Jewish eschatology
Jewish eschatology is the area of theology and philosophy concerned with events that will happen in the end of days and related concepts, according to the Hebrew Bible and Jewish thought. This includes the ingathering of the exiled diaspora, the coming of a Jewish Messiah and the revival of the dead Tzadikim. In Judaism, the end times are called the "end of days", a phrase that appears several times in the Tanakh; until the late modern era, the standard Jewish belief was that after one dies, one's immortal soul joins God in the world to come while one's body decomposes. At the end of days, God will recompose one's body, place within it one's immortal soul, that person will stand before God in judgement; the idea of a messianic age has a prominent place in Jewish thought, is incorporated as part of the end of days. Jewish philosophers from medieval times to the present day have emphasized the soul's immortality. In Judaism, the main textual source for the belief in the end of days and accompanying events is the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible.
In the Five Books of Moses, references are made in Deuteronomy 28-31, that the Jews will not be able to keep the Laws of Moses in the Land of Israel and will be subsequently exiled but redeemed. The books of the Hebrew Prophets prophesied about the end of days; the ninth king is King Messiah, who, in the future, will rule from one end of the world to the other, as it is said, “He shall have dominion from sea to sea”. The tenth king will restore the sovereignty to its owners. He, the first king will be the last king, as it is said, “Thus saith the Lord, the King... I am the first, I am the last; the main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in the Books of Isaiah and Ezekiel: End of world. God redeems the Jewish people from the captivity that began during the Babylonian Exile, in a new Exodus God returns the Jewish people to the Land of Israel God restores the House of David and the Temple in Jerusalem God creates a regent from the House of David to lead the Jewish people and the world and usher in an age of justice and peace All nations recognize that the God of Israel is the only true God God resurrects the dead God creates a new heaven and a new earthIt is believed that history will complete itself and the ultimate destination will be reached when all mankind returns to the Garden of Eden.
The Hebrew word mashiach refers to the Jewish idea of the messiah. Mashiach means anointed, a meaning preserved in the English word derived from messiah; the Messiah is to be a human leader, physically descended from the Davidic line, who will rule and unite the people of Israel and will usher in the Messianic Age of global and universal peace. While the name of Jewish Messiah is considered to be one of the things that precede creation, he is not considered divine, in contrast to Christianity where Jesus is both divine and the Messiah. In biblical times the title mashiach was awarded to someone in a high position of nobility and greatness. For example, Cohen ha-Mašíaḥ means High Priest. In the Talmudic era the title mashiach or מלך המשיח, Méleḫ ha-Mašíaḥ means "the anointed King", it is a reference to the Jewish leader and king that will redeem Israel in the end of days and usher in a messianic era of peace and prosperity for both the living and deceased. Most textual requirements concerning the Messiah and his reign are inferred from verses in the Book of Isaiah, although aspects are mentioned in other prophets as well.
The Sanhedrin will be re-established Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance The whole world will worship the One God of Israel He will be descended from King David via King Solomon The messiah will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership Knowledge of God will fill the world He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations All Israelites will be returned to their homeland Death will be swallowed up forever There will be no more hunger or illness, death will cease The dead will rise again God will seek to destroy all the nations that go against Jerusalem Israel and Judah will be made into one nation again The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness He will be a messenger of peace Nations will recognize the wrongs they did Israel The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance The ruined cities of Israel will be restored Weapons of war will be destroyed The Temple will be rebuilt resuming many of the suspended mitzvot He will perfect the entire world to serve God together He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful The Babylo
Resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead is used in the doctrine and theology of various religions to describe an event by which a person, or people are resurrected. Various forms of this concept can be found in Christian, Islamic and Zoroastrian eschatology. In some Neopagan views this refers to reincarnation between the three realms: Life and the Realm of the Divine. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, the three common usages for this term pertain to the resurrection of Jesus. In Judaism and Samaritanism, it is believed that the God of Israel will one day give teḥiyyat ha-metim to the righteous during the Messianic Age, they will live forever in the world to come. Jews base this belief on the prophecies contained in the Hebrew Bible: the Book of Isaiah, Book of Ezekiel, Book of Daniel. Samaritans base it on a passage called the Ha'azeinu in the Samaritan Pentateuch, since they only accept the Torah and reject the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Jews believe that both the righteous and the wicked who are deceased will be resurrected and judged by God.
