Who Is Jesus?

• Mark 8:27–30: Jesus asks who people say He is, and then who His disciples say He is.
• John 1:1–14: The Word who was with God and was God became flesh.
• Phil 2:5–11: Equal with God, He took a servant's form, died, and was exalted as Lord.
• Col 1:15–20: God's visible likeness, the Creator and Reconciler of all things.
• Heb 1:1–3: God's final word in His Son, who radiates His glory and made purification for sins.

• Matt 16:13–17: The crowds guess He is a prophet come back. Peter confesses Him as Messiah and Son of the God who lives, a truth the Father revealed to him.
• Matt 16:21–23: Peter can't yet accept a suffering Messiah, and Jesus rebukes him.
• Matt 17:1–8: On the mountain, the Father's voice identifies the Son.
• Luke 22:54–62; John 21:15–19: Peter denies Him, then is restored.
• Acts 2:22–36: Peter preaches that God made the crucified Jesus both Lord and Christ.
• John 20:24–28: Thomas, after his doubt, confesses Jesus as his Lord and his God.

Connective note: Knowing the right title wasn't enough for Peter. He had to learn what kind of Messiah Jesus is, one who goes to the cross (Mark 8:31–33). Confessing who Jesus is and trusting what He did belong together (Rom 10:9).

• Ps 2: The Lord's Anointed, the Son, set as King (cf. Acts 13:33; Heb 1:5).
• Ps 110:1–4: The psalm Jesus used about His own identity (Mark 12:35–37).

Seed verse: John 1:14 Suggested first links: Isa 9:6–7 · Dan 7:13–14 · Mic 5:2 · Matt 1:23 · Mark 2:5–12 · John 8:58 · John 10:30 · John 14:9 · John 20:28 · Rom 9:5 · Col 2:9 · Titus 2:13 · Rev 1:17–18

• What does the Bible teach about the Trinity? → What does the Bible teach about the Trinity?
• Is there historical evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? → The Gospel
• Which Old Testament prophecies did Jesus fulfill? → Which Old Testament prophecies did Jesus fulfill?
• What is the gospel? → What is the gospel?
• Can a Christian have doubts? → Can a Christian have doubts?

Skeptic. Wasn't Jesus just a good teacher? The Gospels don't leave that option open. He forgave sins in His own name (Mark 2:5–12), accepted worship (Matt 14:33; John 20:28–29), and claimed to exist before Abraham (John 8:58). Those claims are either true or deeply mistaken. The Gospels also present the resurrection as public evidence (Acts 2:32; 1 Cor 15:3–8; Luke 1:1–4). Read one Gospel through and test it. See also the Defend Your Faith pathway.

Brand-new. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is the Word who was God and became flesh (John 1:1, 14). He is the promised Messiah, as Peter confessed (Matt 16:16), the Savior who died for sins and rose again (1 Cor 15:3–4), and the Lord who is coming back (Acts 1:11). Knowing Him starts with trusting Him (John 1:12) and following Him (Mark 1:17).

Developing. Jesus' identity shapes everything:

• He shows us the Father (John 14:9; Heb 1:3).
• He is our High Priest, who sympathizes because He was tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:14–16).
• He is Lord, so following Him is about allegiance, not only belief (Luke 6:46; Rom 10:9).

Phil 2:5–11 is given as a pattern for humility in the church (Phil 2:3–5).

Experienced. Tension texts:

• Jesus calls the Father greater than Himself (John 14:28), yet He claims oneness with the Father (John 10:30).
• He did not know the day or hour (Mark 13:32), yet the disciples confess that He knows all things (John 16:30; 21:17).

Historic Christian teaching holds these together through the two natures of Christ, truly God and truly man, one person (John 1:14; Col 2:9; Heb 2:17). Some statements speak according to His humanity and servant role (John 14:28; Mark 13:32), and others according to His deity (John 10:30; John 8:58). The early councils' formulation is summarized in Background [SL-025].

