Jesus Christ, also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world’s largest religion. Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited messiah (the Christ), prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically.
The quest for the historical Jesus has yielded some uncertainty on the historical reliability of the Gospels and on how closely the Jesus portrayed in the New Testament reflects the historical Jesus, as the only records of Jesus’ life are contained in the Gospels. Jesus was a Galilean Jew, who was baptized by John the Baptist and began his own ministry. His teachings were initially conserved by oral transmission and he himself was often referred to as “rabbi”.
Jesus debated with fellow Jews on how to best follow God, engaged in healings, taught in parables and gathered followers. He was arrested and tried by the Jewish authorities, turned over to the Roman government, and crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Jerusalem. After his death, his followers believed he rose from the dead, and the community they formed eventually became the early Church.
Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary, performed miracles, founded the Christian Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement for sin, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, from where he will return. Commonly, Christians believe Jesus enables people to be reconciled to God.
The Nicene Creed asserts that Jesus will judge the living and the dead either before or after their bodily resurrection, an event tied to the Second Coming of Jesus in Christian eschatology. The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of the Trinity. A small minority of Christian denominations reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, as non-scriptural.
The birth of Jesus is celebrated annually on 25 December as Christmas. His crucifixion is honored on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. The world’s most widely used calendar era – in which the current year is 2022 AD/CE – is based on the approximate birthdate of Jesus. Jesus is also revered in other religions. In Islam, Jesus (often referred to by his Quranic name ʿĪsā) is considered the penultimate prophet of God and the messiah.
Muslims believe Jesus was born of a virgin, but was neither God nor a son of God. The Quran states that Jesus never claimed to be divine. Most Muslims do not believe that he was killed or crucified, but that God raised him into Heaven while he was still alive. In contrast, Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill messianic prophecies, and was neither divine nor resurrected.
Some of the best quotes from Jesus Christ are listed below.
- “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” – Jesus Christ
- “All my authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” – Jesus Christ
- “All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbor as yourself.” – Jesus Christ
- “And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.” – Jesus Christ
- “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” – Jesus Christ
- “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” – Jesus Christ
- “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” – Jesus Christ
- “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” – Jesus Christ
- “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” – Jesus Christ
- “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” – Jesus Christ
- “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.” – Jesus Christ
- “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” – Jesus Christ
- “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Jesus Christ
- “For God so loved the World that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – Jesus Christ
- “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” – Jesus Christ
- “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” – Jesus Christ
- “Give to everyone who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.” – Jesus Christ
- “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” – Jesus Christ
- “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – Jesus Christ
- “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Jesus Christ
- “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.” – Jesus Christ
- “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven.” – Jesus Christ
- “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” – Jesus Christ
- “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.” – Jesus Christ
- “Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in this world.” – Jesus Christ
- “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” – Jesus Christ
- “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” – Jesus Christ
- “So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” – Jesus Christ
