Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish man from the northern region of Israel who lived roughly 2,000 years ago. The vast majority of historians—both secular and religious—affirm the historical existence of Jesus and agree that the New Testament Gospels preserve substantial historically valuable material about him. Agnostic historian Bart D. Ehrman makes this point plainly:
“There was a historical Jesus, a Jewish teacher of first-century Palestine who was crucified by the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate.”
— Bart D. Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist? (2012)
While the existence of Jesus is not debated in the academic world, the central controversy surrounding him concerns who he claimed to be. Many people throughout history—including in our own day—call Jesus a rabbi (teacher) or a prophet. While Jesus certainly was those things, he also made far more exalted claims.
According to the New Testament, Jesus taught that he was the long-awaited Savior anticipated in the Old Testament (Luke 24:25–27; John 5:39). He claimed to be the Messiah (King) of Israel (Mark 14:61–62). And he made uniquely divine claims—such as having authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:5–10), speaking and acting with God’s prerogatives (John 5:17–23), and identifying himself using God’s own name (“I am,” John 8:58).
What are we to make of these claims to divinity? If Jesus deliberately lied about his identity to gain a following, then he could not be considered a great moral teacher. If he sincerely believed he was God but was mistaken, then he would not have been a prophet but rather delusional.
But if he truly was who he claimed to be, then that is profoundly good news. It means that God revealed his character through Jesus—living a perfect life of love and obedience, something we ourselves fail to do. It means that Jesus willingly gave his life on a Roman cross as a sacrifice to free us from the penalty of sin (Mark 10:45; Romans 5:6–8). It means that he was raised from the dead to reign as King and free us from the power of sin (Romans 6:4–9). And it means he will one day return to remove the presence of sin forever (Revelation 21:1–5).
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