An Absurd Observation

I have recently, though I've head this said before, heard of someone make an observation which was quite absurd. This person made the observation that Jesus was not a Christian. This observation comes from a lack of understanding of who Jesus is, why he came and what it means to be a Christian. I will give several reasons to clarify why this observation is absurd.

First of all what is a Christian?
A Christian is someone who has repented of their sins and placed their faith in Jesus as Lord to save them. Through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross a Christian is forgiven of their sins. They have a personal relationship with God.

Who is Jesus?
Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. He is not a God/man hybrid. He is completely both. God is three in one. (I blog about that here) The three in one God consists of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is God the son. Jesus is also called the Son of God. This is true because he was born of a virgin and had no human father. Like wise He often calls himself the Son of Man due to his humanity and human mother. God the father, through the Holy Spirit, conceived the baby Jesus. However, this was not the beginning of His existence. He is God, so Jesus existed before his birth as a man.

scripure:
John 1:1-5,14 ESV
¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it... ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.


Why did Jesus come? This one is simple. Jesus came to save that which was lost. That is, he came to save us. Who is lost? Everyone who does not know Jesus.

Scripture:
Luke 19:10 ESV
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost

Romans 3:23 ESV
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

This observation is usually made because Jesus observed old testament law and commandments. So it is often argued that Jesus was a Jew (by faith, not heritage). To accomplish his goal to save that which is lost Jesus had to become our substitution. Not only was his death on the cross our substitution to pay the sin debt we can not afford to pay ourselves(See "Why is Hell Forever?"), His life was also a substitution for our own sinful lives.
Jesus had NO sin.
(scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.)
This means he observed God's laws and commandments to the letter. When God looks at a Christian he sees no sin because of this, He just sees the perfect life of Christ. This is why Jesus observed God's laws and commandments. He came not only to die in our place, but to fulfill the law perfectly in our place, two things we can not do. So yes, Jesus DID practice what we would call Judaism.

So, because Jesus is God and not just a man who started a "religion" based on some new ideas, and has no sin, and has no need for salvation he has no need to BE a Christian. This makes the observation that Jesus was not a Christian rather absurd.

However, you are not Jesus. You do sin. You do have a need for the loving, open arms of Jesus. They are open for you always.