The psychology of Jesus : his identity in the Gospels

Abstract

The Judaeo - Christian history is Christo-Centric. For four thousand years the question has always arisen: "who will Jesus be?" or "who is Jesus?" "who was Jesus?" In the history of revelation we realize that God's creation had the Incarnation as the apex - in creating, God was intending to identify himself with creation, through himself becoming as part of it by entering the human race. We learn that God created the world in, through, and for the sake of Jesus. (Jn. 1: 1-5) The history of revelation is God's salvific plan for man. And Jesus is an all essential part in this plan. God chose a people for Himself. He revealed Himself to this people through prophets. Finally be lived with them in the person of Jesus. The prophets spoke in God's name - in Jesus we have God who speaks. Although it was imperative to have Jesus, as a person, for the focal point of revelation, yet it was not intended by God to give us in Jesus a "living model" but a "model for living". Although it is important to recognize Jesus as a total person, we need not know the physical Jesus to be able to follow the spirit of his actions. However in our search for better knowledge of God, it is important to begin with Jesus of Nazareth, because knowledge leads us to faith and because the more exact it is, the more c:ertain it does so.