RS3Christianity: Jesus Christ and Salvation

• Incarnation means ‘in flesh’ or ‘becoming flesh’: the belief that God became human in Jesus.
• Christians believe Jesus was fully God and fully human at the same time: not half and half, and not God pretending to be human.
• John’s Gospel says: “The Word became flesh and lived amongst us” (John 1:14, World English Bible, British Edition).
• The virgin birth: Matthew and Luke describe Jesus being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, with Mary his mother still a virgin. The angel tells Mary that her child “will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Paul writes that Christ “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” and became human (Philippians 2:7, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Why it matters: in Jesus, Christians believe they can see what God is like (“He who has seen me has seen the Father”, John 14:9); God understands human life and suffering from the inside; and the Incarnation is the first step in God’s plan of salvation.
• Christians celebrate the Incarnation at Christmas.

Incarnation

Literally ‘in flesh’: the belief that God took human form in Jesus.

Virgin birth

The belief that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, without a human father.

• Son of God is a title showing Jesus’ unique relationship with God the Father. Christians believe he is the second Person of the Trinity.
• At Jesus’ baptism a voice from heaven calls him God’s beloved Son (Matthew 3:17).
• The disciple Thomas, seeing the risen Jesus, says: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Christ means ‘anointed one’ (Greek); the Hebrew equivalent is Messiah. Christians believe Jesus is the leader God promised the Jewish people.
• Christians point to his teaching with authority, his miracles, his forgiving of sins and his resurrection as signs of who he is.
• Influence: Christians worship Jesus, pray in his name, follow his teaching and example, and see him as the way to know God.

Son of God

A title for Jesus showing his special relationship with God; the second Person of the Trinity.

Christ (Messiah)

‘Anointed one’: the leader promised by God, whom Christians believe Jesus to be.

• Jesus was arrested, tried and sentenced to death by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, a Roman form of execution, on the day Christians call Good Friday.
• Words from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34); to a criminal crucified with him, “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43); “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34); “It is finished!” (John 19:30). All World English Bible, British Edition.
• What Christians believe it means: Jesus died willingly as a sacrifice for the sins of the world; it shows the depth of God’s love (Romans 5:8); and God shares in human suffering.
• Influence: Christians try to forgive others as Jesus forgave; the cross is the central Christian symbol; the Eucharist remembers his death; it gives comfort in suffering; and Good Friday is kept as a solemn day.

From the Incarnation to Pentecost

Crucifixion

The death of Jesus on a cross; a form of the death penalty used by the Romans.

Good Friday

The day Christians remember Jesus’ crucifixion.

• Christians believe God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after the crucifixion. They celebrate it on Easter Sunday.
• The empty tomb: women who came to the tomb are told, “He isn’t here, but is risen” (Luke 24:6, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Appearances: Paul lists people the risen Jesus appeared to, including Peter, the Twelve and more than five hundred at once (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
• What it means: God’s power over sin and death; proof to Christians that Jesus is the Son of God; the promise that believers will also be raised to eternal life.
• Paul writes that if Christ has not been raised, Christian faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14).
• Different views: most Christians believe Jesus rose bodily, in a transformed body; some liberal Christians understand it more as a spiritual reality experienced by the disciples.
• Influence: hope at death; joy at Easter; courage to face suffering; the reason many Christians worship on Sunday.

Resurrection

Being raised from the dead; the event on the third day after the crucifixion when Christians believe God raised Jesus to life.

• For forty days after the resurrection, the risen Jesus appeared to his followers and taught them about God’s Kingdom (Acts 1:3).
• The Ascension: Jesus was then taken up into heaven. Acts says “he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Two men in white tell the disciples that Jesus “will come back in the same way” (Acts 1:11): the basis of belief in the Second Coming.
• What it means: Jesus returned to the Father in glory; the creeds say he is seated at the right hand of the Father; his work on earth was complete; and he would send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7).
• Pentecost: ten days later, the Holy Spirit came on the disciples like wind and tongues of fire, and they began to preach in other languages (Acts 2:1-4).
• The Holy Spirit today: Christians believe the Spirit guides, comforts and strengthens them, and produces the ‘fruit of the Spirit’: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23; some translations say ‘faithfulness’).
• Influence: confidence that Jesus is with God and prays for them; hope that he will return; courage to share their faith (evangelism), as the disciples did at Pentecost.

