Who Is Jesus?

1. Mark 8:27–30: Jesus asks who people say He is, and then who His disciples say He is.
2. John 1:1–14: The Word who was with God and was God became flesh.
3. Phil 2:5–11: Equal with God, He took a servant's form, died, and was exalted as Lord.
4. Col 1:15–20: The image of the invisible God, Creator and Reconciler.
5. Heb 1:1–3: God's final word in His Son, who radiates His glory and made purification for sins.

• Matt 16:13–17: The crowds' guesses (a prophet come back), then Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, revealed by the Father.
• Matt 16:21–23: Peter can't yet accept a suffering Messiah, and Jesus rebukes him.
• Matt 17:1–8: On the mountain, the Father's voice identifies the Son.
• Luke 22:54–62; John 21:15–19: Peter denies Him, then is restored.
• Acts 2:22–36: Peter preaches that God made the crucified Jesus both Lord and Christ.
• John 20:24–28: Thomas, after his doubt, confesses Jesus as his Lord and his God.

Connective note: Knowing the right title wasn't enough for Peter. He had to learn what kind of Messiah Jesus is, one who goes to the cross (Mark 8:31–33). Confession of Jesus' identity and trust in His saving work belong together (Rom 10:9).

• Ps 2: The Lord's Anointed, the Son, set as King (cf. Acts 13:33; Heb 1:5).
• Ps 110:1–4: The psalm Jesus used about His own identity (Mark 12:35–37).

Seed verse: John 1:14 Suggested first links: Isa 9:6–7 · Dan 7:13–14 · Mic 5:2 · Matt 1:23 · Mark 2:5–12 · John 8:58 · John 10:30 · John 14:9 · John 20:28 · Rom 9:5 · Col 2:9 · Titus 2:13 · Rev 1:17–18

1. What does the Bible teach about the Trinity? → learn.who-is-god.q2
2. Is there historical evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? → learn.gospel.skeptic.q1
3. Which Old Testament prophecies did Jesus fulfill? → prophecy.fulfilled.q1

Skeptic. Wasn't Jesus just a good teacher? The Gospels don't leave that option open. He forgave sins in His own name (Mark 2:5–12), accepted worship (Matt 14:33; John 20:28–29), and claimed to exist before Abraham (John 8:58). Those claims are either true or deeply mistaken. The Gospels also present the resurrection as public evidence (Acts 2:32; 1 Cor 15:3–8; Luke 1:1–4). Read one Gospel through and test it.

Brand-new. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is the Word who was God and became flesh (John 1:1, 14). He is the promised Christ (Matt 16:16), the Savior who died for sins and rose again (1 Cor 15:3–4), and the Lord who is coming back (Acts 1:11). Knowing Him starts with trusting Him (John 1:12) and following Him (Mark 1:17).

Developing. Jesus' identity shapes everything:

• He shows us the Father (John 14:9; Heb 1:3).
• He is our High Priest, who sympathizes because He was tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:14–16).
• He is Lord, so following Him is about allegiance, not only belief (Luke 6:46; Rom 10:9).

Phil 2:5–11 is given as a pattern for humility in the church (Phil 2:3–5).

Experienced. Tension texts:

• Jesus says the Father is greater than He is (John 14:28), yet He and the Father are one (John 10:30).
• He did not know the day or hour (Mark 13:32), yet He knew all things (John 16:30; 21:17).

Historic Christian teaching holds these together through the two natures of Christ, truly God and truly man, without confusion or division (Col 2:9; Heb 2:17). Some statements speak of His humanity and His servant role, and others of His deity. ⚠ Theo: confirm this framing. The councils' wording is not cited, since there is no ledger entry for it.

Scholar. John 1:1 uses logos, which bridges Gen 1 (God speaking creation into being) and the wisdom tradition (Prov 8:22–31). John 1:14 and 1:18 call Jesus the monogenes, the unique or one-of-a-kind Son, which is also used in John 3:16. In Phil 2:6–7, morphe (form) is applied both to His being in the form of God and to His taking the form of a servant. He emptied Himself (kenoo, Phil 2:7) by taking on humanity and servanthood, not by ceasing to be God (Col 2:9). ⚠ Theo: confirm this kenosis wording. Phil 2:10–11 applies Isa 45:23, a text about the Lord God, to Jesus.

Word studies: verified (STEPBible). Numbers were checked against TBESG, and each occurrence was checked in the cited verse (TAGNT).

• logos (Greek, G3056): word (John 1:1, 14).
• monogenes (Greek, G3439): unique, one of a kind (John 1:14, 18; John 3:16).
• Christos (Greek, G5547): Christ, Anointed One (Matt 16:16).
• kyrios (Greek, G2962): Lord (Phil 2:11; John 20:28).
• morphe (Greek, G3444): form (Phil 2:6, 7). kenoo (Greek, G2758): to empty (Phil 2:7).

Omitted. The Sources Ledger has no high-confidence entries on this topic, and under Theo's rule medium entries need hedging and low entries are held back, so no historical claims are made here.

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Links: The Gospel (learn.gospel) · Who God Is (learn.who-is-god) · Saved by Grace pathway · Doubt pathway · devotionals devotionals/philippians-2-the-mind-of-christ.md, devotionals/john-20-my-lord-and-my-god.md