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Please take this review once you have completed the study
Review | |
Some of the material in this section was adapted from:
 | | Did Jesus Claim To Be God? - Lee Strobel |
 | | Who is Jesus? Street Interviews |
 | | The Historical Jesus |
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This lesson is designed to help you understand what Nazarenes believe about Jesus Christ. At the end of this lesson you will be asked to give a one sentence statement about who Jesus is.
Watch this video before you begin.
| | | Who is Jesus? Street Interviews |
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Article II
Jesus Christ
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one Person very God and very man, the God-man.
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and took again His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in intercession for us.
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Jesus was more than a historical character.
Jesus was an actual historical person. He was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, and worked in a carpentry shop until he was about 30 years old. Then, he spent three years traveling throughout his homeland, preaching the good news and performing miracles. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast destructive demons out of tormented souls.
Jesus earthly life ended when he was, on a Roman cross, killed in an effort to silence his message and stop his miracles that had upset the religious leaders of his day. However, the Biblical record shows that Jesus' life did not end on the cross. Rather on the third day after the crucifixion, God raised him from the dead. After another 40 days Jesus ascended into heaven, in the plain sight of his disciples. He is still alive there now.
Christianity 101 NPH 2008 |
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Important Terms
Incarnation
This is the name for the event of God becoming a human. The eternal son of God entered into history in the person of Jesus, and still he continued to be God. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human.
Crucifixion
Crucifixion this is one way the ancient Romans killed those guilty of great crimes crucifixion means that by hanging on a cross. Jesus died by crucifixion. The crucifixion of Jesus makes salvation possible.
Resurrection
Resurrection is a return to life after death. The resurrection of Christ is the source of the Christian hope for resurrection. The resurrection will happen at the second coming of Christ. Christians who have died will be raised to a new life.
Ascension
Ascension is the event in which Jesus Christ returned to heaven. This happened after God raised him from the dead. Now Jesus Christ reigns with the father in heaven.
Christianity 101 NPH, 2008
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The Virgin Birth
The birth of Jesus to a young virgin was a miraculous event with many implications for the future of humanity. Over 2000 years later, we still celebrate this event when we observe Christmas traditions.
His miraculous birth fulfilled all ancient prophecies in hopes of salvation for humankind. Sin had plagued humanity since Adam and Eve. For centuries, prophets had been reminding people that God had promised a way out of their miserable existence. God had promised that he would send someone to take the penalty for those sins away. That someone was Jesus.
Christianity 101 NPH, 2008 |
The Incarnation
One day Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" If Jesus were to ask you the same question today, how would you answer? The disciples were aware of what others were saying about Jesus. Yet, when Jesus asked them what they thought, only one had a definitive answer. Matthew 16:14-16 These men had been spending their lives with Christ. Yet, when asked if they knew who he was, they choked. It was Peter who understood, and declared Christ's divinity and humanity. "Jesus of Nazareth was a real, historical character. He was completely a human being and completely God at the same time. His coming to live among us was the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation to his people. Jesus' life among us taught us what God is like. His death and resurrection gave us hope that we will rise above the sinful chaos of this world and live in heaven with God someday." If we emphasize the human side of Jesus too much, then he becomes for us just another great teacher and find human being. This choice is easy to make because it is difficult to believe in something as unique as God--Man. To say Jesus is a great example of the best of what it means to be a human being - as many people do - is to deny that he was also a divine. If we lean to to heavily on the divine side - that Jesus was God and, therefore, unlike any other human beings - them we are apt to believe that Jesus did not really experience what it is like to be human. He only appeared to suffer the problems of the human condition, but, as God, did not really experience the pain we feel. If that were true, that means that God could not relate to us as human beings, and would defeat the whole purpose of Jesus coming to live among us. Held in proper balance - that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine at the same time - this ministry helps us understand that Jesus came to save us from the destructive effects of sin. He experienced those devastating effects in his own life, overcame them through the cross and the resurrection, and yet was sinless himself. Thus we can know that it is possible for us to experience relief in our own sin filled lives." |
One Solitary Life
"'One Solitary Life' was first told by Dr. James Allen Francis at the First Baptist Church of Los Angeles in a sermon, 'Arise, Sir Knight.' It was delivered on July 11, 1926 to the National Baptist Young Peoples' Union. One Solitary Life He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life. |
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