Who is Jesus: The Son of God, A historical figure, or someone else?

Introduction

The fact of Jesus being determined to be Gods son was predetermined from the beginning of time. This would not come to pass though until Jesus would actually be born in Bethlehem. The idea of Jesus had existed before that as written in the Old Testament, but his creation would only come after his birth. I liked the comment I found on this subject. God was treating Jesus like a homebuilder would treat a set of blueprints. There is a plan for the house, there is meaning for the house, and the house can be seen in your mind before it is ever created because you have the plan set in motion. But until you built the house it never exists to fill its purpose. (Who is Jesus: Who is Jesus Christ) I believe God was similar in this aspect with Jesus, God had already determined a plan for Jesus birth, and life and sacrifice and that Jesus would be the blueprint for salvation (Boring & Craddock, p. 177).

Discussion

God sent Jesus to earth to save mankind and give them a passage to the Kingdom of Heaven. This can be found in the book of John, “ for God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) This is a very recognizable passage from the Bible, but is has a very important message in the fact it holds an answer to the Kingdom of heaven. That answer is Jesus. By believing in Jesus and his life a person can be granted access to Heaven. Now I realize this is not the only factor in getting to Heaven, but it is an important step in the process. When Jesus was born the earth was filled with sin and his main objective in life was to free us of our sins. With his death, being one without sin, he lifted all of the sins of the world and gave us a fresh start. Likewise if we put our faith in Jesus we can be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

It is quite clear that the intention of Jesus' human relationships as presented in the Gospels is to re-establish and re-affirm the spiritual relationship of the Jewish adherent with God. Loader (1997) proposes that it is clear from the Gospel writings that Jesus was a pious or even conservative Jew who intended to present a specific interpretation of the covenant relationship. However, Holmen (2004) clearly articulates that Jesus' actions, relationships, and behaviours do not display the same characteristics towards Jewish covenant obedience as seen in the First Century. As a Jew it is quite clear that Jesus has a particular view of the covenant which is not dependent upon issues of ritualistic legalism but rather drawn from the eschatological covenant of the later Old Testament (O'Collins, ...