Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus asked this question: "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" (Matt 16:13, RSV). The subsequent verses tell us that there are a number of answers to this question on His identity. Interestingly, the same question if asked today will also produce a number of answers. Some may say that Jesus was a great philosopher; He was the founder of Christianity; others consider Him as a prophet; and some may even believe that He is just a fictitious figure created by the early Christians. Those who claim to be Christians will say that Jesus is not just a prophet and a mere man, but He is the eternal Son of God (i.e. He is divine) who became man.

It is easy to believe in the humanity of Jesus if we accept Him as a historical figure, but how about His Divinity? The Bible mentions His divinity directly or indirectly in a number of places. John 1:1 (RSV) says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." It is the clearest and direct reference in the Bible about the divinity of Jesus. We know that the Word refers to Jesus because John 1:14 (RSV) says: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father." In the same gospel, Jesus also declared His Divinity "and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made" (John 17:5, RSV); "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9, RSV) and "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30, RSV). Colossians 2:9 says: "For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily". In the Old Testament, God says that He is the First and the Last (Isa. 41:4, 48:12) and in Rev 1:17 Jesus also made the same claim. Rev 1:8 and 21:6,7 say that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega (they are the first and the last alphabets of the Greek language) which also imply the same. Jesus promised to be with His followers until the end of age (Mat 28:20), something that a mere man cannot do. Other verses like 2 Pet 1:1 calls Jesus as "God and Saviour" ; and in John 20:28 Jesus did not rebuke Thomas who called Him "My Lord and My God".

How to describe the relation between Jesus and God? The Bible says that Jesus is the Son of God. However the Bible also applies the same title to the angels (Job 1:6), to Israelites (Exo. 4:22, Deut. 32:8), to king Solomon (2 Sam. 7:14) and even the Christians through Jesus become the children of God (John 1:12). The title indicates an adoptive sonship established from the intimate relation between God and His creature. It does not necessarily make the bearer divine and it is not definitely a biological sonship. Yet His first disciples already recognised that His sonship is more superior. Replying to Jesus question on His identity, Simon Peter said: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mat. 16:16, RSV) and Jesus responded solemnly: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." (Mat. 16:17, RSV). The Gospel testifies that He is the only Son of God: (John 3:16, also John 1:14). He also said: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Mat. 11:27, RSV), which shows His perfect relation with God. Thus His title as "Son of God" does indicate His divinity. Jesus clearly distinguished between His relationship with God and other's. He always used the term "my Father" for His and "your Father" for other (cf. Mat 5:45, John 20:17). The famous Lord’s Prayer starts with the word "Our Father" but it is preceded by the sentence "when you pray" (Luke 11:2), hence it excludes Him.

The belief in the divinity of Jesus does not make Christians believe in more than one God. It is against the Bible and what Jesus Himself taught quoting from Deut. 6:4: "Hear oh Israel, the Lord God, The Lord is one" (Mark 12:29, RSV). Christians also believe in the divinity of the Holy Spirit, who together with God and Jesus form the Holy Trinity. CCC #253 explains the dogma of the Holy Trinity as follows:

The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the co-substantial Trinity. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e., by nature one God.

In addition the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another (CCC #254). Note that the name "Trinity" is not found in the Bible and was first used by Theophilus , bishop of Antioch (c. 180 AD). However, there are allusions to the Holy Trinity in the New Testament. For example: Based on Mat 28:19, Christians are baptised in the name (not names) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; 2 Cor. 13:14 (RSV) says: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all". The Catholic Church also teaches that the Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense which can never be known unless they are revealed by God. It is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel’s faith before the birth of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit (CCC # 237).

Why did Jesus bother to come down from heaven and became a man and then died in agony on the cross? Isn't heaven a much nicer place? Quoting from Nicene Creed, Catholics will answer: "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven". This belief is found in the Bible: "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world" (1 John 4:14, RSV); "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16, RSV); and "He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Heb. 5:9, RSV). The name "Jesus" itself means "God saves". It is the Latin form of the Greek "Iesous" which in Hebrews is "Joshua". The same name is also used by a number of persons in the Old and New Testaments (Josh. 1:1, Luke 3:29, Col 4:11).

