Few people in history have influenced the world as profoundly as Jesus Christ.
His teachings have shaped civilizations. His words have comforted the suffering, challenged the powerful, transformed lives, and inspired people across generations and cultures.
Even people who do not consider themselves Christians often admire Jesus as a great teacher, moral example, religious leader, or compassionate reformer.
But Jesus did not present Himself merely as someone whose ideas should be admired.
He made extraordinary claims about who He is.
And if those claims are true, then Jesus cannot simply be placed alongside other important teachers in history.
He stands at the center of the Christian faith—and at the center of God's story of redemption .
So before we can understand what it means to follow Jesus, we need to answer a foundational question:
Who is Jesus?
Jesus Was a Real Person in Human History
Christian faith does not begin with a mythical character or an abstract religious idea.
Jesus lived in the real world.
He was born into a Jewish family. He lived in the land of Israel. He ate with people. He worked. He traveled.
He experienced hunger, fatigue, sorrow, friendship, rejection, pain, and death.
The Gospel accounts place His life within identifiable historical settings and describe His interaction with real political and religious leaders.
Jesus was fully human.
That matters because Christianity teaches something remarkable:
God did not remain distant from the human condition.
He entered it.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
John 1:14Jesus did not merely appear human.
He became one of us.
Jesus Is the Eternal Son of God
Jesus was fully human, but the New Testament makes an even greater claim.
Jesus is also divine.
John begins his Gospel not with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but before creation itself.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1The One who later entered human history as Jesus Christ existed before the world began.
Jesus Himself spoke of sharing glory with the Father before the world existed.
The apostle Paul described Christ as the image of the invisible God and taught that all things were created through Him and for Him.
The Christian claim is therefore far greater than:
Jesus was a remarkable man.
The Christian claim is:
God has made Himself known to us in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Shows Us What God Is Like
People have asked throughout history:
What is God like?
Is He distant?
Is He angry?
Does He care about people?
Can He be known?
Jesus gives Christianity's clearest answer.
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
John 14:9Jesus reveals the character of God.
Look at the compassion of Jesus toward the hurting, and we see something of God's compassion.
Look at His holiness, and we see God's holiness.
Look at His patience toward broken people, and we see God's patience.
Look at His anger toward hypocrisy and injustice, and we see God's commitment to truth and righteousness.
Look at Jesus welcoming sinners who turn toward Him, and we see the grace of God.
Jesus does not merely tell us information about God.
He reveals God to us.
Jesus Announced the Kingdom of God
When Jesus began His public ministry, one of His central messages concerned the kingdom of God.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Mark 1:15The kingdom of God is God's rule and reign.
Jesus was announcing that God was acting decisively within history.
Through Him, God's saving rule was breaking into a world damaged by sin.
Jesus demonstrated this kingdom through both His words and His actions.
He taught truth.
He forgave sinners.
He healed the sick.
He welcomed outsiders.
He confronted evil.
He restored broken people.
He demonstrated compassion.
And He called people to repent, believe, and follow Him.
These were not simply isolated acts of kindness.
They were signs that God's promised King had come.
Jesus Claimed an Authority That Belongs to God
Jesus did more than teach about God.
He exercised extraordinary authority.
He forgave sins.
He claimed authority over the Sabbath.
He spoke as One who possessed authority greater than Israel's religious teachers.
He described Himself as the final judge of humanity.
He declared that eternal life was found through Him.
And He called people to give Him the loyalty that belongs ultimately to God.
One especially striking moment occurred when Jesus told a paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven.
The religious leaders immediately understood the significance of the statement.
Only God can ultimately forgive sins.
Jesus then healed the man as a visible demonstration of His authority.
Again and again, Jesus forced people to confront the question:
Who is this man?
Jesus Is the Messiah
For centuries, the people of Israel had been waiting for God's promised Messiah.
The Hebrew Scriptures pointed toward a coming King who would fulfill God's purposes and bring His saving work to completion. To see how this promise fits within the Bible’s unified story from Creation to New Creation , explore His Story of Reality.
The word Messiah means “Anointed One.”
The Greek equivalent is Christ.
So “Jesus Christ” is not simply a first and last name.
It is a declaration:
Jesus is the Christ—the promised Messiah.
One day Jesus asked His disciples what people were saying about Him.
Then He made the question personal.
“But who do you say that I am?”
Matthew 16:15Peter answered:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:16That question has never disappeared.
Every generation must answer it.
And eventually, every person must answer it personally.
Who do you say Jesus is?
Jesus Came to Save Us
Jesus came to teach.
He came to reveal God.
He came to announce God's kingdom.
But His mission would ultimately lead Him to the cross.
Jesus understood His death as central to why He had come.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45Humanity's deepest problem is not merely ignorance.
It is not lack of education.
It is not poor circumstances.
The Bible identifies the deeper problem as sin.
Sin separates us from God.
It distorts our desires.
It damages our relationships.
It brings guilt.
And ultimately it leads to death.
We cannot repair that separation simply by becoming more religious or trying harder to behave.
We need reconciliation with God.
That is why the Cross stands at the center of the Christian faith .
