Jesus of Nazareth, also referred to as Jesus Christ or simply Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is also regarded as an important prophet of God in Islam. Most Christian denominations venerate him as God the Son incarnated and believe that he rose from the dead after being crucified.[14][15] The principal sources of information regarding Jesus are the Bible’s four canonical gospels,[16] which most biblical scholars find useful for reconstructing Jesus’ life and teachings.[17][18][19][20] Scholars have correlated the New Testament accounts with non-Christian historical records to arrive at an estimated chronology for the major episodes in the life of Jesus.[21][5][3][22]
Most modern historians agree that Jesus existed and was a Jewish teacher from Galilee in Roman Judaea, who was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire. [23][24][25][8] Scholars have offered competing descriptions and portraits of Jesus, which at times share a number of overlapping attributes, such as a rabbi, a charismatic healer, the leader of an apocalyptic movement, a self-described Messiah, a sage and philosopher, or a social reformer who preached of the “Kingdom of God” as a means for personal and egalitarian social transformation.[26][27][28][29]
Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, performed miracles, founded the Church, died sacrificially to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, from which he will return.[15] The majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, and the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.[30] A few Christian groups, however, reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, believing it to be non-scriptural.[30][31] Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah promised in the Old Testament and as God,[32] arguing that he fulfilled many Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.[33]
Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh.[34] In Islam, Jesus (in Arabic: in Islamic usage, commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God’s important prophets,[35][36] a bringer of scripture, and the product of a virgin birth, but not the victim of crucifixion.[37] Islam and the Bahá’í Faith use the title “Messiah” for Jesus,[38][39] but do not teach that he was God incarnate.
Etymology of name
“Jesus” is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek, itself a hellenization of the Hebrew or Hebrew-Aramaic, both meaning “Yahweh delivers” or “Yahweh rescues”. In Arabic, it is.
The etymology of the name Jesus in the context of the New Testament is generally expressed as “Yahweh saves”,[42][43][44] “Yahweh is salvation”[45][46] and at times as “Jehovah is salvation”.[47] The name Jesus appears to have been in use in Judaea at the time of the birth of Jesus.[47][48] Philo’s reference (Mutatione Nominum item 121) indicates that the etymology of Joshua was known outside Judaea at the time.[49]
In the New Testament, in Luke 1:26-33, the angel Gabriel tells Mary to name her child “Jesus”, and in Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child “Jesus”. The statement in Matthew 1:21 “you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” associates salvific attributes to the name Jesus in Christian theology.[50][51]
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