Who Is Jesus?

There are many ideas about who Jesus was and is; sadly, most ideas presented fall far short of who the real Jesus is as presented in the Scriptures. Almost every popular doctrinal stance embellishes on the revealed Word to make Jesus be someone he never claimed to be. The apostle Paul spoke of some in his day who were, in effect, preaching another Jesus, that is, they were preaching Jesus, but not the truth about Jesus. Nor can we in this day when Satan and his demons are working miracles so as to deceive, if possible, the elect (Matthew 24:24; Revelation 13:14; 16:14; 19:20), expect that, simply because a miracle occurs, that we have found the true Jesus in the message of the worker of miracles who might be doing miracles in Jesus' name. (Matthew 7:22) Indeed, many heathen who do not believe in Jesus at all claim miracles performed in the name(s) of their gods or idols.

It is recorded that Jesus once asked his disciples: "Who do men say that I am?" He got a reply, that some thought him to be John the Baptist risen from the dead; that others considered him to be Elijah risen from the dead, and others thought of him as being perhaps one of the other Prophets. Then came the point of the question: "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus admitted the correctness of this, saying, "You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in Heaven." -- Matthew 16:13-17; Mark 8:27-30.

Afterward, Jesus began to explain to his disciples the experiences that lay before him -- how the Kingdom would be formally proffered to the Jews, and how through their representatives, the Elders, the chief priests, they would reject Him; how he would be killed, and after three days rise again. This, of course, is not what the Jewish populace, in general, had expected of Messiah. So what would be the reactions of the disciples concerning this description of Jesus' own expectations concerning himself? -- Mark 8:31; Matthew 16:21.

He made the statement about His death very emphatic, and the disciples clearly understood it. Perhaps they were disappointed, considered it a disgrace upon the Messiah to take such a view of the future, and a disgrace also upon the apostles, because if Jesus had such expectations it would modify and regulate his course, and soon disaster would come to him, and the dashing of all their hopes which he had inculcated -- hopes of sitting with him in his throne, etc.

Doubtless, all of the apostles were disappointed, but only Peter had the courage to express himself, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you." In effect, Peter was saying: You will, we all know, as the Messiah, attain the throne of Israel and thus eventually the throne of the world, and bring blessing to the whole human race; and as you have promised, we will be with you in your throne. -- Matthew 16:22; Mark 8:32.

In this course, Peter was opposing the Divine will and plan, of which the death of Jesus was the very center or hub, from which would radiate all the fulfillments of all the various promises -- to the Church first, to Israel next, and finally to all nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues. Jesus perceived that these influences were striving to hinder the consummation of his sacrifice, even as Satan tried to do in the beginning of his consecration. To make the matter very emphatic he said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men." Then He began to make clear to his followers what had not been "food in due season" to give them before, in such plain terms, namely, that whoever desired to be counted in with him in any part of his work must realize that it would cost him all that he possessed of this world's affections; he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow him.

The great question of nineteen centuries ago is the great question of today! Who is Jesus? If, as some claim, he was merely a good man, a most able teacher, then he was not the promised Messiah, for the promises concerning the Messiah showed that, although he was the embodiment of all the qualities of what man would consider to be "good man", he was more, much more. To be the Christ, He must have been "the man Christ Jesus," who gave Himself a ransom price for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5,6.) And this signifies that he must have been, not of ordinary birth, but extraordinary, born from above, because if born in the ordinary course of nature he would be like others of Adam's sons, subject to the sentence of death, and hence unable to save either himself or others. But Jesus was the Christ (which means Anointed One), the one sent by God, who left the glory he had with his God, the only true God (John 17:1,3,5), and was made flesh, with the glory of a sinless man, that he might "taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9) Thus, we see him as the great redeemer (deliverer, repurchaser) of the world, whose death was necessary as a ransom, or corresponding price, to secure the release of mankind from the death sentence and to make possible the resurrection of Adam and his race. -- Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22.