They believe that the righteous Jews and the Noahides will have eternal life on earth in the world to come, while the wicked will be punished and executed. Samaritans believe that only the righteous of Israel will be resurrected and given eternal life on earth; the resurrection of the dead is a core belief of the Mishnah. The belief in resurrection is expressed on all occasions in the Jewish liturgy. Maimonides made it the last of his Thirteen Articles of Faith: "I believe that there will take place a revival of the dead at a time which will please the Creator, blessed be His name."There are three explicit examples in the Hebrew Bible of people being resurrected from the dead: The prophet Elijah prays and God raises a young boy from death Elisha raises the son of the Shunammite woman. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in 2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh. Resurrection of the dead appears in detail in the extra-canonical books of Enoch, in Apocalypse of Baruch, 2 Esdras.
According to the British scholar in ancient Judaism Philip R. Davies, there is "little or no clear reference … either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead" in the Dead Sea scrolls texts. Both Josephus and the New Testament record that the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife, but the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees; the New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not. According to Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will be reincarnated and "pass into other bodies," while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment." Paul the Apostle, a Pharisee, said that at the resurrection what is "sown as a natural body is raised a spiritual body." Jubilees refers only to a more general idea of an immortal soul. Harry Sysling, in his 1996 study of Teḥiyyat Ha-Metim in the Palestinian Targumim, identifies a consistent usage of the term "second death" in texts from the Second Temple period and early rabbinical writings, but not in the Hebrew Bible.
"Second death" is identified with judgment, followed by resurrection from Gehinnom at the Last Day. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 15, ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν is used for the resurrection of the dead. In verses 54–55, Paul the Apostle is conveyed as quoting from the Book of Hosea 13:14 where he speaks of the abolition of death. In the Pauline epistles of the New Testament, Paul the Apostle wrote that those who will be resurrected to eternal life will be resurrected with spiritual bodies, which are imperishable. Though Paul does not explicitly establish that immortality is exclusive to physical bodies, some scholars understand that according to Paul, flesh is to play no part, as we are made immortal; the Gospel of Matthew introduces the expression ἀναστάσεως τῶν νεκρῶν, used in a monologue by Jesus who speaks to the crowds about "the resurrection" called ῇ ἀναστάσει. This type of resurrection refers to the raising up of the dead, all mankind, at the end of this present age, the general or universal resurrection.
In the Gospels, the resurrection, as exemplified by the resurrection of Jesus, is presented with an increasing emphasis on the resurrection of the flesh: from the empty tomb in Mark. In Acts of the Apostles the expression ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν was used by
Christian eschatology
Christian eschatology is a major branch of study within Christian theology dealing with the "last things." Eschatology, from two Greek words meaning "last" and "study", is the study of'end things', whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, the end of the world or the nature of the Kingdom of God. Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology is the study concerned with the ultimate destiny of the individual soul and the entire created order, based upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testament. Christian eschatology looks to study and discuss matters such as death and the afterlife and Hell, the second coming Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the rapture, the tribulation, the end of the world, the Last Judgment, the New Heaven and New Earth in the world to come. Eschatological passages are found in many places in the Bible, both in the Old and the New Testaments. There are many extrabiblical examples of eschatological prophecies, as well as church traditions. Eschatology is an ancient branch of study in Christian theology, informed by Biblical texts such as the Olivet discourse, The Sheep and the Goats, other discourses of end times by Jesus, with the doctrine of the Second Coming discussed by Paul the Apostle and Ignatius of Antioch given more consideration by the Christian apologist, Justin Martyr.
