Description
According to Christian doctrine, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and the Messiah promised by God in the Old Testament (Tanakh) through the prophets (e.g., Isaiah 53:3ff.), the "anointed" of God, who redeems humanity from their sins and restores the harmony between God and humanity, which was broken as a result of the fall of the first humans in Paradise. According to the Bible, Jesus was born to save humanity from their sins. According to the Gospels, his death made reconciliation with God the Father possible by taking upon himself the punishment for humanity's sins: Jesus is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The view that Jesus reconciles humanity with God through his death on the cross is described as the doctrine of reconciliation. The Abrahamic principle of "justification by faith" thus took on new meaning: everyone who follows Jesus will be justified (rehabilitated) before God. Central to Christian theology are: the birth of Jesus, described in the New Testament (Christmas), his death on the cross (Good Friday), the resurrection from the dead (Easter), the ascension (Ascension Day), the descent of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples (Pentecost), and the return (the Second Coming). In the Christian tradition, little attention has always been paid to the actions of Jesus during his life and the teachings he proclaimed, despite the fact that a significant portion of the relevant Bible books does address this. The resurrection from the dead is taken literally by most Christians. This event occupies a crucial place in Christianity because, for them, it expresses the ultimate victory over death, and thus an open future. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul also calls the literal resurrection of Jesus the central point of the Gospel.