Where can we go to find out the truth about who Jesus was and is? We believe that God has revealed his truths by means of his holy spirit through the apostles. We believe that God, by means of his holy spirit, especially led the apostles into all the truths concerning Christ and what he said. (John 14:26; 16:4-13; Galatians 1:12; Ephesians 3:5; 2 Timothy 2:2) We also believe that the truths revealed to the apostles and made available to us are recorded in the Bible itself. (Ephesians 3:3-12; Colossians 1:25,26; 1 John 4:6) Of course, without the holy spirit, these things that are recorded will still be a mystery to us. -- Mark 4:11; 1 Corinthians 2:7-10.

Nevertheless, the scriptures also reveal that there was to be an apostasy, a "falling away" from the truth of God's Word, brought about by strong delusions. (Matthew 13:24-30; Acts 20:29,30; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 4:3,4) The Bible even states that this falling away had already begun in the first century, before the death of the apostles. Some were already preaching "another Jesus" and receiving another spirit. -- 2 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 John 2:18,19; 2 Corinthians 11:4.

Even so, the apostles in effect acted to restrain the apostasy, but when they died, the apostasy began to spread rapidly. This eventually led to the development of the foretold "Man of Sin", or more correctly "Lawless Man", or perhaps "Illegal Man". A great religious system developed, which claimed to have the authority to add to God's Word since their "revelations" were alleged to be of God's Spirit. 

One of the claims often presented is that Jesus had to be God Almighty in order to die for the sin of the world. It is claimed that if Jesus is not God, His sacrifice of himself to God  (himself?) would not have been sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Of course, the reality is that not one scripture in the entire Bible tells that the price God requires to pay for the sin through Adam is for Himself to be offered in sacrifice to Himself. All this is made up outside what God reveals through His Holy Spirit as found in the Bible. Indeed, the only requirement that Paul presents to be the offsetting price to satisfy God's justice is the sacrifice of a man. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6) Of course, that sacrifice had to be of a sinless man, as was Adam before Adam sinned. 

In effect, the Biblical atonement of reconciliation through the sacrifice of the man, Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5,6) is being denied by the trinitarian heresy (sect), for they claim that Jesus still is a man of flesh.

 Therefore, the sacrifice of Jesus' body of flesh for sin (Hebrews 10:10,12) was replaced with the idea that Jesus still has that body of flesh in heaven.

As Isaiah warned, Jesus was a stone of stumbling. (Isaiah 8:14; Romans 9:23) He is a stone of stumbling, not just to the house of natural Israel, but also the house of those who profess to believe in Jesus. (Romans 9:6,31; 11:7; 1 Corinthians 10:18; Galatians 6:16) Isaiah, however, instructs us: "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20, New King James Version) We believe that the "law", of course, is what we call the Old Testament; thus, the "testimony" of this prophecy, we believe, must refer to the testimony of the apostles, as given in the New Testament.

Isaiah, therefore, pointed to the way that Christians should test the spirits. (1 John 4:1) Only by means of the scriptures can one ascertain what God has actually revealed by means of His spirit. It is to these and through these scriptures that the holy spirit today gives true direction, and anything not in agreement with these scriptures is not of the light of the day. -- John 11:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:5.

Again, we should note that the teaching spread that Jesus was both God Almighty and a human being while in the days of his flesh (Hebrews 5:7), and not only that, but also that Jesus is still a man of flesh in heaven, which is actually contrary to 1 Corinthians 15:39-41 as well as Psalm 8:5; Luke 22:19; John 6:5; Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6; Hebrews 2:7,9; 5:7; 10:10,12; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18, and more. These doctrines do, in effect, replace the Biblical doctrine of atonement through the sacrifice of the fleshly body of the man Christ Jesus. The perception of Jesus become distorted; he was no longer depicted as being a man sent by the Most High, but he was exalted to being the Most High himself. The truth God has revealed through the apostles that Jesus had to correspond to what Adam was before Adam sinned in order to pay the price for what Adam had done was disregarded.

