Who was Jesus and what was his real mission?

Answer 1

Other answers from our community:

Jesus is a member of the Godhead. (father, son, spirit) He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, having existed from eternities past. He was born of a virgin in bethlehem, and came into the world fully God & fully man. He lived for 33 years on the earth, teaching, serving, loving, and proclaiming the kingdom of God. He said he was "the light of the world" and "the bread of life." He "came into the world to save sinners"; to bring peace between God and man. He came on a rescue mission for those who are dead to God to make them alive to God. He died as a substitute to rescue those who would repent and believe in him to be rescued from their sin and it's consequences. Three days after his death, he rose from the dead and appeared to more than five hundred people before ascending back into heaven. The Bible says he will return one day to judge the world according to what each one has done and will bring rescue to those who believe in him. Those who do not believe in Jesus will go to eternal punishment in hell, and those who believe will go to eternal life in heaven. AnswerOne must consider that Jesus was considered the Word of God by his Jewish followers. In the written Word of the Hebrew religion were laws regarding human behavior. The law in sum described the model citizen of the Hebrew community. The words were written on paper, but what would this person look like in the flesh? Enter Jesus Christ.

Under the covenant God made with Israel, through Moses, or what is known as the "Mosaic" covenant, the method to be justified as "good" in the sight of God was to keep the laws in his word. As stated, if Jesus is the physical manifestation of what the model citizen would look like, to be justified as "good" in God's sight, one would have to meet all of the requirements of character and behavior that Jesus exhibited.

The Mosaic revelations of God's word for the ideal person were specific to the Hebrews, but were, and still are, generally known to all people. Laws such as, "Do not covet" or "Do not murder" or "Do not falsely accuse your neighbor" are found as foundational moral absolutes in cultures world wide, even cultures that know little to nothing about the Hebrew ordinances. All people understand in some way how the model person should behave. The problem for all people however, and especially for the Hebrew who was loaded with hundreds of specific laws for behavior, is that they don't always follow these laws, and indeed they are incapable of it. No Hebrew could be like Jesus Christ. God used the Hebrews as a physical example for all to look to. People can perfectly understand, through their example, that no one can be the ideal person.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the specific revelation of God's plan of reconciliation with humanity. Jesus, representing everything God wanted in a Hebrew, was willingly sacrificed by God in a public way, and it was commanded that this message be brought to all the peoples of the world, throughout all time. The message is this: God is willing to sacrifice the word, in the flesh, to reconcile those that aren't capable of meeting his laws for perfection in their flesh. Essentially, God has revoked the law in the flesh as the requirement for justification in his sight. How can one be labeled a "sinner" in God's sight, if God has no law to judge by? The concept of guilty in a court of law is based on nothing more than a law that indicates guilt. If the law is taken away, no guilty verdict can be rendered. However, through the resurrection of Christ, we see that God did not permanently erase the image of a perfect son, but raised him in a new form, and brought him out of this fleshly world. It was then revealed that the law for justification is to "believe" in the model citizen, who exists in the new form, and if this belief is found in a person, God will raise that person someday and give them the exact character image of his perfect Son. That person will eventually become the man who they believe in and want to be.

Jesus' mission is to give people and understanding of God and their relationship with him, and believing in Jesus causes many truths to enter the mind. 1) God will not hold one accountable to the standards of perfection in the flesh if they believe in the standards 2) One is not capable of keeping the standards in the flesh, or God would not have needed to sacrifice the fleshly system for justification 3) God still holds his standard man in the highest regard, so people also, who believe in him, should hold him in the highest regard as well, and they should naturally follow in his footsteps even while still in the flesh 4) Because the law for justification in the flesh was sacrificed, one should not hold his neighbor to these standards for justification in their sight, and have infinite forgiveness for people who sin against them.

If one truly understands the Gospel, and rejects it as false, they indicate to God that they believe the system for justification continues to reside in the flesh, or that no justification is required in his sight at all. This causes alienation between them and God, and between them and their neighbors. No love can truly exist in a fleshly system for justification, since no one can live up to the standard in the flesh. And equally, no love can exist in a system where the laws of loving one's neighbor have been rejected outright. Either way, after having received the knowledge of Christ crucified and resurrected, if one rejects the message, they are rejecting the very nature of God. This will eventually lead to destruction from his presence due to their unwillingness to identify with him.

Answer 2

Most modern Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God, and a man who lived and was crucified in Jerusalem in the first century CE. They say that his mission was to save those who believe in him.

Some say that Jesus was a wandering preacher who lived in Palestine in the first century CE, but who was probably not crucified. They say that his mission was probably to reform the Jewish faith.

Others say that Jesus never really existed. They say that Christianity began as a Mystery religion, like many simialr religions ofthe first century, and that Jesus was the high priest in heaven, crucified in heaven in the same way that other godmen had already been. One view is that the character of Jesus developed out of pagan gods such as the Hellenistic Egyptian Serapis, while other see him as the heavenly Priest in Zechariah. The Christian Gnostics developed the concept of a human Jesus of Nazareth to introduce Christianity to novice converts until they were ready for the inner mysteries of the faith. The Gnostics were surprised that subsequently, some novices took this story literally and began to preach a religion based on the 'outer' mysteries of Christianity.