Jesus (c. 4 BC – c. 30) is the central figure in Christianity, in which context he is known as Jesus Christ (GreekἸησοῦς Χριστός, Iēsoûs Khristós, Aramaicישׁוע משׁיחYēšûaʿ Māšîaḥ). He is also called Jesus of Nazareth.
Most Christians believe Jesus was Godincarnate (a man who was also God), who came to earth to save humanity from sin and death through his own blood sacrifice, and who returned from the dead to rejoin his father in heaven.
Some Christian groups, generally considered to be outside mainstream Christian thought, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarians, and Christian Scientists, believe Jesus was a divine man born of God but not God incarnate.
Many historians and critical Bible scholars accept the existence of the biblical Jesus, but reject his divinity, miracles, and any other supernatural elements in accounts of his life. They believe he was a Jewishreligiousteacher and healer who was crucified, and was subsequently the inspiration for Christianity whose adherents proclaimed him to be the sole incarnation of God.
Some skeptics believe Jesus was not a real person, but a fictional invention of Christians, based on morality stories and fables.
Other skeptics believe Jesus was nothing more than a Jewish troublemaker who was put to death by the Romans at the behest of the Jewish establishment.
There are different accounts and perspectives of Jesus within the religions of Islam, Judaism, Gnosticism, Manichaeism and Mandaeanism. (See later in this article). He is regarded as a prophet by Muslims and Manichaeists, as a false Messiah by Judaism and Mandaeanism, as a manifestation of God by the Baha'is, a manifestation of Maitreya by some Buddhists, as a yogi, guru or even avatar by some Hindus, as the savior and bringer of gnosis by various Gnosticsects and as a guru by many New Agers.
Jesus is derived from the LatinIesus, which in turn comes from the Greek Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs). The Greek form is a transliteration of the Aramaic name Yeshua (ישוע), a short form of HebrewYehoshua (יהושע), the name that Moses gave to his successor as leader of the Israelites, who is known in English as Joshua. The Name means the Lord is salvation, literally Yahweh saves.
Direct English transliterations from the Aramaic Yehoshua/Yeshua include Joshua, Jeshua, Yahshua, Yahoshua and Yaohushua. These variations in English spelling can only approximate the sound of the Hebrew or Aramaic original. Jesus was transliterated via Greek and thereby lost the "sh" sound, which Greek lacks.
Christ is not a name but a title, and comes, via Latin, from the GreekChristos (Χριστός Khristós), which means "anointed" (to anoint is to rub with perfumed oil). The Greek form is a literal translation of Messiah from Hebrew mashiyakh (משיח) or Aramaic m'shikha (משיחא), a word which occurs often in the Old Testament and typically signifies "high priest" or " king" – a man, chosen by God or descended from a man chosen by God, to serve as a religious, civil, and/or military authority. Other sources suggest the title Christ is linked to Latin crestus, 'good'. To Muslims, Jesus is known as the prophet Isa al Masih (عيسى المسيح ), from the aforementioned Aramaic for Jesus the Messiah.
In the Gospels, Jesus has many titles besides "messiah": prophet, lord, son of man, and son of God. Together Christians understand these titles as attesting to Jesus' divinity. Some historians argue that when used in other Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the time, these titles have other meanings, and therefore may have other meanings when used in the Gospels as well. The material in the next four subsections, on prophet, lord, son of man, and son of god, is taken from Geza Vermes' review of these arguments in Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels.
Prophets in the Hebrew Bible were also advocates of monotheism, and healers. In Luke 4: 25–27, Jesus specifically refers to two such prophets, Elijah and Elisha. In this and in other contexts, historians conclude that the Gospels seem to use the term "prophet" as synonymous with miracle-worker and healer.
The Gospels and Acts frequently use "Lord" as a title for Jesus. Jesus himself never seems to have claimed the title – it is only ascribed to him by others, which has led to various interpretations. Different scholars have come up with various explanations: some believe that Jesus' disciples called him lord, but not because he was divine; this was merely a title used when students addressed their teachers. Some believe that the New Testament uses the term lord to mean divine, but that it was only after Jesus' death and resurrection that his followers ascribed to him divinity. Others argue that neither Jesus nor his disciples used the Aramaic term for lord, mara, and that the Greek term kyrios (meaning, "the Lord") was borrowed from pagan Hellenic usage by early Gentile converts to Christianity. The Hebrew Bible distinguishes between "lord" (adon) and "God"; the word "lord" does not necessarily imply divinity, although God is often described as "the Lord". Surviving
inter-testamental Aramaic texts frequently use the Aramaic mara to mean "the Lord", that is, God – but they also provide evidence of people using mara and kyrios as personal titles (for example, used to address a husband, father, or king). There is little evidence that either term was used specifically to mean "teacher", but there is much evidence of students using the term "mar" to refer to their teachers respectfully, or to refer to an especially respected and authoritative teacher. A close reading of the Gospels suggests to historians that most people addressed Jesus as lord as a sign of respect for a miracle-worker (especially in Mark and Matthew) or as a teacher (especially in Luke). In most cases one can substitute the words "sir" or "teacher" for "lord", and the meaning of the passage in question will not change.