Ascension

Going or being taken up: the event 40 days after the resurrection when Jesus returned to heaven.

Pentecost

The coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, 50 days after Easter; often called the birthday of the Church.

• Sin: any thought or action that goes against God’s will or laws, such as lying, greed or cruelty. Paul writes that “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Sin damages people’s relationship with God and with each other. Paul says “the wages of sin is death”, but eternal life is God’s free gift (Romans 6:23).
• Original sin: the belief that all humans are born with a tendency to sin. It is traced to Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3).
• Paul writes: “sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12, World English Bible, British Edition). Augustine developed the idea that the whole human race inherits this flaw.
• Different views: Catholics and many Protestants teach original sin, and Catholics believe baptism washes it away. Orthodox Christians teach that humans inherit the effects of Adam’s sin (death and a weakened nature), but not its guilt. Many Christians read Genesis 3 as a symbolic story about human nature.
• Free will: Christians believe God gave humans the freedom to choose, so they are responsible for their sins.
• Influence: infant baptism; confession and asking forgiveness; humility; the need for God’s help to live well.

Sin

Behaviour that goes against God’s laws and wishes.

Original sin

The belief that human nature is flawed and all people have a tendency to sin, traditionally traced to Adam and Eve’s disobedience in Genesis 3.

• Salvation: being saved from sin and its consequences, and being restored to a right relationship with God, leading to eternal life.
• Law: God’s commands, such as the Ten Commandments, and Jesus’ teaching (e.g. the Sermon on the Mount). Jesus said he came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it (Matthew 5:17). Living by God’s law shows love for God, but Christians believe no one keeps it perfectly.
• Grace: God’s free, undeserved love. Paul writes: “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works” (Ephesians 2:8-9, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Spirit: the Holy Spirit helps believers turn from sin and grow in goodness. Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be “born anew” to see God’s Kingdom (John 3:3).
• Most Christians believe salvation begins with God’s grace, is received through faith, and is lived out by keeping God’s law with the help of the Spirit.

Three ways Christians speak of being saved

Salvation

Being saved from sin and its consequences, and given eternal life with God.

Law

Rules or commands that must be followed; Christians believe God’s law is revealed in the Bible.

Grace

The free, generous love God shows to people who don’t deserve it.

• James writes: “faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself” (James 2:17, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Jesus warned that not everyone who calls him ‘Lord’ will enter the Kingdom, but those who do God’s will (Matthew 7:21).
• In practice most Christians agree that real faith shows itself in a changed life; they differ on which comes first and what saves.

Faith

Trust in God and in Jesus.

Sola fide

Latin, ‘by faith alone’: the Protestant teaching that people are saved through faith, not by good works.

• Atonement means making amends for a wrong, or ‘at-one-ment’: reconciling humans and God. Christians believe Jesus’ death and resurrection mend the relationship broken by sin.
• Sacrifice: John the Baptist calls Jesus “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, World English Bible, British Edition), linking his death to the lambs sacrificed in the Temple and at Passover.
• Ransom: Jesus said he came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, World English Bible, British Edition), paying the price to set people free.
• Substitution: Jesus took the punishment for sin in humanity’s place. 1 John calls him “the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:2, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Example: Jesus’ self-giving love shows people how to live and draws them back to God.
• Victory: by rising from the dead, Jesus defeated sin and death.
• Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me” (John 14:6, World English Bible, British Edition). Christians see him as Saviour and Redeemer.

Atonement: restoring the relationship between humans and God

Atonement

Making amends for a wrong; the belief that Jesus’ death reconciled humanity and God.

Reconciliation

Restoring a broken relationship.

Redeemer

One who sets people free by paying a price; a title for Jesus.

For a 4-mark influence question, give the belief and what Christians think, feel or do because of it.

• Use a linking word: ‘Christians believe… so they…’, ‘this means that…’.