Jesus Christ True God and True Man

The Catholic faith is centered on Jesus Christ. Everything we believe has been revealed
in him or through him. Many people have devoted their entire life to studying Jesus and all he
means. The Gospel of John puts it this way: “But there are also many other things that Jesus
did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain
the books that would be written” (21:25).
In this module we look at some basic things the Church teaches about Jesus. We
investigate what kind of literature the Gospels are and why we have four Gospels instead of just
one. We look at some of the titles used to describe Jesus, to see what they can teach us about
him. And we learn about the Incarnation, the belief that Jesus is both true God and true man.
The Gospels: Faith Portraits of Jesus
Let’s be perfectly clear; the best way to learn
about Jesus is to spend time reading the Gospels
yourself. The Catholic Church strongly encourages its
members to read the Bible—particularly the Gospels.
Saint Jerome once said: “Ignorance of Scripture is
ignorance of Christ.” The Gospels are the written
accounts of Jesus’ life that were inspired by the Holy
Spirit. Reading them is an important way for us to
personally meet Jesus and to understand his message
and his life. This section explains what the Gospels
are and what to look for when you read them.
People have some common misconceptions
about the four Gospels. Some people think they were
written soon after Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection.
They were not. The first Gospel, the Gospel of Mark,
was probably written thirty to forty years after Jesus
Christ’s death and Resurrection. The last Gospel to be
written, the Gospel of John, was probably written
sixty or seventy years after Jesus’ death and
Resurrection.
Some people think the Gospels are simple
biographies of Jesus’ life and are historically accurate
in every detail. But by comparing the same stories in
different Gospels, we can see that this is also a
mistaken belief. For example, Jesus’ cleansing of the
Temple takes place toward the end of the Gospel of
Matthew (see 21:12–17), but it happens at the beginning of the Gospel of John (see 2:13–16).
Here’s another famous example: in Matthew Jesus delivers his first great speech from a
mountain (see 5:1), but in Luke Jesus delivers the same speech from a plain (see 6:17).
These differences may surprise you. But remember that God reveals in the Bible what
we need to know for our salvation. Historical, geographical, or even scientific accuracy isn’t
necessary for our salvation. Let’s examine this from another perspective. Have you ever
wondered why there are four Gospels instead of just one? It isn’t because each Gospel covers a
different aspect of Jesus’ life. In fact, almost all the Gospel of Mark is repeated in Matthew and
Luke.
The reason we have four Gospels is because the four authors, also called evangelists,
were members of different communities, facing different concerns and challenges. The Holy
Spirit guided these communities in understanding and applying the stories and teachings about
Scripture Connection
The Gospel of Mark
If you have never done so,
consider reading one of the
Gospels from beginning to end.
You might start with the Gospel
of Mark. It is short and filled
with action. You can read it in a
couple of hours. Before you
start, ask the Holy Spirit to be
with you. When you have
finished, spend some time
quietly meditating on what you
have read. Reading a Gospel like
this makes us face some
questions: Do I believe that what
I have just read is true? Is Jesus
really the Son of God, the Savior of
the world? Your relationship with
Jesus will be determined by your
answers to these questions!2
Jesus to
their situations. So sometimes they used the same stories, but told them
in slightly
different
ways to
emphasize a religious truth revealed
in Jesus’ life
and teaching
that was
needed for their
community. For example, Matthew’s
Gospel was
probably written
for a
community with a
lot of Jewish converts to Christianity.
So the author emphasizes how
Jesus
was the fulfillment
of the expectations and prophecies of
the Jewish Scripture (which Christians
call the Old Testament). Thus in Matthew Jesus delivers his first great speech—the message of
the New Covenant—from a mountain. Because in
Exodus 19:16–25, God communicated the Old
Covenant from a mountain, the Jewish people
Matthew was addressing would immediately
understand that Jesus was much like Moses, offering a new covenant to them.
The Gospels are faith portraits of Jesus, not historical biographies. When they wrote the
Gospels, the authors told their stories about Jesus in a way that emphasized the religious truths
their communities had learned through the Holy Spirit. Because of this, we need all four Gospels
to understand the whole truth
about
Jesus. But don’t worry about getting confused about the
essentials. The religious truths
found
in the four Gospels never contradict one another—even if
the historical details don’t always match.