Additionally, the truth that the man Christ Jesus, unlike Adam, remained obedient to the Most High, thereby condemning sin in the flesh was also distorted. (Romans 8:3) The claim that Jesus had to be God Almighty would actually justify sin the flesh rather than condemn sin the flesh. It would, in effect, prove that for Adam to obey God Almighty, Adam would need to be God Almighty. Thus the addition of the idea that Jesus is God Almighty has become one of the greatest hindrances to understanding who Jesus really is, as well as understanding the scriptural principles related to the atonement, the reconciliation, of mankind to God through Jesus. Thus the real, Biblical Jesus has become a stumbling stone, not only to the house according to the flesh which was corrupted from true doctrine (Israel after the flesh -- Luke 13:25-28; Romans 9:30-33), but also the house which claims Jesus, which has also become corrupted from true doctrine through spiritual fornication. -- Matthew 27:21-23; Revelation 2:13-15,20-24

We learn from the Bible, however, that only one person is revealed as being the Supreme Being, the "one God" of whom are all. Jesus is distinguished from being that one God, because Jesus is the "one Lord" through whom are all. (1 Corinthians 8:6) Jesus is distinguished from being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who spoke to and through the prophets of old. (Hebrews 1:1,2) The Supreme Being does not have another Supreme Being who is over him. However, Jesus does not have one who is "his ELOHIM". (Micah 5:4: Ephesians 1:3) While one can find a few scriptures in which some form of the Hebrew and Greek words that are often rendered as "God" are applied to Jesus, the idea that such applications mean that Jesus is Jehovah, and/or that Jehovah is more than one person, etc., have to be imagined and assumed beyond what is stated, and such has to be added to, and read into, what is stated. What do find in the Bible is that Jesus worshiped and prayed to his God.  We do find in the Bible that Jesus' God sent Jesus. And we find that Jesus was fully and willfully obedient to his God. -- Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Matthew 4:4 (Deuteronomy 8:3; Luke 4:4); Matthew 4:7 (Deuteronomy 6:16); Matthew 4:10 (Exodus 20:3-5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:13,14; 10:20; Luke 4:8); Matthew 22:29-40; Matthew 26:42; Matthew 27:46; Mark 10:6 (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7,20-23); Mark 14:36; 15:34; Luke 22:42; John 4:3; 5:30; 6:38; 17:1,3; 20:17; Romans 15:6; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 11:31; Ephesians 1:3,17; Hebrews 1:9; 10:7; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 2:7; 3:2,12.

See: Links to some of our studies related to Jesus as deity

The overwhelming evidence of scripture is that Jesus was sent by his God, Jehovah, and that Jesus speaks for, does the work for, and represents his God. On the other hand, no scripture presents Jesus as being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, although many like to read that thought into many scriptures.  -- Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Matthew 22:32; 23:39; Mark 11:9,10; 12:26; Luke 13:35; 20:37; John 3:2,17,32-35; 4:34; 5:19,30,36,43; 6:57; 7:16,28; 8:26,28,38; 10:25; 12:49,50; 14:10; 15:15; 17:8,26; 20:17; Acts 2:22,34-36; 3:13,22; 5:30; Romans 15:6; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 8:6; 11:31; Colossians 1:3,15; 2:9-12; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:1.

God, by means of his holy spirit, reveals through the scriptures that Jesus receives his inheritance and dominion (power) from Jehovah. His power and authority is given to him by his God, his Supreme Being. His God and Father, the only true God, is the One who gives him this dominion, all authority and power (with the evident exception of the only true God himself -- 1 Corinthians 15:27), yet the exercise of this power and authority by Jesus is all to the praise of Jehovah, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus. The Bible writers never claimed that Jesus is the ultimate "source" of his own power. -- Psalm 2:6-8; 45:7; 110:1,2; Isaiah 9:6,7; 11:2; 42:1; 61:1-3; Jeremiah 23:5; Daniel 7:13,14; Micah 5:4; Matthew 12:28; 28:28; Luke 1:32; 4:14,18; 5:17; John 3:34; 5:19,27,30; 10:18,36-38; Acts 2:22; 10:38; Romans 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:27; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Colossians 1:15,16; 2:10; Ephesians 1:17-22; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:2,4,6,9; 1 Peter 3:22.

For more along this line, see our study: Jesus is not Jehovah

Taking all the evidence together, we believe that the default conclusion is that God is only one person, and Jesus is not his God Jehovah.

Ronald R. Day, Sr.

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