New Testament Study Bible Summary: Who is Jesus?

Your Kingdom Come

Aug 28

10 min read

Updated: Sep 19

This article summarizes the cumulative answer to the question “Who is Jesus?” from my study of every book of the New Testament.

Few questions are more important to Christianity than this one.

Who is Jesus?

The New Testament gives Jesus an extraordinary number of titles and roles. He is the Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, Lord, Savior, King, prophet, servant, mediator, High Priest, Lamb of God, image of God, head of the Church, judge, and much more.

But after studying every New Testament book individually, I believe an even more important pattern emerges.

Jesus is extraordinarily exalted—but he is consistently distinguished from God.

God sends Jesus.

God anoints Jesus.

God works through Jesus.

God gives Jesus words to speak.

God gives Jesus authority.

God raises Jesus from the dead.

God exalts Jesus.

God makes Jesus Lord and Christ.

God places everything under Jesus’ feet.

God appoints Jesus as Judge and King.

And Jesus, in response, loves God, obeys God, prays to God, worships God, serves God, depends upon God, and repeatedly calls Him “my God.”

The cumulative New Testament picture, in my understanding, is therefore remarkably consistent:

Jesus is God’s uniquely chosen, perfected, and exalted human Son and Messiah—the supreme Lord, Savior, King, mediator, and representative through whom God reveals Himself, saves humanity, and ultimately restores creation. He is not God Himself.

1. Jesus Is Genuinely Human

The New Testament does not merely say that Jesus appeared human.

It repeatedly describes him as a human being.

Peter calls him:

“Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him.” (Acts 2:22)

Paul says:

“There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)

Jesus is descended from David (Romans 1:3; 2 Timothy 2:8). He is repeatedly called the Son of Man. Hebrews says he shared our “flesh and blood” and was made like his brothers and sisters “in all things” (Hebrews 2:14, 17).

His humanity is also evident in how he lives.

Jesus grows in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52).

He becomes hungry, tired, sorrowful, and distressed.

He prays.

He is tempted.

He does not know everything (Mark 13:32).

He distinguishes his own will from God’s will and submits himself to God:

“Not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

He suffers.

And he dies.

None of this diminishes Jesus.

On the contrary, I believe his genuine humanity is essential to understanding who he is and what God accomplishes through him.

2. Jesus Is the Son of God

Perhaps the New Testament’s most consistent identification of Jesus is Son of God.

Mark begins:

“The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)

At Jesus’ baptism, God says:

“You are my beloved Son.” (Mark 1:11)

Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.

John explicitly tells us why he wrote his Gospel:

“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” (John 20:31)

The New Testament repeatedly calls Jesus the Son of God.

It never calls him “God the Son.”

That distinction matters.

“Son of God” does not mean “God” in Scripture. Adam is called a son of God (Luke 3:38), believers are sons and daughters of God, and peacemakers are called sons of God.

Jesus is God’s Son in a unique and supreme sense. He is God’s chosen Messiah and King.

But being God’s Son does not make him the God whose Son he is.

3. Jesus Is the Messiah—the Christ

Jesus is also repeatedly identified as the Christ, or Messiah.

Peter says:

“You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:29)

The Messiah is God’s promised and anointed King.

This explains much of the extraordinary authority Jesus receives.

Jesus is not simply another prophet or teacher. He is the person God uniquely chose to rule, save, judge, and restore the world.

But the very idea of anointing involves distinction.

Jesus says:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me.” (Luke 4:18)

Acts similarly says:

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.” (Acts 10:38)

Jesus is the anointed one.

God is the One who anoints him.

4. Jesus Is Distinct From God

This distinction appears throughout virtually every portion of the New Testament.

Paul repeatedly speaks of:

“God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Peter calls the Father:

“the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:3)

Paul says the same thing (2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3).

Jesus himself says after his resurrection:

“I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17)

And the glorified Jesus still says “my God” repeatedly in Revelation 3:12.

That is extraordinarily important.

Jesus does not merely have a Father.

Jesus has a God.

The same God whom Christians worship is also the God whom Jesus worships.

This distinction remains even after Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation.

Revelation begins:

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him…” (Revelation 1:1)

God gives the revelation.

Jesus receives it.

Revelation then repeatedly distinguishes God from the Lamb.

I therefore do not believe the New Testament presents Jesus as God Himself.

This does not mean that I believe only the Father is divine. Elsewhere in this study I argue that Scripture identifies the Holy Spirit as God as well. The point here is specifically that Jesus is consistently distinguished from the God whom he calls his Father and his God.

5. Jesus Is God’s Supreme Representative and Image

If Jesus is not God, why can he reveal God so completely?

Because Jesus is God’s supreme representative.

Jesus says:

“He who sees me sees him who sent me.” (John 12:45)

Paul calls Jesus:

“the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15)

And:

“the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Hebrews describes him as:

“the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his being.” (Hebrews 1:3)

An image reveals someone who is otherwise unseen.

Jesus reveals God more perfectly than any other human being because God uniquely works in and through him.

Jesus repeatedly says that his teaching is not ultimately his own.

His words come from God.

His works come from God.

His authority comes from God.

Even his miraculous power is explicitly attributed to God:

“Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him.” (Acts 2:22)

Jesus is therefore not merely someone who tells us about God.

He is the supreme human image through whom God reveals Himself to the world.

6. Jesus Genuinely Grew and Was Perfected

One of the most important conclusions I have reached from the New Testament is that Jesus’ humanity involved genuine development.

Luke says:

“Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:52)

Jesus was genuinely tempted.

He learned.

He prayed.

He submitted his will to God.

And Hebrews makes the process especially explicit:

“Though he was a Son, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation.” (Hebrews 5:8–9)

Hebrews also says God made the pioneer of our salvation “perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10).