Where believers differ. All orthodox Christians confess that the Son remained fully God when He became fully man, one person in two natures (John 1:14; Col 2:9; Heb 1:3). Paul explains the self-emptying of Phil 2:7 by what the Son took: a servant's form and a human nature (Phil 2:7–8). Within that confession, believers describe it in slightly different ways:

• Addition, not subtraction: He emptied Himself by taking on humanity and the role of a servant, with nothing of His deity removed (Phil 2:6–8; John 1:14).
• Veiling of glory: He set aside the visible display of His divine glory for a time, and asked for it again before the cross (John 17:5; cf. Matt 17:1–8).
• Voluntary non-use: in His human life He freely chose not to use certain divine prerogatives independently, depending on the Father and the Spirit (Mark 13:32; Luke 4:1, 14; John 5:19), while still possessing every divine attribute.

These readings can be held together, and all three keep Him fully God. The historic summary is Chalcedon's confession of one person in two natures, without confusion, change, division or separation (Background , [SL-025]). Throughout the incarnation He still upheld all things (Col 1:17; Heb 1:3). A view that has the Son giving up divine attributes, or ceasing for a time to be fully God, lies outside historic Christian teaching (Col 2:9; Heb 13:8; Col 1:17).

Scholar.

• John 1:1 uses logos, which bridges Gen 1 (God speaking creation into being) and the wisdom tradition (Prov 8:22–31). Wisdom personified in Prov 8 is background imagery. It does not mean the Son was created, because John says all things were made through Him (John 1:3).
• John 1:14 and 1:18 call Jesus the monogenes, the unique, one-of-a-kind Son, the word also used in John 3:16. John 1:18 has a well-known textual variant (the unique God / the unique Son), which is held until there is a ledger source.
• Col 1:15 calls Him the eikon (image) of the unseen God.
• In Phil 2:6–7, morphe (form) describes both His being in God's form and His taking a servant's form.
• He emptied Himself (kenoo, Phil 2:7) by adding humanity and servanthood, not by ceasing to be God (Col 2:9).
• Phil 2:10–11 applies Isa 45:23, a text about the Lord God, to Jesus.

Pastor: a teaching outline (5 sessions).

• Jesus' question to His disciples (Mark 8:27–33; Matt 16:13–23). The right title, and the cross that defines it.
• The Word made flesh (John 1:1–18; Heb 1:1–3). His deity and His incarnation.
• The servant who is Lord (Phil 2:5–11; Isa 45:23). His humility as our pattern, and His exaltation as our hope.
• Claims and credentials (Mark 2:5–12; John 8:58; 1 Cor 15:3–8). What He claimed, and the resurrection that vindicates it.
• Thomas's confession (John 20:24–31). From doubt to worship, and the call to believe and follow.

Application across the series: each person writes their own answer to Jesus' question (Mark 8:29) and shares it in a group.

Word studies: verified (STEPBible). Numbers were checked against TBESG, and each occurrence was checked in the cited verse (TAGNT).

• logos (Greek, G3056): word (John 1:1, 14).
• monogenes (Greek, G3439): unique, one of a kind (John 1:14, 18; John 3:16).
• eikon (Greek, G1504): image (Col 1:15).
• Christos (Greek, G5547): Christ, Anointed One (Matt 16:16).
• kyrios (Greek, G2962): Lord (Phil 2:11; John 20:28).
• morphe (Greek, G3444): form (Phil 2:6, 7).
• kenoo (Greek, G2758): to empty (Phil 2:7).

• The early councils. Against Arius, the First Council of Nicaea (325) declared that Christ is begotten, not made, and of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father. The Council of Chalcedon (451) affirmed that Christ is fully God and fully human, one person in two natures, without mixing, change, division or separation. Debate about the natures continued after Chalcedon [SL-025, high]. These councils summarize Scripture's witness; they do not add to it.

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Links: The Gospel (The Gospel) · Who God Is (Who God Is) · Saved by Grace pathway · Defend Your Faith pathway · Doubt pathway · devotionals the devotional, the devotional