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Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

Who is Jesus?

Stephen M. Miller
Jesus carrying his cross
FAKEOUT. Jesus was just pretending to be human…to die…to rise from the dead—a bit like this actor is pretending to do the same. That’s what some early Christian leaders taught. Photo by Sam Sepe / flickr.

IT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

Johnal Kaln wins a free book for asking it.

The answer seems simple enough to most Christians today: He’s the Son of God.

But it wasn’t that simple during the first 300 years of Christianity.

Church leaders couldn’t seem to agree on an answer.

God in a bone bag

Some said he was God who came to earth in the form of a human. After all, Jesus told his disciples, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9 NLT).

But if Jesus was God on earth, he certainly did a lot of talking to himself. Especially the night of his arrest when he asked the Father to spare him the agony of crucifixion: “Father, if it is possible, don’t let this happen to me!” (Mark 14:36 CEV).

By comparison, if I were me talking to myself while driving a car that just skipped off the top of the Grand Canyon, I’d be saying something like, “Steve, you got the Prius with a parachute, right?”

Celestial hologram

Some said he wasn’t human at all, but that he only appeared human. They figured that something as sin-tainted as human flesh couldn’t contain a holy God.

The down side: If Jesus was like the balding hologram doctor on “Star Trek Voyager,” then he didn’t really die on the cross and rise from the dead.

That’s a problem.

As Paul put it, “If there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors” (1 Corinthians 15:14 The Message).

Mystery man

In the end, most Christian thinkers decided they couldn’t think it through.

But they decided to believe it anyhow.

They figured there was enough evidence to trust in Jesus. Evidence such as the fact that most of his disciples died as martyrs, insisting that he rose from the dead.

So though they couldn’t understand everything Jesus said about himself—such as how people could see God when they looked at him—the thinkers decided to say, “If Jesus said it, that’s good enough for me.”

“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus once asked his disciple, Peter.

“You are the Son of the living God,” Peter answered.

“No mere man showed this to you. My Father in heaven showed it to you” (Matthew 16:15-17, NIRV).

Believe it, or not.

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About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

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