The person of Jesus is central to the Christian faith. But, for many, it is unclear who Jesus is or what he’s about. We live in a world that is hungry for answers like never before. A world that values truth. So, it is reasonable to expect that we want to know the truth about who Jesus is, what He taught, and what He has to do with our lives. 

I know it’s impossible to do this topic justice in a simple blog post. As you read along, if any of this information is new to you I want to encourage you to reach out to a Christian friend, explore some of our suggested resources (one of my personal favorites is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis), or be so bold as to pick up a Bible and begin reading in the book of Mark. All of these things will give you a much better understanding of who Jesus is than what I can provide to you in such a short post. 

But in this blog I hope to begin to paint a picture of answers to the commonly asked questions: Who is Jesus? Was He a son of God or was He God? Was He just a good man? And did He exist at all?

Before heading anywhere else, let’s clear up the most foundational question—did Jesus really exist? Some of us might be familiar with the stories of Jesus from the Bible. Many will be familiar with sweet little baby Jesus central to nativity scenes at Christmas time. The poignant question is, is this Jesus someone who actually appeared in history, or should He be relegated to fairytales and folklore? An inspiring or festive figure that adds color to our lives but little else. A figment of children’s stories akin to Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. 

Well, it might surprise many to hear that there is reliable non-Christian evidence that the man described in the Bible narrative—Jesus of Nazareth—was indeed a real person in history. The writings of ancient secular historians corroborate with the Bible stories about Rabbi Jesus who lived in Galilee, had disciples, taught hundreds of people, was known to do miracles, was crucified, and was reported by his followers to have been raised from the dead. You don’t need to read the Bible to find this out. Just read the writings of non-Christian historians from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD e.g. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, and Pliny and Tacitus notable Roman politicians. 

Importantly, in broader ancient writings there was no debate about the existence of Jesus of Nazareth as a historical figure. The writings of Jewish Rabbis, secular philosophers and even satirists from the first centuries show that there was an understanding that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person. In short, if we believe ancient historical texts about the existence of Alexander the Great or Cleopatra then we have no logical reason to believe anything different about Jesus of Nazareth. Of course, seeing that Jesus was a real person only answers the first of many questions. The significance of that real person is what we’ll look at next.

OK, so Jesus existed. That fact in itself clearly doesn’t make Him God. In fact, many who believe that Jesus really existed, see Him as a great moral teacher. Someone like Ghandi or Martin Luther King Junior. Full of love, full or moral teachings to inspire and to call people to the best that humanity has to offer. It’s comforting to see Jesus in this way and certainly far less inconvenient than having to agree with Him being a deity. Jesus being God poses many challenges. But Jesus as a 1960s hippie espousing love as the central key to humanity? Now that is easier to get on board with.

As comforting as it might be to see Jesus in this way, is it actually logical?

In his book Mere Christianity, author and scholar C.S. Lewis wrote:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

Here’s the problem that Lewis is hitting on. Jesus made certain claims about Himself that makes it incredibly difficult to state that he was simply a good teacher. Let’s consider how Jesus talked about Himself in the New Testament. Repeatedly we find Jesus talking about being the Son of God. A great example is in John 10, when Jesus confronts the Jewish leaders who are angry at these very claims, saying: “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37-38). A few verses on, we see the Jewish teachers are ready to stone Jesus at this point. Their justification? In Jewish understanding, it was impossible to claim God as Father, to claim sonship to God without claiming something much more significant—equality with God Himself. 

Jesus wasn’t innocently walking around claiming that God was in Him as He’s in everyone. He wasn’t walking around calling Himself son with a little ’s’. He was walking around making an outrageous claim in Jewish (and our!) society—claiming to be God Himself.

A leader who tries to convince others that He is God (much like some modern cult leaders) is not hailed as a good moral leader but rather someone disturbed. Someone who is either themselves deceived or is intentionally deceptive of others. Lying to others is not generally seen as the peak of morality. If Jesus wasn’t telling the truth about being God, then the only other option we have is to recognize that he was lying to his followers. Not quite the beacon of morality that some would have us believe.

Hence, when we read about Jesus there is one conclusion about Him that is not open to us—Jesus the great moral teacher. Looking at the evidence, we have a much more difficult decision to make about Him. Simply put, He was either bad, mad, or God. Doesn’t get much more challenging than that.

If after reading ancient texts, we come to the conclusion, as crazy as it might seem, that Jesus was telling the truth, what does it mean for us in the 21st century? So what if God came to earth at one point in history? Maybe He was curious about the human experience? Maybe He thought it fun to trick everyone by appearing just like a normal person? What does it mean for our lives today?

When we look at what Jesus said about Himself, we see Him preaching a message of life, love, joy and peace that has nothing to do with our circumstances. In the gospels (narrative writings of Jesus’ life) we see that wherever Jesus went, lives were turned upside town, put back together again and totally transformed. We see that those who followed Jesus started living lives that were totally convinced of the continuing presence of God with them. What are we to make of all of this?

The Bible is clear that God in Jesus came to earth as a human baby not as some sort of cosmic expedition but to create the possibility for humanity to know God and to come to know what it means to be fully alive and fully free. Jesus—God and man in one (so hard to get our heads around!)—came to earth not only to show us what God is like but to blaze a trail through all the muck and pain of humanity—even to the point of death on a cross—so that he could do what only God can do—defeat every kind of brokenness, sickness and even death. That’s the point of the cross and resurrection. The claim of Christianity is not unique before the resurrection, but it is entirely unique after it! God allowed Himself to be killed in order to do what only He has the power to do—burn a hole right through the ultimate enemy: death itself. That’s what Easter is all about. 

This is why Jesus is the answer to every challenge life throws us, because He has made a way for us to experience peace, joy, and fullness of life no matter where we are or what we are going through. In our everyday moments we now have the opportunity to know what it means to be fully alive. And even when we are faced with the worst pain that we can experience as humans, we have this stubborn peace as Christians. God blazed a way even through death, not just to prove He could do it, but to make a way for us right through the other side of it.

Even as I’m typing these words, I’m aware knowledge can only take us so far. No matter what I write in this post, I’m aware that it’s relationship with Jesus that brings the life that’s promised in the Bible. The lives of Jesus’ disciples weren’t changed because they believed some intellectual teachings, but because they met God face to face and could not possibly live as they had before that.

In the same way, I want to invite you to meet this Jesus:

If you’re curious, take a moment to close your eyes and pray, “Jesus, if you’re real, will you meet with me?” I believe that He can and will show you who He is.