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Thereligious perspectives on Jesus vary among world religions.[1]Jesus' teachings and the retelling of his life story have significantly influenced the course ofhuman history, and have directly or indirectly affected the lives of billions of people, including non-Christians.[1][2][3] He is considered by many to be one of the most influential persons to have ever lived, finding a significant place in numerous cultural contexts.[4]
InChristianity, Jesus is theMessiah (Christ) foretold in theOld Testament and theSon of God. Christians believe that through hisdeath andresurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise ofeternal life.[5] These beliefs emphasize that as the willingLamb of God, Jesuschose to suffer inCalvary as a sign of his full obedience to the will of his Father, as an "agent and servant of God".[6][7] Christians view Jesus as a role model, whose God-focused life believers are encouraged to imitate.
InIslam, Jesus (commonly transliterated asIsa) is the Messiah and one of God's highest-ranked and most-belovedprophets. Islam considers Jesus to be neither the incarnation nor the Son of God. He is referred to as the son of Mary in the Qu’ran. Islamic texts emphasize a strict affirmation of monotheism (tawhid) and forbid the association of partners with God, which would be idolatry (shirk).
In theDruze faith, Jesus is considered one of God's important prophets and theMessiah.[8][9]
TheBaháʼí Faith considers Jesus to be one of manymanifestations of God, who are a series of personages who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world. Baháʼís reject the idea that divinity was contained with a single human body.
Apart from his owndisciples and followers, theJews of Jesus' day generally rejected him as the Messiah, as do the great majority of Jews today. MainstreamJewish scholars argue that Jesus neither fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in theTanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
Other world religions such asBuddhism have no particular view on Jesus, and have but a minor intersection with Christianity.
For non-religious perspectives on Jesus, seehistorical Jesus.
Christian views of Jesus are based on the teachings and beliefs as outlined in theCanonical gospels,New Testament letters, theChristian creeds, as well as specific denominational teachings. These documents outline the key beliefs held by Christians about Jesus, including his divinity, humanity, and earthly life, and that he is the Christ and the Son of God.[10]
Although Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to summarize the key beliefs shared among major denominations, as stated in theircatechetical orconfessional texts.[11] Generally speaking, adhering to the Christian faith requires a belief that Jesus is theSon of God and theMessiah orChrist. Jesus refers to himself as the Son of God in the New Testament.[12]
Christians consider Jesus to be the Messiah (Christ) and believe that throughhis death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise ofeternal life.[5] These teachings emphasize that as the willingLamb of God, Jesuschose to suffer inCalvary as a sign of his full obedience to the will of his Father, as an "agent and servant of God".[6][7] The choice Jesus made thus counter-positions him as a new man of morality and obedience, in contrast toAdam's disobedience.[13]
The five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus are hisBaptism,Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection andAscension.[14][15][16] These are usually bracketed by two other episodes: hisNativity at the beginning and the sending of theParaclete at the end.[14][16] The gospel accounts of the teachings of Jesus are often presented in terms of specific categories involving his "works and words", e.g. hisministry,parables andmiracles.[17][18] The words of Jesus include several sermons, in addition to parables that appear throughout the narrative of theSynoptic Gospels (the gospel of John includes no parables).
Christians not only attach theological significance to the works of Jesus, but also to his name. Devotions to theHoly Name of Jesus go back to theearliest days of Christianity.[19][20] These devotions and feasts exist both inEastern andWestern Christianity.[20]
Most Christians believe that Jesus was both human and the Son of God. While there has been theological debate over the nature of Jesus,trinitarian Christians generally believe that Jesus is God incarnate,God the Son, and theHoly Spirit, thus "true God and true man," i.e. fully divine and fully human. Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again. According to theNew Testament,God the Father raised him from the dead.[21] Heascended to heaven, to beseated at the "right hand of God,"[22] and he willreturn again for theLast Judgment and the establishment of theKingdom of God.[23]
In Islam, Jesus (Isa) is considered to be amessenger of God (Allah) and the Messiah (al-Masih) who was sent to guide theDescendants of Israel (Bani Isra'il) with a new scripture, the Gospel (Injil).[24][25]
TheQuran mentions Jesus by name 25 times—more often thanMuhammad[26]—and emphasises that Jesus was a mortal human who, like all other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God's message.[27] Unlike Christian writings, the Quran does not describe Jesus as theson of God, but as one of four major humanmessengers (out of manyprophets) sent by God throughout history to guide mankind.[28] Jesus is said to have lived a life of piety and generosity, and abstained from eating flesh of swine.