Treatment of eschatology continued in the West in the teachings of Tertullian, was given fuller reflection and speculation soon after by Origen. The word was used first by the Lutheran theologian Abraham Calovius but only came into general usage in the 19th century; the growing modern interest in eschatology is tied to developments in Anglophone Christianity. Puritans in the 18th and 19th centuries were interested in a postmillennial hope which surrounded Christian conversion; this would be contrasted with the growing interest in premillennialism, advocated by dispensational figures such as J. N. Darby. Both of these strands would have significant influences on the growing interests in eschatology in Christian missions and in Christianity in West Africa and Asia. However, in the 20th century, there would be a growing number of German scholars such as Jürgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg who would be interested in eschatology. In the 1800s, a group of Christian theologians inclusive of Ellen G. White, William Miller and Joseph Bates began to study eschatological implications revealed in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation.
Their interpretation of Christian eschatology resulted in the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist church. The following approaches arose from the study of Christianity's most central eschatological document, the Book of Revelation, but the principles embodied in them can be applied to all prophecy in the Bible, they are by no means mutually exclusive and are combined to form a more complete and coherent interpretation of prophetic passages. Most interpretations fit into a combination, of these approaches; the alternate methods of prophetic interpretation and Preterism which came from Jesuit writings, were brought about to oppose the Historicism interpretation, used from Biblical times that Reformers used in teaching that the Antichrist was the Papacy or the power of the Roman Catholic Church. Preterism is a Christian eschatological view that interprets some or all prophecies of the Bible as events which have happened; this school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened from the 7th century BC until the first century AD, while seeing the prophecies of Revelation as events that happened in the first century AD.
Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Preterists and non-preterists have agreed that the Jesuit Luis de Alcasar wrote the first systematic preterist exposition of prophecy—Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi —during the Counter-Reformation. Historicism, a method of interpretation of Biblical prophecies, associates symbols with historical persons, nations or events, it can result in a view of progressive and continuous fulfillment of prophecy covering the period from Biblical times to the Second Coming. All Protestant Reformers from the Reformation into the 19th century held historicist views. In Futurism, parallels may be drawn with historical events, but most eschatological prophecies are chiefly referring to events which have not yet been fulfilled, but will take place at the end of the age and the end of the world. Most prophecies will be fulfilled during a global time of chaos known as the Great Tribulation and afterwards.
Futurist beliefs have a close association with Premillennialism and Dispensationalism. Futurist beliefs were presented in the Left Behind series. Idealism in Christian eschatology is an interpretation of the Book of Revelation that sees all of the imagery of the book as symbols. Jacob Taubes writes that idealist eschatology came about as Renaissance thinkers began to doubt that the Kingdom of Heaven had been established on earth, or would be established, but still believed in its establishment. Rather than the Kingdom of Heaven being present in society, it is established subjectively for the individual. F. D. Maurice interpreted the Kingdom of Heaven idealistically as a symbol representing society's general improvement, instead of a physical and political kingdom. Karl Barth interprets eschatology as representing existential truths t
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation called the Revelation to John, the Apocalypse of John, The Revelation, or Revelation, the Revelation of Jesus Christ or the Apocalypse, is the final book of the New Testament, therefore the final book of the Christian Bible. It occupies a central place in Christian eschatology, its title is derived from the first word of the text, written in Koine Greek: apokalypsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon; the author names himself in the text as "John", but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. Second-century Christian writers such as Justin Martyr, Melito the bishop of Sardis, Clement of Alexandria and the author of the Muratorian fragment identify John the Apostle as the "John" of Revelation. Modern scholarship takes a different view, many consider that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet; some modern scholars characterise Revelation's author as a putative figure whom they call "John of Patmos".
The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian, the evidence tends to confirm this. The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary, the apocalyptic, the prophetic, it begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, addressing a letter to the "Seven Churches of Asia". He describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Seven Headed Dragon, The Serpent and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus; the obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of Christian interpretations: historicist interpretations see in Revelation a broad view of history. The name Revelation comes from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: ἀποκάλυψις, which means "unveiling" or "revelation"; the author names himself as "John", but modern scholars consider it unlikely that the author of Revelation wrote the Gospel of John. Pope Dionysius of Alexandria set out some of the evidence for this view as early as the second half of the third century, noting that the gospel and the epistles attributed to John, unlike Revelation, do not name their author, that the Greek of the gospel is stylistically correct and elegant while that of Revelation is neither.
