points of reference in the study of ancient Near Eastern history, others have come to view the texts as cultural and literary documents, generally regarding them as part of the genre of literature called hagiography, an account of a holy person regarded as representing a moral and divine ideal. Hagiography has a principal aim of the glorification of the religion itself and of the example set by the perfect holy person represented as its central focus.
Some say that the Gospel accounts are neither objective nor accurate, since they were written or compiled by his followers and seem to exclusively portray a positive, idealized view of Jesus, while others point to the lack of any non-Christian sources until Josephus in the year 93. Those who have a naturalistic view of history generally do not believe in divine intervention or
miracles, such as the resurrection of Jesus mentioned by the Gospels. One method used to estimate the factual accuracy of stories in the gospels is known as the "criterion of embarrassment", which holds that stories about events with embarrassing aspects would likely not have been included if those accounts were fictional.
External influences on gospel development
Many scholars, such as Michael Grant, do not see significant similarity between the pagan myths and Christianity. Grant states in
Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels that "Judaism was a milieu to which doctrines of the deaths and rebirths, of mythical gods seemed so entirely foreign that the emergence of such a fabrication from its midst is very hard to credit."
However, some scholars believe that the gospel accounts of Jesus have little or no historical basis. At least in part, this is because they see many similarities between stories about Jesus and older myths of
pagan godmen such as
Mithras,
Apollo,
Attis,
Horus and Osiris-Dionysus, leading to conjectures that the pagan myths were adopted by some authors of early accounts of Jesus to form a syncretism with Christianity. A small minority, such as Earl Doherty, carry this further and propose that the gospels are actually a reworking of the older myths and
not based on a historical figure. While these connections are disputed by many, it is nevertheless true that many elements of Jesus' story as told in the Gospels have parallels in pagan mythology, where miracles such as virgin birth were well-known. Some Christian authors, such as
C. S. Lewis and
J. R. R. Tolkien, account for this with the belief that such myths were created by ancient pagans with vague and imprecise foreknowledge of the Gospels; in other words the pagans gave prophetic attributes of the Christ as shown in the Jewish Torah and Prophets to their particular deity.
Religious perspectives
Jesus has an important role in two
religions:
Christianity and
Islam. Most other religions, however, do not consider Jesus to have been a supernatural or holy being. Some of these religions, like
Buddhism, do not take any official stance on Jesus' life, however note the many similarities in teachings and life of Jesus and
Buddha.
Judaism rejects claims of his divinity and of his being the Mashiach.
Christian views
The nature of Jesus is the central issue of
Christology. The theological concept of Jesus as Christ was refined by a series of seven ecumenical councils between 325 and 787 AD/CE. While most Christians believe that the councils were guided by the Bible and the
Holy Spirit, some Christians question one or more of the councils. Restorationists reject all the councils and seek to restore what they believe was the original Christian faith.
Different Christians also have different interpretations of Jesus' family members mentioned in and .
Eastern Christianity, following
Eusebius, believes that they were "Joseph's children by his first wife."
Roman Catholicism, following
Jerome, believes that they were Jesus' cousins, which the Greek word for "brother" or "relative" used in the Gospels would encompass. Both beliefs are based on the tradition that Mary remained a perpetual virgin, thus having no biological children before or after Jesus. While such notable reformers as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and Wesley affirmed the perpetual virginity of Mary, most Protestants today believe that these family members were the biological children of Mary and Joseph.
Paul of Tarsus wrote that just as sin entered the world through
Adam , so salvation from sin comes through Jesus, the second Adam . Most Christians believe that Jesus' death and resurrection provide salvation not only from personal sin, but from the condition of sin itself. This ancestral or
original sin separated humanity from God, making all liable to condemnation to eternal punishment in
Hell . However, Jesus' death and resurrection reconciled humanity with God, granting eternal life