The New Testament frequently refers to Jesus as the son of God; Jesus seldom does, but often refers to God as his father. Christians universally understand this to mean that Jesus was literally God's son – according to the Nicene Creed, God's only begotten son, one with the father. The phrase itself is thus taken to be synonymous with divinity. The Hebrew Bible, however, uses the phrase "son of God" in other senses: to refer to heavenly or angelic beings; to refer to the Children of Israel, and to refer to kings. There is no New Testament evidence to suggest that early Christians thought of Jesus as an angel, so the first two usages seem not to apply. However, Mark identifies Jesus as the son of King David, and Matthew and Luke provide lineages linking Jesus to King David. II Samuel 7: 14, Psalms 2: 7 and 89: 26–27, refer to David as the son of God, although historians find no evidence that the authors of the Bible believed David to be divine or literally God's son. (Many
Christians interpret these and other Psalms as referring prophetically to Jesus, the "seed" referred to in Psalm 89. See Christ in the Psalms by Father Patrick Reardon.)
In post-Biblical Judaism, the title was often applied to righteous men: Ecclesiasticus 4: 10 and the Wisdom of Solomon 2: 17–18 use the term to refer to just men, and Jubilees 1: 24–25 has God declaring all righteous men to be his sons. Philo too wrote that good people are sons of God, and various rabbis in the Talmud declare that when Israelites are good, they are sons of God. The Talmud provides one example that parallels that of Jesus: Rabbi Hanina, whom God referred to as "my son", was also a miracle worker, and was able to resist Agrat, queen of the demons. Some scholars thus suggest that "son of God" was a title used in the Galilee by miracle-workers. Other scholars have suggested that the identification of "son of God" with divinity is pagan in origin; the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt referred to themselves as sons of Zeus or of Helios; Roman emperors used the title divi filius, or son of God.
They suggest that the belief that Jesus was in fact the "son of God", and the association of his divine paternity with his being "messiah", were added after Christianity broke with Judaism.
Suggested birth (Earliest)
Herod's death
Suggested birth (Latest). Quirinius census
Pilate appointed Judea governor
Suggested death (Earliest).
Suggested death (Latest); Pilate removed from office
The exact month or day or even the year of Jesus' birth cannot be exactly ascertained. Due to a mistaken calculation based on the Roman Calendar by Dionysius Exiguus in 525, it was long held that Jesus was born in the year 1 BC (making the following year, AD 1, the first throughout which he was alive).
The Gospels are problematic, because they offer two accounts that chronologists find incompatible. Matthew states that Jesus was born while Herod the Great was still alive and that Herod ordered the slaughter of infants two years old and younger (Matt. 2:16), and based on the date of Herod's death in 4 BC (contra Dionysius Exiguus), many chronologists conclude that the year 6 BC is the most likely year of Jesus' birth. Consequently, Jesus would have been about four to six years old in the year AD 1.
On the other hand, Luke's account places Jesus' birth during a census conducted under the governorship of Quirinius, who, according to Josephus, conducted a census in AD 6. In order to reconcile the two Gospel accounts, some have suggested that Josephus was mistaken or that Quirinius had a separate period of rule under Herod. In any case, the actual date of his birth remains historically unverifiable.
In recent years, East Asian historians have attempted to match the birth of Jesus with special events in their history. They found that, according to the oldest record of the Comet Halley during the Han Dynasty, "The comet heads east with its tail pointing west at night, and was appearing in the sky for more than 70 days". in 6 BC. This has been suggested as an independent record of the "Star" described in Matthew 2. If accepted, this suggestion would place the birthday of Jesus in summer rather than winter.
In the 6th century, Dionysius Exiguus proposed to make the birth of Jesus the basis of the calendar but he miscalculated the death of Herod. Years reckoned in this way are labelled "B.C." and "A.D.", which stand for Before Christ and Anno Domini (meaning "in the year of the Lord" in Latin). Since many non-Christians have come to use this calendar, an alternative notation "B.C.E." and "C.E." is also used. While the "B." indicates "Before", it is presently uncertain what the original meaning of the latter abbreviation was, although today it is taken to mean either the Common Era or the Christian Era: many references cite both.
Based on inferences from Gospel accounts, Jesus was executed by crucifixion on a Friday, and on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan under the administration of Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate held his position from 26-36 and the only years in which Nisan 14 fell on a Friday are 27, 33, and 36 and possibly in 30 depending on when the new moon would have been visible in Jerusalem. Scholars have defended all of the dates.
This understanding of the Gospels is difficult to reconcile with the tradition that holds the Last Supper took place on the first night of Passover which is defined in the Torah to be the 14th of Nisan. Furthermore, at that time, the date of Passover was set by the court in Jerusalem based upon testimony of witnesses. It was not until after 500 that the calendar was changed to be based upon calculation. Therefore, it is not possible to state on which day of the week the 14 of Nisan occurred for any year before 500 without historical documents that attest to a particular day of the week.
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