Tradition ascribes the authorship to John the Apostle, but it seems unlikely that the apostle could have lived into the most time for the book's composition, the reign of Domitian, the author never states that he knew Jesus. All, known is that this John was a Jewish Christian prophet belonging to a group of such prophets, was accepted as such by the congregations to whom he addresses his letter, his precise identity remains unknown, modern scholarship refers to him as "John of Patmos". The book has been written about 95 AD; the date is suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the emperor Domitian. The beast with seven heads and the number 666 seem to allude directly to the emperor Nero, but this does not require that Revelation was written in the 60s, as there was a widespread belief in decades that Nero would return. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. "Apocalypse" means the revealing of divine mysteries.
The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven individual churches are introductions to the rest of the book, addressed to all seven. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author sees himself as a Christian prophet: Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times, more than any other New Testament book; the predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the exact number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation quotes directly from the Old Testament, yet every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the references stem from Daniel, Ezekiel and Isaiah, with Daniel providing the largest number in proportion to length and Ezekiel standing out as the most influential; because these references appear as allusions rather than as quotes, it is difficult to know whether the author used the Hebrew or the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures, but he was often influenced by the Greek.
He frequently combines multiple references, again the allusional style makes it impossible to be certain to what extent he did so consciously. According to several studies including a review by Dr James Tabor and Dr J. Mass
Premillennialism
Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the earth before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. The doctrine is called "premillennialism" because it holds that Jesus' physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration of the Millennium. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1–6 in the New Testament, which describes Jesus' reign in a period of a thousand years. However, the premillennialist view is not shared by all Christians. Mainline denominations such as Eastern Orthodox and Catholic are amillennial and interpret this passage of Revelation as pertaining to the present time, when Christ reigns in Heaven with the departed saints. Amillennialists do not view the millennium mentioned in Revelation as pertaining to a literal thousand years, but rather as symbolic, see the kingdom of Christ as present in the church beginning with the Pentecost in the first book of Acts. Premillennialism is used to refer to those who adhere to the beliefs in an earthly millennial reign of Christ as well as a rapture of the faithful coming before or after the Great Tribulation preceding the Millennium.
For the last century, the belief has been common in Evangelicalism according to surveys on this topic. Amillenialists do not view the thousand years mentioned in Revelation as a literal thousand years but see the number "thousand" as symbolic and numerological. Premillenialism is distinct from the other views such as postmillennialism which views the millennial rule as occurring before the second coming; the current religious term "premillennialism" did not come into use until the mid-19th century. Coining the word was "almost the work of British and American Protestants and was prompted by their belief that the French and American Revolutions realized prophecies made in the books of Daniel and Revelation." The proponents of amillennialism interpret the millennium as being a symbolic period of time, consistent with the symbolic nature of the literary and apocalyptic genre of the Book of Revelation, sometimes indicating that the thousand years represent God's rule over his creation or the Church.
Post-millennialism, for example, agrees with premillennialism about the future earthly reign of Christ, but disagrees on the concept of a rapture and tribulation before the millennium begins. Postmillennialists hold to the view. Justin Martyr in the 2nd century was one of the first Christian writers to describe himself as continuing in the “Jewish” belief of a temporary messianic kingdom prior to the eternal state. According to Johannes Quasten, “In his eschatological ideas Justin shares the views of the Chiliasts concerning the millennium.” He maintains a premillennial distinction, namely that there would be two resurrections, one of believers before Jesus' reign and a general resurrection afterwards. Justin wrote in chapter 80 of his work Dialogue with Trypho, “I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will be built... For Isaiah spoke in that manner concerning this period of a thousand years.”
Though he conceded earlier in the same chapter that his view was not universal by saying that he “and many who belong to the pure and pious faith, are true Christians, think otherwise.” Irenaeus, the late 2nd century bishop of Lyon, was an outspoken premillennialist. He is best known for his voluminous tome written against the 2nd century Gnostic threat called Against Heresies. In the fifth book of Against Heresies, Irenaeus concentrates on eschatology. In one passage he defends premillennialism by arguing that a future earthly kingdom is necessary because of God's promise to Abraham, he wrote “The promise remains steadfast... God promised him the inheritance of the land. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Accordingly, it must be that Abraham, together with his seed, will receive it at the resurrection of the just.” In another place Irenaeus explained that the blessing to Jacob “belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom when the righteous will bear rule, after their rising from the dead.
