Jesus Christ: Who Is This Man?
Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27). The question is for us, too: Who is this man? Why should we trust him? What authority does he have?
The Christian faith centers on Jesus Christ. We need to understand what kind of person he is.
Fully human
Jesus was born in the normal way, grew in the normal way, got hungry and thirsty and tired, ate and drank and slept. He looked normal, talked in ordinary language, and walked in the normal way. He had emotions such as compassion, surprise, sorrow and fear (Matthew 9:36; Luke 7:9; John 11:38; Matthew 26:37). He prayed to God, as humans need to. He called himself a man and other people called him a man.
But Jesus was such an extraordinary person that after he went to heaven, some people claimed he was not a human (2 John 7). They thought that Jesus was so holy that he would have nothing to do with flesh, with its sweat, digestive functions and imperfections. Perhaps he merely appeared to be human, in the way that angels sometimes appeared as humans.
The New Testament insists that Jesus was really a human. He was “the Word” who “became flesh” (John 1:14). He didn’t just appear as flesh, or clothe himself in flesh. He became flesh. “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). We know, says John, because we saw him and touched him (1 John 1:1-2).
Since he came to save humans, it was necessary that he had “flesh and blood” (Hebrews 2:14-17). It was necessary that he could die.
Our salvation depends on the reality of Jesus’ humanity. His role as our intercessor, our high priest, depends on his experience as a human (Hebrews 4:15). Even after his resurrection, Jesus had flesh and bones (John 20:27; Luke 24:39). Even in heavenly glory, he continues to be a human (1 Timothy 2:5).
Acting like God
“Who is this?” asked the Pharisees when they heard Jesus forgive sins. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:21). Sin is disobedience against God, so how could a human say it didn’t count? Jesus knew what they thought about it, but he forgave sins anyway. He even implied that he had no sins of his own (John 8:46). He made some extraordinary claims:
- He would sit at God’s right hand—next to him in authority. The religious leaders thought that it was sinful to make such a claim (Matthew 26:63-65).
- He was the Son of God—another sin, they said, since it implied he was as important as God (John 5:18; 19:7).
- He knew what God wanted and did it perfectly (John 5:19).
- He was one with the Father (John 10:30), which the religious leaders again said was a horribly sinful idea (John 10:33).
- He was so much like God that if people want to see God, they should look at Jesus (John 14:9; 1:18).
- He could send God’s Spirit (John 16:7).
- He had authority over angels (Matthew 13:41).
- He is the judge of the world (John 5:22).
- He could bring himself back to life (John 5:21; 6:40; 10:18).
- Everyone’s eternal life depends on their relationship with him (Matthew 7:23).
- The words of Moses are not enough — people need the words of Jesus, too (Matthew 5:21-48).
- He is the Lord of the Sabbath, with authority over a God-given law (Matthew 12:8).
If Jesus were only a human, he thought too much of himself. But Jesus backed up his words with some amazing actions. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves” (John 14:11). Miracles can’t force anyone to believe, but they can provide good supporting evidence.
To show that he had the authority to forgive sins, Jesus healed a paralyzed man (Luke 5:23-25). His miracles are evidence that what he said about himself is true. He has supernatural power because he is more than a human. If an ordinary person said the things Jesus did, they would be sinful, but for Jesus, they were true. He could speak and act like God because he was God in the flesh.
Who did he think he was?
Jesus knew who he was. Even at age 12, he had a special relationship with his Father in heaven (Luke 2:49). At his baptism, he heard a voice from heaven say that he was God’s Son (Luke 3:22). He knew he had a God-give mission (Luke 4:43; 9:22; 13:33; 22:37).
When Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Jesus agreed. “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:16-17). Peter was right: Jesus was the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah—the person sent by God for a special purpose.
When Jesus called 12 disciples, one for each tribe of Israel (Matthew 19:28), he did not count himself among the 12. He had authority over them, because he was above all Israel. He was the maker and builder of the new Israel. At his last meal with his disciples, he said he would make a new covenant, a new relationship with God (Luke 22:20). He was the center of what God was doing in the world.
Jesus spoke boldly against traditions, against laws, against the temple, against religious leaders. He said that his followers should abandon everything to follow him, put him first in their lives, and give him complete loyalty. He spoke with the authority of God—but he spoke on his own authority. He had authority equal to God.
Jesus believed that he was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. He was the suffering servant who would die to rescue the people from their sins (Isaiah 53:4-5, 12; Matthew 26:24; Mark 9:12; 10:45; Luke 22:37; 24:46). He was the king of peace who would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9-10; Matthew 21:1-9). He was the son of man who would be given all power and authority (Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 26:64).
Life before birth
Jesus claimed to be alive before Abraham was born: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). The religious leaders wanted to kill him for saying this (verse 59). Why? Because the phrase “I AM” is an echo of Exodus 3:14, where God revealed his name to Moses: “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” Jesus used this phrase for himself.
Jesus said he shared glory with God before the world began (John 17:5). Jesus existed even in the beginning of time, as the Word (John 1:1). The universe was made through the Word (John 1:3). “All things have been created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16; 1 Corinthians 8:6). Hebrews 1:2 says that God made the universe through the Son.
The Son keeps the universe going (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17). He is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), “the exact imprint of God’s very being” (Hebrews 1:3).
Who is Jesus? He is a divine Person who became a human. He was in the beginning with God; he was the Creator of all and the Author of life (Acts 3:15). He is exactly like God, and can do things that only God can do. It is no surprise that the disciples concluded that he was and is God, even in the flesh.
