Who is Jesus?

Jesus was a Jewish teacher from first-century Galilee. Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant Christians also believe he is God the Son, who became human and brought forgiveness and new life through his death and resurrection. To understand these beliefs, begin with Jesus’ world and the accounts of his life.

You do not need a church background to explore Jesus. Start with a few questions: What did he teach? Why did people follow him? Why was he killed? And what do Christians mean when they call him “Christ,” “Lord,” or “Savior”?

Jesus in his own world

Jesus lived about two thousand years ago, in a region under Roman power. He was associated with Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and lived within Jewish religious life. His teaching grew out of Israel’s Scriptures, its worship, and its hopes for God’s action in the world.

Jesus spoke to people with the questions and expectations of their own time. Their understanding of God, justice, or the Messiah, God’s promised deliverer, grew out of that world. Keeping this setting in mind helps us hear what his words might have meant to his first listeners.

Historians broadly accept that Jesus existed and was crucified under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. They debate many details of his life and how to interpret the surviving evidence. Historical study and Christian belief ask overlapping questions, but they do not always reach the same conclusions. Dale Martin’s Yale lecture on the historical Jesus offers an introduction to one scholarly approach.

How do we know about him?

The main accounts of Jesus’ life are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, called the Gospels. “Gospel” means good news. Their writers select and arrange material to tell Jesus’ story and explain why they believe he matters. Understanding each writer’s purpose helps us read the accounts carefully.

The four accounts have much in common, but each has its own arrangement, emphasis, and distinctive material. Reading them individually helps you hear what each writer is trying to communicate. Letters in the New Testament also show what early Christians believed about Jesus; Paul’s discussion in 1 Corinthians 15:1–8 is especially important for understanding the resurrection message.

For an accessible introduction to the kind of writing you are reading, see BibleProject’s explanation of the Gospels.

What did Jesus do?

The Gospels describe Jesus traveling, teaching, sharing meals, healing people, and gathering followers. They call his followers disciples. A disciple is a learner who follows a teacher’s way of life.

Jesus welcomed people others avoided and challenged people who thought religious standing made them superior. He also called people to change. His compassion and his moral demands belong together: the invitation was to a life shaped by love of God and neighbor.

In Mark 1, you can see teaching, healing, prayer, and the calling of disciples gathered into one chapter. The Gospel presents these actions as signs of God’s work through Jesus. Readers approach its miracle accounts with different assumptions; understanding what the writer claims is a useful first step.

What was his central message?

Jesus announced the kingdom of God. Here, “kingdom” means God’s reign or rule, not simply a place with borders. His message concerned what life looks like when God’s purposes take hold: mercy, justice, forgiveness, and a different use of power.

He called people to repent, meaning to turn toward God and change direction, and to trust this good news. That change reached into ordinary life: how people treated an enemy, handled money, responded to someone in need, or pursued recognition.

Matthew 5 introduces the Sermon on the Mount, including Jesus’ teaching about peacemaking and loving enemies. These teachings are demanding, but their language often begins with familiar human situations.

Why did he tell stories?

Jesus often taught through parables, short stories or comparisons that could make listeners rethink something they had taken for granted. Notice the question or conversation that leads into a story. It often helps explain the point Jesus is making.

In the good Samaritan, a person asks who counts as a neighbor. Jesus tells of a wounded traveler and an unexpected person who helps him. The story shifts attention from deciding who deserves care to becoming a neighbor through action. Read the conversation and story together in Luke 10:25–37.

What does “Jesus Christ” mean?

Christ is a title, not Jesus’ surname. It is the Greek equivalent of Messiah, meaning “anointed one.” Anointing with oil could mark someone out for a particular role. Calling Jesus the Messiah connects him with hopes for God’s promised deliverance.

“Jesus Christ” therefore makes a claim about his identity. His followers believed that he fulfilled God’s purposes, although his suffering and death challenged familiar expectations of what a deliverer should look like. John 1:35–49 introduces several titles people used for him.

Why was Jesus crucified?

Jesus’ activity brought conflict with some religious leaders, and his execution took place under Roman authority. Crucifixion was a brutal form of public execution. Mark 15 connects the Roman proceedings with the charge that Jesus was king of the Jews.

The Gospels differ in details of the arrest and trial. A careful reading should not turn those accounts into blame against Jewish people as a whole. Jesus, his first disciples, and many of his earliest followers were themselves Jewish.

Christians understand Jesus’ death as part of God’s work to deal with sin and restore people’s relationship with him. Sin refers to the wrong that damages life and turns people away from God’s goodness. Christian traditions explain the cross through several images, including sacrifice, reconciliation (restoring a broken relationship), and victory over evil.

What is the resurrection?

Resurrection means being raised from death. Christians believe that God raised Jesus to life. Their claim goes beyond saying that his teaching lived on or that his friends found comfort in remembering him.

Paul presents Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and appearances to followers as central to the Christian message in 1 Corinthians 15:1–8. The rest of the chapter connects that belief with hope beyond death.

These early writings show what their authors proclaimed about Jesus. Assessing the claim that God raised him also involves questions about God and whether divine action is possible. For Christians, the resurrection is the basis of their hope that sin and death do not have the final word.

What do Christians mean by “Son of God”?

In historic Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant teaching, Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Incarnation is the word for God the Son becoming human. It does not mean that Jesus was only pretending to have a human body, or that “Son” describes God having a child through a physical relationship.

John 1:1–18 expresses Jesus’ divine identity through the language of the Word becoming flesh. Christians developed precise theological language as they reflected on passages like this alongside Jesus’ prayers, suffering, and relationship with the Father.

This is connected with the Trinity, the belief in one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this teaching, calling Jesus “Son of God” expresses belief in his divine identity.

What does following Jesus involve?

Christians call Jesus Lord to express their commitment to follow him. They call him Savior because they believe he brings rescue and new life. Following him involves trust, learning, prayer, and putting his teaching into practice.

That practice includes love of neighbor, forgiveness, care for people in need, honesty about wrongdoing, and life with other believers. Christians understand it as a response to God’s grace, his freely given love and help. His love is a gift they receive and respond to.

You can begin exploring before you know what you believe. Read an account of Jesus’ life, notice what surprises you, and ask which claims you would like to investigate further.

A good place to begin reading

• Mark 1: meet Jesus’ public activity and the kingdom message.
• Luke 10:25–37: explore the good Samaritan and the meaning of neighbor.
• Mark 15: read an account of the crucifixion.
• John 1:1–18: consider the claim that God entered human life.
• 1 Corinthians 15:1–8: read an early statement of the resurrection message.

Read a whole passage before selecting a sentence from it. Ask who is speaking, what is happening, and what the writer wants you to understand. Our starting guide and Christianese glossary can help with the next questions.

Examine the resurrection claim

The claim that Jesus rose from the dead needs more than a passing mention. Explore the early sources, the reasons Christians give, alternative explanations, and the limits of historical inquiry.

If you want to explore this personally

What would it mean to begin following Jesus? Explore trust, repentance, prayer, and finding a Christian community, with explanations of differences among churches.

Read the accounts of Jesus

Explore Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with introductions to their setting, distinctive voices, and key passages.