Muslims also believe that Jesus received a Gospel from God, called theInjil. However, Muslims hold that Jesus' original message waslost or altered and that the Christian New Testament does not accurately represent God's original message to mankind.[29]
Despite major differences, the Quran and New Testament overlap in other aspects of Jesus' life; both Muslims and Christians believe that Jesus was miraculously born without a human biological father by the will of God, and that his mother, Mary (Maryam in Arabic), is among the most saintly, pious, chaste and virtuous women ever.[30] The Quran also specifies that Jesus was able to performmiracles—though only by the will of God—including being able to raise the dead, restore sight to the blind and cure lepers.[31] One miracle attributed to Jesus in the Quran, but not in the New Testament, is his being able to speak at only a few days old, to defend his mother from accusations ofadultery.[32] It also says that Jesus was a 'word' from God, since he was predicted to come in theOld Testament.
Most Muslims believe that he was neither killed nor crucified, but that God made it appear so to his enemies. With the noteworthy exception ofAhmadi Muslims who believe that Jesus was indeed put on the cross, survived the crucifixion and was not lifted bodily to the heaven, the majority of Muslims believe that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven and is alive. Some Muslim scholars maintain that Jesus was indeed put up on the cross, but did not die on it; rather, he revived and then ascended bodily to heaven. Others say that it was actuallyJudas Iscariot who was mistakenly crucified by the Romans. Regardless, Muslims believe that Jesus is alive inheaven and will return to the world in the flesh to defeat theAntichrist, once the world has become filled with sin, deception and injustice, and then live out the rest of his natural life.[24]
Islam rejects theTrinitarian Christian view that Jesus wasGod incarnate or the son of God, that he was ever crucified or resurrected or that he everatoned for the sins of mankind. The Quran says that Jesus himself, when asked by God if he said that people shall regard him and Mary as gods, will deny this.[Quran5:116]
Judaism rejects the idea of Jesus being God, or a person of a Trinity, or a mediator to God. Judaism also holds that Jesus is not theMessiah, arguing that he had not fulfilled theMessianic prophecies in theTanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah. According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets afterMalachi, who lived centuries before Jesus and delivered his prophesies about 420 BC.[33]
According toConservative Judaism, Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah have "crossed the line out of the Jewish community".[34]Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states "For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is anapostate".[35]
TheBabylonian Talmud includes stories ofYeshuיֵשׁוּ; the vast majority of contemporary historians disregard these as sources about thehistorical Jesus.[36] Contemporary Talmud scholars hold similar views, as well as considering the stories to be commentary about the relationship between Judaism and Christians or other sectarians.[37][38]
TheMishneh Torah, a 12th century authoritative work ofJewish law, states inHilkhot Melakhim 11:10–11 that Jesus misled most of the world to worship other gods but that his ultimate purpose is to "prepare the entire world to serve God together".
Even Jesus the Nazarene who thought he would be theMessiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied byDaniel. So that it was said, "And the outlaws of your nation shall rise up to set forth a (prophetic) vision, and they will stumble."[39] There is a greater obstacle than this: All theprophets spoke that the Messiah would redeem Israel, and save them, and gather their banished ones, and strengthen their commandments. This caused Israel to perish by the sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to change the Torah, and to mislead most of the world into worshiping gods other than God.
However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world - there is no power in man to attain them, because our ways are not His ways, nor our thoughts His thoughts. And all these words of Jesus the Nazarene, and of theIshmaelite who stood after Him - their purpose is but to pave the way for the Messiah, the King, and to prepare the entire world to serve the Lord together; As it is said, "For then I will turn to the nations (giving them) a pure language, to call all of them in the name of the Lord, and together serve Him of one accord".[40][41]
TheBaháʼí Faith consider Jesus to be amanifestation of God, who are a series of personages who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world for the progress and advancement of human morals and civilization.[42] In Baháʼí belief, the Manifestations have always been sent by God, and always will, as part of the singleprogressive religion from God bringing more teachings through time to help humanity progress.[43] The Manifestations of God are taught to be "one and the same", and in their relationship to one another have both the station of unity and the station of distinction.[42] In this way each Manifestation of God manifested the Word of God and taught the same religion, with modifications for the particular audience's needs and culture.Bahá'u'lláh wrote that since each Manifestation of God has the same divine attributes, they can be seen as the spiritual "return" of all the previous Manifestations of God.[42] In this way, Baháʼís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is, in both respects, the return of Jesus.
