"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
John 1:1-14Jesus is not introduced as a late figure in the story. He is the eternal Word who took on flesh.
Step 2 of 4
Who Is Jesus?
The New Testament presents Jesus as central, not optional. He is not simply a teacher added to human history, but the one sent by the Father, crucified, raised, and declared Lord.
01
Core claim
Jesus is not just a teacher.
The Bible does not present Jesus as one wise voice among many. It presents him as the one through whom God is revealed and through whom God's saving purpose is accomplished.
That means the question of who Jesus is cannot be left at the level of admiration. Before he is treated as an example, he must be understood as a person with a specific identity and authority.
The New Testament keeps returning to the same point: Jesus comes from the Father, reveals the Father, dies, rises, and is now confessed as Lord. He is central to the message because he is central to what God is doing.
02
What Scripture Shows
Scripture speaks about Jesus in categories far greater than teacher, guide, or religious founder.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life... he that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
John 14:6-9Jesus does not merely speak about God accurately. He reveals the Father personally and uniquely.
"By him were all things created... and by him all things consist... that in all things he might have the preeminence."
Colossians 1:15-20Jesus is placed over creation and reconciliation alike. He is not one part of reality, but Lord over it.
"This Jesus hath God raised up... therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Acts 2:22-36Jesus is presented as the crucified and risen one, now declared Lord and Christ.
"Being in the form of God... he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death... wherefore God also hath highly exalted him."
Philippians 2:5-11Jesus' humility does not reduce his identity. It shows the path by which the exalted Lord accomplished his work.
"We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."
1 John 5:20The Son is tied directly to the knowledge of God and to eternal life itself.
03
Explanation
Jesus is sent by the Father, reveals God, was crucified, was raised, and is Lord.
Jesus is sent by the Father. He does not appear as a self-appointed spiritual leader offering private insight. He comes from the Father and acts in obedience to the Father's will. That gives his words and work their weight.
Jesus reveals God. He does not simply point people toward a hidden deity while remaining at a distance himself. In seeing Jesus, the New Testament says we see the Father made known. That is one reason he cannot be reduced to a moral instructor.
Jesus was crucified. That fact is not an unfortunate footnote. It stands at the center of the apostolic message. The cross is part of who Jesus is in the biblical story because it is part of what he came to do.
Jesus was raised. The New Testament does not leave him in the past as a tragic or inspiring figure. It speaks of him as risen and alive. And it speaks of him as Lord. That means he is not optional, not merely advisory, and not one figure among many equally valid choices.
This is the claim that changes everything. If Jesus is only a human teacher, even a remarkable one, then the cross is a tragedy and the resurrection is a rumour. But if he is the eternal Word who took on flesh, fully God and fully human, then the cross is not an accident. It is a plan. And the resurrection is not a legend. It is the public declaration that the plan worked. The identity of Jesus is not a theological footnote. It is the thing on which everything else depends. If he is who Scripture says he is, then how a person responds to him is the most consequential decision they will ever make.
You may be reading this and asking a prior question: can this document actually be trusted? That is a fair question, and it deserves a serious answer before anything else on this page carries weight. There is a full examination of the historical reliability of the New Testament on a separate page. If that question is in the way, go there first and come back. Is the Bible historically reliable?
04
Common misunderstanding
Jesus is not one option among many.
The New Testament does not allow that kind of distance.
Many people are willing to place Jesus alongside other teachers, prophets, or spiritual guides. But the New Testament does not speak that way. It presents him as the one who reveals the Father, the one who was crucified and raised, and the one before whom every knee will bow. He cannot be fitted into a system where he is merely one path among others.
05
Reflection questions
What kind of place have you actually given Jesus?
Three questions to consider
- Do you think of Jesus mainly as a teacher, or as the Lord the New Testament presents him to be?
- If Jesus reveals the Father, what does that say about how closely he stands to God?
- If Jesus was crucified, raised, and exalted as Lord, what kind of response would be fitting?
06
Next step