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Jesus Christ

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''In brief'': Jesus of Nazareth is called by his followers "Christ Jesus" and "Jesus Christ" and believed by them to be the [[Saviour]] foretold in the sacred Hebrew Scriptures that they refer to as "The [[Old Testament]]"of the [[Bible|Holy Bible]]. The word ''title [[Christ'' ]] is derived from the Greek word "''Christos'' " (meaning ''"Anointed One''" which implies "Anointed King") that the Greek translations use in place of the Hebrew word ''for [[Messiah'']]. After him his followers are called "Christians" and their [[monotheistic]] way of religious living "Christianity" which today is comprised of several denominations (e.g. [[Roman Catholic]], [[Orthodox]], [[Anglicans]]). Jesus himself spoke of them as his "ekklesia", using the Old Testament term for the [[People of God]], a word that is reflected in the English word [[Church]].
According to the [[birth narratives]] in the [[New Testament canon|canonical]] Gospel accounts of [[Gospel according to Matthew|Matthew]] and [[Gospel according to Luke|Luke]] of the Christian [[New Testament]] Jesus had been conceived by [[Mary]] of [[Nazareth]] in [[Galilee]] by the [[Holy Spirit]], the power of the [[Holy SpiritNames of God|the Most High God]], after she had become the betrothed wife of [[Joseph (father of Jesus)|Joseph]] of the House of [[David]] but before her husband had taken her home, which is the concluding marriage rite that permits a Jewish couple to live together and have conjugal relations. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Mary and Joseph therefore never consummated their marriage. Their son was born around 4 BC whilst his parents were visiting [[Bethlehem]] in [[Judea]] to fulfil their civic duty of enrolment; and Joseph duly named him "Jesus" in obedience to the angel [[Gabriel]]'s bidding, to signify that he is the one who will [[Saviour|save]] his people from their [[sin|sins]]. After a short exile in [[Egypt]] the family eventually returned to Nazareth where he grew up. The four canonical Christian Scriptures Gospel accounts of [[Gospel according to Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel according to Mark|Mark]], [[Gospel according to Luke|Luke]] and [[Gospel according to John|John]] are silent about his adult life until [[John the Baptist]] publicly witnessed to him being the [[Lamb of God]], whereafter he unsuccessfully claimed his rightful inheritance during the incident called "The Cleansing of the Temple", proclaimed the [[Gospel|Good News]] of God's love and taught that [[repentance]] for the forgiveness of [[sins]] is to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from [[Jerusalem]]. The same Christian authoritative sources relate that, after a short public ministry, during the procuratorship of [[Pontius Pilate]], on the day before [[Passover]], he was [[crucified ]] and [[Death of Jesus|died ]] on [[Golgotha]], then just outside Jerusalem, but [[Resurrection|rose from the dead ]] on the third day and, after showing himself alive on many occasions, was [[Ascension|lifted up into Heaven ]] before the eyes of the [[Apostles]] whom he had carefully [[Teaching of Jesus|taught]] and appointed to be the [[witnesses ]] of all this.
Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is alive today. Most of them other than [[Arians]] believe that he is both [[God]] and man (i.e. that is to say, "man" in the sense of a human being) according to [[The Nature of Christ|the nature ]] and the Second Person in the Blessed [[Trinity]] that is the One God. They believe that through him the whole world and all that is in it has been created. They believe his [[Teaching of Jesus|teaching ]] that his death [[Atonement|atones ]] for the sins of all humanity, and that their belief that he is the Christ, the [[Son of God]], and being [[Baptism|baptised]] in his name will bring them to [[Eternal Life]] (cf. John 20:31).
There is a paucity of incontrovertible contemporary or near contemporary non-Christian witnesses to Jesus, yet few Christians doubt that he is a historical personage. Many modern Christian scholars argue, however, that not everything related in the four canonical Gospel accounts is historically true and consider those to be [[Fundamentalists]] who continue to support their historicity, that traditionally has been maintained by the Roman Catholic Church (most recently in [[Vatican II]]'s Apostolic Constitution on Divine Revelation [[Dei Verbum]]). Jesus of Nazareth is highly regarded by some other religions, e.g. [[Islam]].
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