It is the time when the creation will bear fruit with an abundance of all kinds of food, having been renovated and set free... And all of the animals will feed on the vegetation of the earth... and they will be in perfect submission to man. And these things are borne witness to in the fourth book of the writings of Papias, the hearer of John, a companion of Polycarp.” Irenaeus held to the sexta-/septamillennial scheme writing that the end of human history will occur after the 6,000th year. Irenaeus and Justin represent two of the most outspoken premillennialists of the pre-Nicean church. Other early premillennialists included Pseudo-Barnabas, Methodius, Commodianus Theophilus, Melito, Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau and various Gnostics groups and the Montanists. Many of these theologians and others in the early church expressed their belief in premillennialism through their acceptance of the sexta-septamillennial tradition; this belief claims that human history will continue for 6,000 years and will enjoy Sabbath for 1,000 years, thus all of human history will have a total of 7,000 years prior to the new creation.
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The Sheep and the Goats
The Sheep and the Goats or "the Judgment of the Nations" is a pronouncement of Jesus recorded in chapter 25 of Matthew's Gospel in the New Testament. It is sometimes characterised as a parable, although unlike most parables it does not purport to relate a story of events happening to other characters. According to Anglican theologian Charles Ellicott, "we speak of the concluding portion of this chapter as the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, but it is obvious from its beginning that it passes beyond the region of parable into that of divine realities, that the sheep and goats form only a subordinate and parenthetic illustration"; this portion concludes the section of Matthew's Gospel known as the Olivet Discourse and precedes Matthew's account of Jesus' passion and resurrection. This story and the parable of the ten virgins and the parable of the talents in the same chapter "have a common aim, as impressing on the disciples the necessity at once of watchfulness and of activity in good, but each has... a distinct scope of its own".
The text of the passage appears in Matthew's Gospel and is the final portion of a section containing a series of parables. From Matthew 25:31–46: "But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, all the holy angels with him he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, he will set the goats on the left. The King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me in. I was naked, you clothed me. I was sick, you visited me. I was in prison, you came to me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, feed you. When did we see you as a stranger, take you in; when did we see you sick, or in prison, come to you?’ “The King will answer them, ‘Most I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
This passage directly addresses, in Jesus's own words, one of the most vexed questions in Christian theology – who goes to Heaven, why. A related question is whether only orthodox Christians may be saved, or whether'virtuous pagans' may; the three main theological positions in this regard are: Justification by Works: The doctrine that one can be saved by doing good works. Justification by Faith: The doctrine that one is saved by, only by, faith; this doctrine is associated with Martin Luther and his successors. Predestination: The doctrine that God has pre-decided who will be saved and who will be damned, using criteria in principle unknowable to human beings; this doctrine is associated with Calvinism and arguably St. Augustine; this parable seems on a natural reading to support justification by works. The'sheep' are saved because of the good deeds they have done, independent of any framework of knowledge or belief, or hope of future benefit; some Calvinist theologians in particular have therefore attempted to get out from under the passage either by restricting the range of the phrase'the least of these my brethren', or denying that the passage has any literal application to the after-life.
The first option seems to be unnatural and to go against the spirit of the parable of the Good Samaritan. As associate professor of Biblical Languages at Union Presbyterian Seminary, E. Carson Brisson, says, "Let it be noted that this list of afflicted and needy individuals is, at first glance, a list of the ones who appear to be bereft of God's favor; these are ‘the least.’ These are ‘other.’" The first option does not support predestination, but at most might indicate, that unbelievers are to be judged by how well they treat believers. Believers in justification by faith may still accept that good works may function as a test or measure of belief. See James 2:14-17, which appears to indirectly reference this parable: What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
Thus faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Christian eschatology Matthew 25 Second Coming "Sheep Go to Heaven" by Cake Works of mercy Jerusalem the Emanation of the Giant Albion, plate 3
Jesus in Christianity
In Christianity, Jesus is believed to be the Son of God and the second Person of the Holy Trinity. Christians believe that through his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, God offered humans salvation and eternal life; these teachings emphasize that as the Lamb of God, Jesus chose to suffer on the cross at Calvary as a sign of his obedience to the will of God, as an "agent and servant of God". Jesus died to atone for sin to make us right with God. Jesus' choice positions him in contrast to Adam's disobedience. Christians believe that Jesus was both divine -- the Son of God. While there has been theological debate over the nature of Jesus, Trinitarian Christians believe that Jesus is the Logos, God incarnate, God the Son, "true God and true man"—both divine and human. Jesus, having become human in all respects, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin. According to the Bible, God raised him from the dead, he ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God, he will return to earth again for the Last Judgment and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.