Jesus willingly gave His life for sinners.
He bore the consequences of sin so that forgiveness and reconciliation could be offered to us by grace.
The cross reveals both the seriousness of our sin and the extraordinary depth of God's love.
Jesus Rose from the Dead
If the story of Jesus ended at the cross, Christianity would be a story about a remarkable teacher who died.
But the New Testament announces something entirely different.
Jesus rose from the dead.
His followers claimed that the tomb was empty and that the risen Jesus appeared to them.
The resurrection transformed frightened disciples into courageous witnesses.
Peter, who had denied Jesus before the crucifixion, publicly proclaimed Him afterward.
“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
1 Corinthians 15:3–4The resurrection is not an optional detail of Christianity.
It is at the heart of the gospel.
Because Jesus rose:
Death does not have the final word.
Sin does not have the final word.
The grave does not have the final word.
Jesus is alive.
Jesus Is Savior
The word Savior can become so familiar that we forget what it means.
A savior is someone who rescues.
Christianity teaches that we cannot save ourselves from sin and its consequences.
We need someone to rescue us.
Jesus came to do what we could never accomplish for ourselves.
Through His death and resurrection, He makes forgiveness possible.
He reconciles us to God.
He gives new life.
He offers eternal life.
Salvation is therefore not something we achieve.
It is something we receive.
We trust Christ.
We depend upon what He has done.
We receive God's grace.
This is why the message of Christianity is called good news.
Jesus Is Lord
Jesus is not only Savior.
He is also Lord.
That means Christianity involves more than receiving forgiveness.
It means recognizing the rightful authority of Jesus over our lives.
This brings us directly back to what we learned in the first teaching.
Jesus says:
Follow Me.
If Jesus were merely an inspiring teacher, we could consider His ideas and decide which ones we preferred.
But if Jesus truly is Lord, then His words carry authority.
We do not simply ask:
“Do I agree with Jesus?”
We begin asking:
“How should I live because Jesus is Lord?”
That is discipleship.
Jesus Is the Way to the Father
One of Jesus' most significant claims appears in John 14.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:6That is an exclusive claim.
Jesus did not present Himself as one spiritual option among many.
He presented Himself as the One through whom sinful people are reconciled to God.
Why?
Because Christianity teaches that Jesus uniquely accomplished what humanity needed.
He alone entered the world as the sinless Son of God.
He alone gave His life for our sins.
He alone conquered death.
He alone reconciles us to the Father.
The uniqueness of Jesus is therefore inseparable from the Christian gospel.
Jesus Invites Us into Relationship with Him
It is possible to study Jesus academically without knowing Him personally.
A person can know when Jesus lived.
Know what He taught.
Know the events of the crucifixion.
Understand Christian theology.
And still never personally trust Him.
Jesus calls people to something deeper.
He calls us into relationship.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
John 17:3Christian faith is therefore not merely believing a collection of facts about Jesus.
Those truths matter enormously.
But they lead somewhere.
They lead us to Him.
We trust Him.
We speak with Him in prayer.
We listen to His Word.
We depend upon His grace.
We obey Him.
We walk with Him.
And over time, we learn to know Him more deeply.
Why Does Jesus Matter?
Jesus matters because the questions surrounding Him ultimately become questions about everything.
Jesus changes our understanding of God, because God has revealed Himself through Christ.
He changes our understanding of ourselves, because Jesus reveals both our brokenness and our worth before God.
He changes our understanding of sin, because the cross shows us its seriousness.
He changes our understanding of grace, because salvation is God's gift rather than our achievement.
He changes our understanding of truth, because Jesus does not merely teach truth—He identifies Himself with it.
He changes our understanding of purpose, because our lives become part of God's kingdom and mission.
He changes our understanding of death, because Jesus conquered the grave.
And He changes our understanding of eternity, because our ultimate hope is found in Him.
The question of Jesus is therefore not simply one religious question among many.
If the claims of Christianity are true, then Jesus is the central question of human existence.
The Question Jesus Still Asks
There came a moment when Jesus turned to His disciples and asked:
“But who do you say that I am?”
Matthew 16:15Notice that Jesus moved the conversation from what other people believed to what His disciples believed.
That same movement eventually happens for each of us.
It is possible to know what your family believes about Jesus.
What your church believes.
What pastors believe.
What scholars believe.
What skeptics believe.
What culture believes.
But eventually the question becomes personal.
Who do you believe Jesus is?
Christianity stands or falls on the answer.
Reflection
Take some time to consider these questions:
- Before reading this teaching, how would you have described who Jesus is?
- Which aspect of Jesus' identity is most meaningful to you right now—His humanity, deity, role as Savior, or authority as Lord?
- What difference does the resurrection make to the Christian understanding of Jesus?
- Is there a difference in your life between viewing Jesus as Savior and recognizing Him as Lord?
- How would you personally answer Jesus' question: “Who do you say that I am?”
Complete the Week Two Study Guide
You have finished the Week Two teaching. Now take time to explore the key Scriptures more closely, reflect on what you have learned about Jesus, pray, and consider how His identity should shape the way you trust and follow Him.
Begin the Week Two Study Guide →