In theDruze faith, Jesus is considered one of God's important prophets and theMessiah,[44][45] being among the seven prophets who appeared in different periods of history.[46][47] The Druze venerateJesus "the son ofJoseph andMary" and hisfour disciples, who wrote the Gospels.[48] In theDruze tradition, Jesus is known under three titles: the True Messiah (al-Masih al-Haq), the Messiah of all Nations (Masih al-Umam), and the Messiah of Sinners. This is due, respectively, to the belief that Jesus delivered the true Gospel message, the belief that he was the Saviour of all nations, and the belief that he offers forgiveness.[49]
According to the Druze manuscripts Jesus is the Greatest Imam and the incarnation of UltimateReason (Akl) on earth and the first cosmic principle (Hadd),[48] and regards Jesus andHamza ibn Ali as the incarnations of one of the five great celestial powers, who form part of their system.[50] Druze believe that Hamza ibn Ali was areincarnation of Jesus,[51] and thatHamza ibn Ali is the true Messiah, who directed the deeds of the messiah Jesus "the son of Joseph and Mary", but when Jesus "the son of Joseph and Mary" strayed from the path of the true Messiah, Hamza filled the hearts of the Jews with hatred for him - and for that reason, they crucified him, according to the Druze manuscripts.[48][52] Despite this,Hamza ibn Ali took him down from the cross and allowed him to return to his family, in order to prepare men for the preaching of his religion.[48]
In an epistle ascribed to one of the founders of Druzism,Baha al-Din al-Muqtana,[53] probably written sometime between AD 1027 and AD 1042, accused the Jews ofcrucifying Jesus.[54]
Traditionally,Buddhists as a group take no particular view on Jesus, andBuddhism and Christianity have but a minor intersection. However, some scholars have noted similarities between the life and teachings ofGautama Buddha and Jesus. These similarities might be attributed to Buddhist missionaries sent as early as EmperorAshoka around 250 BC in many of the GreekSeleucid kingdoms that existed then and then later became the same regions in which Christianity began.[55]
Jesus was seen as the saviour and bringer ofgnosis by variousGnostic sects, such as the quasi-extinctManichaeism.
The Vietnamese syncretic religionCao Dai locates Jesus in the celestial Council of Great Spirits that directs the universe.[56]
In theAhmadiyya Islamic view, Jesus survived the crucifixion and later travelled toIndia, where he lived as a prophet (and died) under the name ofYuz Asaf.
According toThe Urantia Book, Jesus was one of numerous sons of God named Michael of Nebadon, who took on earthly incarnation.[57]
InRaëlism, Jesus and several other religious figures are considered prophets sent by an extraterrestrial race called theElohim.[58]
TheReligious Science movement considers Jesus to be a teacher of “Science of Mind”.[58][59]
TheLacandon people of Central America acknowledge Äkyantho', the god of foreigners. He has a son named Hesuklistos (Jesus Christ) who is supposed to be the god of the foreigners. They recognize that Hesuklistos is a god but do not feel he is worthy of worship as he is a minor god.[60]
Unlike other religions, Hinduism has no established set of beliefs and thus no universal or common view of Jesus. However, a lot of Hindus, including religious and political leaders, tend to variously venerate Jesus as either aĀchārya,Sadhu orAvatar.[61][62][63] Some Hindus andHare Krishnas also claim that Jesus waspredicted orprophesied in the scriptureBhavishya Purana.[64]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Judaism has held that the Mashiach will come and usher in a new era; not that he will proclaim his arrival, die and wait centuries to finish his task. To continue to assert that Jesus was the Mashiach goes against the belief that the Mashiach will transform the world when he does come, not merely hint at a future transformation at some undefined time to come... Judaism rejects the claim that a new covenant was created with Jesus and asserts instead that the chain of Tradition reaching back to Moshe continues to make valid claims on our lives, and serve as more than mere window dressing.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Jesus is known in the Druze tradition as the "True Messiah" (al-Masih al-Haq), for he delivered what Druzes view as the true message. He is also referred to as the "Messiah of the Nations" (Masih al-Umam) because he was sent to the world as "Masih of Sins" because he is the one who forgives.
They further believe that Hamza ibn Ali was a reincarnation of many prophets, including Christ, Plato, Aristotle.
...One example of Druze anti—Jewish bias is contained in an epistle ascribed to one of the founders of Druzism, Baha al-Din
Slade, Darren M. (January 2014)."Arabia Haeresium Ferax (Arabia Bearer of Heresies): Schismatic Christianity's Potential Influence on Muhammad and the Qur'an"(PDF).American Theological Inquiry.7 (1):43–53. Archived fromthe original on 2014-02-02.
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