# Who Jesus is

As part of [the Godhead](theology-god.md), Jesus shares attributes with [the Father](theology-god-father.md) and [Holy Spirit](theology-god-spirit.md), but there are some distinctive qualities regarding Himself specifically.

Jesus is the Son of the Father.

- Thorough belief in Jesus requires trusting the Bible was translated correctly (see Bibliology).
- Jesus was fully God, and became fully man, then fully died, and was resurrected by the Father.

## Jesus is God

Jesus consistently claimed to be equal with God using an intentionally concealed tone (John 8:58, Mark 2:1-12, Mark 2:28, Mark 14:60-64).

Jesus is also, however, fully man (Matthew 16:3, Matthew 20:28).

Like the Trinity, it's difficult for us to understand how Jesus is 100% man and 100% equal with God.

- He couldn't have risen from the dead or done miracles if He didn't have God's power.
- He couldn't have legitimately died if He wasn't a man.
- *We're* obviously not God, so it requires more [philosophical](philosophy.md) [analysis](logic.md).

[Jesus' *entire message*](https://theologos.site/gospel/) requires people to take His divine humanity as a literal concept, so Christians in this life will always be stuck with a paradox of [understanding](mind-understanding.md).

There is no direct significance about the name "Jesus" or "Jesus Christ".

- The name phonetically has quite a bit of overlap across all the languages:
  - It's "jee-zus" in English, but "hay-zoos" in Spanish, and is mostly a variation of "yay-soo" and "yeh-shu".
- The modern American styling would be "Josh the Savior".
  - Many Jewish people were called Jesus up to the second century AD, and it should more accurately be phrased "Yeshua", borrowed from "Joshua".
  - The word "Joshua" was contracted from "Jehoshua", which meant "Jehovah the Savior".
  - "Christ" simply means "Messiah" or "Savior", which describes His role.
- Calling Him "Lord" is a far more pronounced reality, since the [power dynamic](power.md) is extremely discrepant.
- He goes by *many* other names, and here are a few examples:
  - Branch (Isaiah 11:1)
  - Banner for People (Isaiah 11:10)
  - Desire of All Nations (Haggai 2:7)
  - Peacemaker (Shiloh) (Genesis 49:10)
  - Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15)
  - Redeemer (Psalm 19:14)
  - Savior (Acts 5:3)
- Calling on His name has significance (Romans 10:13, Joel 2:32).
  - However, the meaning *behind* calling on the name of Jesus is far more significant than the name itself.

## Falsehoods about Jesus

The traditional Christian doctrine asserts the following in all its [creeds](theology-church-creeds.md):

1. Jesus created the universe as God (but not as a man) and interacted throughout the Old Testament.
2. Jesus came to earth and became a man (while still being God) by being born to a virgin woman named [Mary](theology-mary.md).
3. Jesus stayed a man (while still being God) during the ~33 years He walked the earth.
3. He fully [died](hardship-death.md) on the cross as a man (while still being God).
4. He rose again (still as God and as man) because the Father raised Him from the dead.

This is difficult to parse, and the essence of Jesus as both man and God has created *many* [confusions and misrepresentations](people-conflicts-christian-4_false.md) of who He is.

Jesus hasn't been God:

- Arianism: Jesus and the Holy Spirit are lesser, created beings and not directly God.
- Ebionitism: Jesus was distinguished from other humans, but was nonetheless purely human.
- Kenosis: Jesus wasn't divine while on Earth.
- Socinianism: Jesus is a deified man, and there is no [Trinity](theology-god-trinity.md).
- Subordinationism: The Son is lesser than the Father in essence or attributes.

Jesus became God:

- Adoptionism: Jesus became God sometime after His birth.

Jesus wasn't a man:

- Apollinarism: Jesus did not have a rational [human soul or mind](theology-godandman-humanity.md), but instead His soul was simply a Logos.
- Docetism: Jesus was divine, but only seemed to be human, and didn't experience any human experiences.
- Eutychianism/Monophysitism - Jesus only has one nature, which is divine, and any finite nature is swallowed up by it.

Jesus is a back-and-forth hybrid of God and man:

- Nestorianism: Jesus is two persons.

## More information

[The Names of Jesus - Elmer Towns](https://ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/The_Names_Of_Jesus%5BETowns%5D.pdf)