Although Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to summarize key elements of the shared beliefs among major denominations based on their catechetical or confessional texts. Christian views of Jesus are derived from various biblical sources from the canonical Gospels and New Testament letters such as the Pauline epistles. Christians predominantly hold that these works are true; those groups or denominations committed to what are considered biblically orthodox Christianity nearly all agree that Jesus: was born of a virgin was a human being, fully God did not sin was martyred and buried in a tomb rose from the dead on the third day ascended back to God the Father will return to Earth. Some groups considered within Christianity hold beliefs considered to unorthodox. For example, believers in monophysitism reject the idea that Christ was human and God at the same time. Others, such as the Latter-day Saints, consider Christ to be in possession of a physical body after his resurrection; the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus are his baptism, crucifixion and ascension.
These are bracketed by two other episodes: his nativity at the beginning and the sending of the Paraclete at the end. The gospel accounts of the teachings of Jesus are presented in terms of specific categories involving his "works and words", e.g. his ministry and miracles. Christians not only attach theological significance to the works of Jesus, but to his name. Devotions to the name of Jesus go back to the earliest days of Christianity; these exist today both in Eastern and Western Christianity -- both Protestant. Christians predominantly profess that through Jesus' life and resurrection, he restored humanity's communion with God with the blood of the New Covenant, his death on a cross is understood as a redemptive sacrifice: the source of humanity's salvation and the atonement for sin which had entered human history through the sin of Adam. But who do you say that I am? Only Simon Peter answered him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God — Matthew 16:15-16 Jesus is mediator, but…the title means more that someone between God and man.
He is not just a third party between God and humanity…. As true God he brings God to mankind; as true man he brings mankind to God. Most Christians consider Jesus to be the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, as well as the one and only Son of God; the opening words in the Gospel of Mark, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God", provide Jesus with the two distinct attributions as Christ and as the Son of God. His divinity is again re-affirmed in Mark 1:11. Matthew 1:1 which begins by calling Jesus the Christ and in verse 16 explains it again with the affirmation: "Jesus, called Christ". In the Pauline epistles, the word "Christ" is so associated with Jesus that for the early Christians there was no need to claim that Jesus was Christ, for, considered accepted among them. Hence Paul could use the term Christos with no confusion about who it referred to, as in 1 Corinthians 4:15 and Romans 12:5 he could use expressions such as "in Christ" to refer to the followers of Jesus. In the New Testament, the title "Son of God" is applied to Jesus on many occasions.
It is used to refer to his divinity, from the beginning in the Annunciation up to the crucifixion. The declaration that Jesus is the Son of God is made by many individuals in the New Testament, on two separate occasions by God the Father as a voice from Heaven, is asserted by Jesus himself. In Christology, the concept that the Christ is the Logos has been important in establishing the doctrine of the divinity of Christ and his position as God the Son in the Trinity as set forth in the Chalcedonian Creed; this derives from the opening of the Gospel of John translated into English as: "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God." In the original Greek, Logos is used for "Word," and in theological discourse, this is left in its English transliterated form, "Logos". The pre-existence of Christ refers to the doctrine of the personal existence of Christ before his conception. One of the relevant Bible passages is John 1:1-18 where, in the Trinitarian view, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divine hypostasis called the Logos or Word.
This doctrine is reiterated in John 17:5 when Jesus refers to the glory which he had with the Father "before the world was" during the Farewell discourse. John 17:24 refers to the Father loving Jesus "before the
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