Why do we need a Saviour? Like other Christians, Catholics also believe that the sin of Adam (the forefather of all humans) makes us separated from God. Through Adam's disobedience, sin came to the world and afflicted all of us (Rom. 5:12,19; CCC #402). We all were born in a fallen state which produces our inclination to sin and makes us subject to suffering, ignorance and dominion of death (CCC #404-5). Yet God still loves us and wishes to restore our relation with Him by sending His only Son, Jesus (Rom. 3:25, 1 John 4:9). In the Old Testament, expiation of sins were done using animal sacrifice (Lev. 4). The New Testament describes Jesus as "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29, RSV). Jesus was sacrificed when He died on the cross. His sacrifice redeems all mankind (Heb 9:12). He Himself said that He gave His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Any sacrifice must be offered by a priest (Lev. 4) and Jesus Himself is the (High) Priest who offered Himself as sacrifice (Heb. 7:26-27). Catholics believe that salvation is only possible through Jesus; we are not saved by any other persons, dead or living ones; Jesus is our only Saviour (CCC # 432). "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12, RSV).

In order to save us, Jesus had to come down from heaven and became man. Following the Nicene Creed, Catholics say "by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man". Catholics believe that Jesus is not partly man and partly God but He is truly man and truly God (CCC #480). Because of this, Jesus becomes and is the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5, CCC # 618). Jesus Himself said: "I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:9, RSV). As a full human, Jesus is same with any of us except that He does not commit any sin (1 John 3:5). So whilst the four Gospels are almost silent about His childhood, we can expect that (like any human) He must learn how to walk and to feed Himself; He is willing to do it because of His great love to us. He even humbled Himself to the extent that He is willing to die on the cross. The Bible says about Jesus: "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:6-8, RSV).

One of the titles of Jesus is "Son of Man". It may be His favourite title as He used it more often than "Son of God" to refer Himself. The same title was also applied to prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament (cf. Eze. 2:1). Does it indicate that He is just a mere man as some may say? The title does indicate his humanity, i.e. as the Son of Man He has nowhere to stay (Mat. 8:20). However, Jesus also related His title "Son of man" with the prophecy in the book of Daniel (Dan 7:13 quoted in Mat. 24:30, RSV): "then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory". As the Son of Man, He has the authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:10) which belongs only to God and claimed to be the Lord of Sabbath (Mat. 12:8). He also said that as the Son of Man He must suffer (Mark 9:12), gave His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45); yet the Son of Man will also sit at the right hand of God (Mark 14:62) and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead (Matt. 25:31-32). Thus His title as Son of Man indicates both His divinity and humanity.

The most well known title of Jesus is "Christ", in fact He is mostly known as "Jesus (the) Christ". The word "Christ" comes from the Greek "Christos" (or Hebrews Messiah) and means "anointed one". The Old Testament says that kings (1 Sam 10:1, 16:13), priests (Exod. 29:29) and occasionally prophets (i.e. Elishah in 1 Kings 19:16) are anointed. God even called Cyrus, the Persian king as His anointed (Isaiah 45:1). Yet the Old Testament also prophesies the coming of the Messiah or the Anointed One (Dan 9:24-26, Psalms 2:2). To the Christians, Jesus is the Messiah as He Himself claimed (John 4:26). Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of the Old Testament in His three fold office (CCC # 436): priest (Heb. 7:26), prophet (Acts 3:32) and king (Rev. 17:14). The people expected the Messiah to be a political leader (John 6:15), even His disciples thought so (Acts 1:6). However Jesus indicated that His Kingdom is not on earth (John 18:36); He is more than any earthly king, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev 19:16). He Himself said that all the power on earth and on heaven has been given to Him (Matt. 28:18).

Was Jesus a real historical figure or a fictitious one created by the first Christians? Apart from the New Testament and other Christian sources in the first two centuries AD, we have the testimonies about Him from a number of non-Christian sources. The testimony of Roman writer Tacitus (AD 54-119) mentions Jesus as the Founder of the Christian religion, a deadly superstition in the eyes of the Romans, who had been put to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate under the reign of Tiberius. Another Roman writer who shows his acquaintance with Christ and the Christians is Suetonius (AD 75-160). He considered Christ (Chrestus) as a Roman insurgent who stirred up sedition under the reign of emperor Claudius (AD 41-54). The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (AD 37-94) wrote "Antiquities" where he disapproved the sentence pronounced by the high priest Ananias against "James, brother of Jesus who was called Christ." (Ant., XX, ix, 1).

Finally Catholics also believe that Jesus is the Head of the Church which is His Body (Col. 1:18; CCC # 669, # 792). Most people, even Catholics think that the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church; but actually the Pope is only His Representative (or Vicar) on earth. As the Head of the Church Jesus promised to be with His Church to end of age (Mat. 28:20).

Reference

1. The Catholic Encyclopedia: Jesus Christ , on-line version, 1917.
2. The Catholic Encyclopedia: Character of Jesus Christ , on-line version, 1917.
3. The Catholic Encyclopedia: Early historical documents on Jesus Christ , on-line version, 1917.