Worthy of worship
Jesus was conceived in a supernatural way (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35). He lived without ever sinning (Hebrews 4:15). He was blameless, without impurity (Hebrews 7:26; 9:14). He never did anything wrong (1 Peter 2:22); in him there was no sin (1 John 3:5); he knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). No matter how tempting the sin was, Jesus always had a greater desire to do what God wanted. His mission was to do God’s will (Hebrews 10:7).
On several occasions, people worshiped Jesus (Matthew 14:33; 28:9,17; John 9:38). Angels refuse worship (Revelation 19:10), but Jesus did not. Indeed, the angels worship Jesus, the Son of God (Hebrews 1:6). Some prayers are addressed to Jesus (Acts 7:59-60; 2 Corinthians 12:8; Revelation 22:20). He is worthy of worship.
The New Testament gives elaborate praises to Jesus Christ, with words that are normally reserved for God: “To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18; 2 Peter 3:18; Revelation 1:6). He has the highest title that can ever be given (Ephesians 1:20-21). Even if we call him God, that title is not too high. The Son must be given equal honor with the Father (John 5:23).
In Revelation, equal praise is given to God and to the Lamb (Jesus), implying equality: “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13). Both God and Jesus are called the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything (Revelation 1:8, 17; 21:6; 22:13).
The New Testament uses Old Testament passages about God and applies them to Jesus Christ. One of the most striking is this passage about worship:
God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name, so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11, quoting Isaiah 45:23)
Isaiah says there is only one Savior—God (Isaiah 43:11; 45:21). Paul says that Jesus will get the honor and respect that Isaiah said would be given to God. God is Savior and Jesus is Savior (Titus 1:3-4; 2:10, 13), but there is only one Savior. Early Christians concluded that the Father is God and Jesus is God, even though there is only one God. As the church later described it, they are the same in Being (God), but different in Person.
Several other New Testament verses call Jesus God.
- John 1:1 says, “the Word was God.”
- Verse 18 says, “No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” Jesus is the God who made the Father known.
- After the resurrection, Thomas recognized Jesus as God: “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28).
- The ancestors of the Jews are praised because “from them, according to the flesh, comes the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever” (Romans 9:5).
- God himself calls Jesus God: “Of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever’” (Hebrews 1:8).
- “The whole fullness of deity” lives in Jesus (Colossians 2:9).
Jesus Christ is fully divine, but he is still a human (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the exact representation of God—God made flesh. If Jesus were only a human, it would be wrong to put our trust in him. But because he is divine, we are commanded to trust in him. He is completely trustworthy, because he is God.
Jesus could reveal God to us accurately only if he is divine (John 1:18; 14:9). Only a divine person could forgive our sins, reconcile us to God, and give us eternal life. Only a divine person could be worthy of our faith, the Lord to whom we give complete obedience, the Savior we worship in song and prayer.
Truly human, truly God
There’s a lot of biblical information about Jesus. All the verses point to the same conclusion. The early church put the facts together and drew these conclusions from what the Bible said:
- Jesus, the Son of God, is divine.
- The Son of God became human, but the Father did not.
- The Son of God and the Father are distinct, not the same.
- There is only one God.
- The Son and the Father are Persons in that one God.
The Council of Nicea (A.D. 325) declared that Jesus, the Son of God, was divine, of the same essence as the Father. The council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) explained that he was also human:
Our Lord Jesus Christ is one and the same Son; the same perfect in Godhead and the same perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man… begotten of the Father before all ages as regards his Godhead and… begotten of the Virgin Mary the Theotokos [the “God-Bearer”] as regards his manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, made known in two natures… the difference of the natures being by no means removed because of the union but the property of each nature being preserved and coalescing in one person.
The last part was included because some people said that the divine nature so overpowered Jesus’ human nature that he wasn’t really human. Others said that the two natures combined to form a third nature, so that Jesus was neither human nor divine. The biblical data says that he was truly human, and truly divine, and this is what the church must say, too.
How can this be?
Our salvation depends on Jesus being both human and divine. But how can this be? How can someone infinite become finite? How can the holy Son of God become a human, in the likeness of sinful flesh?
Our question comes mainly because the only humanity that we can see now is woefully corrupt. But this is not the way God made it. Jesus shows us what true humanity is. For one thing, he shows us a person who is completely dependent on and submissive to the Father. This is the way humanity ought to be.
Jesus also shows us what God is capable of doing. He is able to become part of his creation. He can bridge the gap between the uncreated and the created, between the holy and the sinful. What we might think is impossible, is possible with God. Jesus also shows us what humanity will be in the new creation. When he returns and we are resurrected, we will look like him (1 John 3:2). We will have bodies like his glorious body (1 Corinthians 15:42-49).
Jesus is our trailblazer, showing us that the way to God is through Jesus. Because he is human, he sympathizes with our weaknesses, and because he is divine, he effectively intercedes for us at God’s right hand (Hebrews 4:15). With Jesus as our Savior, we can be confident that our salvation is secure.
Things to think about
- Is it easier to think of Jesus as a human, or as a God? Are you troubled by his divine characteristics, or by his humanity?
- Which of Jesus’ words or actions best shows that he was divine?
- Do we slight the Father when we worship Jesus? Do we slight Jesus when we worship only the Father?
- What does Jesus reveal to us about God? About humanity?
Five facts about Jesus
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Author: Michael Morrison, edited 2026