I do not believe these statements describe a person who was eternally and immutably perfect because he was God.

I believe they describe a genuine human Son whom God brought through suffering, obedience, testing, and growth, and whom Scripture ultimately describes as holy, perfected, and without blemish.

By the time Jesus offered himself, Hebrews describes him as holy, innocent, undefiled, and without blemish.

In my reading of the cumulative evidence, Jesus became perfect, without sin—“in him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5).

That makes his victory over sin and his faithfulness to God all the more extraordinary.

I do not take this language of perfection to mean that Jesus thereby became incapable of any further human growth, learning, or meaningful moral choice; Scripture does not, as far as I can see, make that additional claim.

7. Jesus Is Our Savior

The fact that Jesus is human does not reduce his saving role.

The New Testament gives him an enormous role in humanity’s salvation.

Jesus gives his life as a ransom.

He dies for our sins.

He is our Passover sacrifice.

He is the Lamb.

He is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

He is our Savior.

But the New Testament repeatedly presents salvation as something God accomplishes through Jesus.

Paul writes:

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Peter says Jesus suffered:

“that he might bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)

Jesus therefore does not replace God.

Jesus brings us to God.

God is the ultimate source of salvation, and Jesus is the uniquely appointed Savior through whom God saves humanity.

8. Jesus Is Our Mediator and Great High Priest

First Timothy gives one of the clearest summaries of Jesus’ identity:

“There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)

A mediator stands between two parties.

Jesus stands between God and humanity.

Hebrews develops this role extensively.

Jesus is our great High Priest.

He represents humanity before God.

He understands human weakness because he himself suffered and was tempted.

He intercedes for us.

He mediates the new covenant.

And through him, humanity approaches God.

This role makes perfect sense if Jesus is the uniquely exalted human Son who represents humanity before God.

9. God Raised and Exalted Jesus

One of the most consistent statements in the New Testament is that God raised Jesus from the dead.

God raised him.

God glorified him.

God exalted him.

God seated him at His right hand.

Peter says:

“God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36)

Paul says that because Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death:

“Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name.” (Philippians 2:9)

Jesus’ present greatness is enormous.

Every knee will bow.

Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

He has been given authority over heaven and earth.

He sits at God’s right hand.

Angels and authorities are subjected to him.

But the New Testament repeatedly explains how he came to possess this authority:

God gave it to him.

Jesus’ exaltation does not make him God.

It demonstrates what God has done for and through Jesus.

10. Jesus Is King, Judge, and Returning Lord

Jesus is not merely an important figure from the past.

He reigns.

God has appointed him King.

He will return.

He will judge the living and the dead.

He will rule the nations.

He will defeat death.

He will transform believers.

Revelation calls him:

“King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Yet even here Jesus remains subject to God.

Paul says that after every enemy—including death—has been defeated, the Son himself will ultimately be subjected to God:

“Then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:28)

Jesus possesses universal authority.

But it is God-given authority, exercised within God’s ultimate rule.

11. Jesus Is the Pattern of What Humanity Is Meant to Become

Jesus is not only our Savior.

He is our example.

Our pioneer.

Our older brother.

The firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

The New Testament repeatedly calls Christians to follow him, imitate him, suffer with him, reign with him, share his glory, and ultimately be conformed to his image.

Paul calls Jesus the “second man” and “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15).

Jesus therefore represents restored humanity.

He shows what a human being completely surrendered to God can become.

This is one reason I believe Jesus’ genuine humanity matters so much.

If Jesus is fundamentally a different kind of being from us—God by nature—then Christians can imitate aspects of his human behavior, but we can never truly become like what he ultimately is.

But the New Testament says that God intends to conform us to Christ.

Jesus is the pioneer who goes before us.

God begins with Jesus and ultimately brings His other children into the same family likeness.

12. Did Jesus Exist Before His First-Century Life?

I believe the New Testament does present Jesus as genuinely preexistent.

This is especially clear to me in John, and Colossians also describes Jesus as existing “before all things” and having an extraordinary relationship to creation.

But preexistence does not automatically mean deity.

For the purposes of this blog, the important point is that even in the passages that give Jesus the most extraordinary preexistent language, Scripture continues to distinguish him from God.

Jesus receives from God.

Jesus represents God.

Jesus is God’s image.

God’s fullness dwells in him.

God works through him.

And God remains the ultimate source of Jesus’ life, authority, glory, and mission.

So Who Is Jesus?

After studying every New Testament book, this is the cumulative picture I see:

Jesus is human.

Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus is the Messiah—the Christ.

Jesus is the Son of Man.

Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is Savior.

Jesus is King.

Jesus is Prophet.

Jesus is God’s servant.

Jesus is God’s image and supreme representative.

Jesus is our mediator.

Jesus is our great High Priest.

Jesus is the Lamb who gave his life for the world.

Jesus is the risen and exalted Lord seated at God’s right hand.

Jesus is the Judge whom God appointed.

Jesus is the head of the Church.

Jesus is the pioneer and pattern of restored humanity.

Jesus is the one through whom God reconciles the world to Himself.

And:

Jesus is not God Himself.

The New Testament does not diminish Jesus by distinguishing him from God.

It gives him an astonishing identity.

Jesus is the human being whom God chose above all others, brought through suffering and obedience to the faithfulness and perfection Scripture attributes to him, raised from the dead, exalted above every other human being, seated at His right hand, and entrusted with universal authority.

He is the one through whom God reveals Himself most completely.

He is the one through whom God saves.

He is the one through whom God judges and rules.

He is the one through whom God reconciles creation.

And he is the one Christians are called to follow and ultimately become like.

The repeated New Testament pattern can be summarized simply:

From God, through Jesus, to God.

God sent him.

God empowered him.

God perfected him.