Bible Study 1: Who is Jesus Christ?
Optional: Getting to know each other (Since this is the first Bible study with your group, you may do one activity to deepen knowledge of each other if the previous day’s acquaintance game(s) and the morning devotion time had not achieved the desired level of familiarity among your members.)
Consider this:
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was 30. Then for three years, He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place He was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only 33 when public opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. When He was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had. . . on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that One Solitary Life. Do you know who He Is?
(Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons,” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia, pp. 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!” in http://www.holybible.com/resources/poems/ps.php?sid=47).
What do you know about Jesus Christ?
In Matthew 16:13-16, Jesus asked His disciples two questions. What was the first question that He asked? (Matthew 16:13)
What answer did His disciples give Him? (Matthew 16:14)
Many people throughout the ages - scholars, historians, philosophers, and famous leaders - have said much about Jesus Christ (http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/jesus-christ.htm). What do these people say about Christ?
I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. –Napoleon
No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshiped; no other man has been so devoutly loved. --John Knox
Even those who have renounced Christianity and attacked it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardour of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old. --Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A Man who was completely innocent, offered Himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including His enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. --Mahatma Gandhi
Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, He shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of school, He spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, He set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times. –Philip Schaff
I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.--H.G. Wells
As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. -- Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette
Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity. –Unknown
I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden." –Augustine
Buddha never claimed to be God. Moses never claimed to be Jehovah. Mohammed never claimed to be Allah. Yet Jesus Christ claimed to be the true and living God. Buddha simply said, "I am a teacher in search of the truth." Jesus said, "I am the truth." Confucius said, "I never claimed to be holy." Jesus said, "Who convicts me of sin?" Mohammed said, "Unless God throws His cloak of mercy over me, I have no hope." Jesus said, "Unless you believe in Me, you will die in your sins." –Unknown
Fundamentally, our Lord's message was Himself. He did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He Himself is that Gospel. He did not come merely to give bread; He said, "I am the bread." He did not come merely to shed light; He said, "I am the Light." He did not come merely to show the door; He said, "I am the door." He did not come merely to name a shepherd; He said, "I am the shepherd." He did not come merely to point the way; He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." --J. Sidlow Baxter
Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair. --Blaise Pascal
As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. --Albert Einstein
Jesus was the greatest religious genius that ever lived. -- Ernest Renan
In summary, who is Jesus Christ according to what these people said about Him?
What was the second question that Jesus asked His disciples? (Matthew 16:15)
According to Simon Peter, who is Jesus Christ? (Matthew 16:16)
We have considered what others have said about Jesus Christ. How about you? How would you respond to Jesus’ question: “But you? Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:16)
