Jesus Was Identified as the Messiah: The Biblical Evidence

Question one 

In the New restatement, Jesus was identified using different titles other than his name. Important to note is that all these names had meaning and significance to Christian as shall be discussed. The first title was the son of God. This was a name which many people, John included. Other than this, Jesus was also called the Messiah. This was a name which was used to mean that Jesus was the Anointed one ( Brown, 2015). This name was mostly used John in 1:41 & 4:24. The next name was light of the world. Jesus was also called the son of man, and the last name was the Holy one. These names were used in many instances in the New Testament. 

These titles had a different meaning. The name the holy one was a name used to refer to Jesus by many people. For instance, John and Peter used this name several time as they refer to Jesus Christ. This name was used to means that Jesus was Holly both in his human and divine nature. The Holy name one was used in many places in the New Statements, these include (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34) and by Peter (John 6:69). The next name was Messiah. This name was commonly used in the new testaments, and there are many instances where it was used for instance ( McGrath, 2016). When Jesus was coming to be baptized by John, he was referred to Messiah by John himself. The name Messiah was used to means that Jesus was the anointed one. This name is equivalent and can be used interchangeably by the name Christ. This was a name which Paul used several time when he was refereeing to Jesus. In Luke 4:18, Jesus went ahead and quoted that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor..." It means that he was the chosen one. The next name in light of the world. This name means that Jesus come to a world full of sin inform of darkness. He was therefore appointed to restore the light of the world, and this is where the term came to be born. According to John in John chapter eight verse twelve, Jesus came to restore the light on the world, and those who trust in him will have their eyes open to see the light. The next name is the son of God. This means that Jesus had a close relationship with God. He used to refer to God as a father. "In Mark, only the Evangelist (1:1), unclean/demonic spirits (3:11; 5:7), and a Roman centurion (15:39) directly call Jesus "Son of God," while the voice from heaven (1:11; 9:7), more demons (1:24), and the high priest (14:61) use equivalent expressions ("my beloved Son"; "Son of the Blessed One"; etc.)” are all instances where the name was used. The last one is the son of man. This name shows that apart from the divinity that Jesus possessed, he was with the people. This was used in many instances by John. An example of the situation where it was used is John 5:27 . Personally, I find the title the son of man and the light of the world meaning full to me. The two titles bring us closer to Jesus ( Scott, 2015). They unite human being and Jesus and also act as an indicator that Jesus came to help us fight our sins and remain holy to inherit the Kingdom of God. 

Question two 

Christianity in the Roman world spread rapidly. The rapid spread was not a coincidence, but it was aided by some political, cultural, social and religious factors which existed during that time in the Great Rome. Some of this factor are discussed in this article. The first factor which contributed largely to the spread of Christianity in the great Rome was cultural factors ( Sanneh, 2015). The first one is the Christian aid and charity. The root of the Biblical teaching is morality as an image of God as discussed in the Book of Genesis 1:26-27. This was the belief which the early Christians put in practice and this aided in its spread. The early Christian provided food, shelter, and clothing for the poor and others. Sharing their belongings with the poor was the slogan by then, and this was one of the significant factors which made this be known in the Roman Empire. The early Christians also had churches and hospital where the sick could receive care. The charity practices which the Christin community put into practices was instrumental since it brought a culture of communism which attracted even the non-believers. This made many people who did not believe in Christianity be converted to Christianity. The next issue is that Christianity had no segregation based on gender race or any other class of minority. In the ancient time, the culture which existed in Greek segregated people based on their race, gender and class. This kind of segregation alienated many people and made them dislike the culture. This was different from the Christianity culture where people were united under Christ. This unity under Christ attracted most people who admired the kind of culture this umbrella of Christian had. 

The next factors were the social and political factors. This too contributed maximally to the spread of Christianity. The first social and political factor was the peace which existed in the entire Rome. The Roman army and its powerful leadership ensured that the entire empire remained peaceful. There were no political disputes in the country; neither was there social issues which could have acted as an obstacle to the spread of the Gospel. The Christian could spread the word of God without any physical threat from others. This made it easy since it boosted the security of these individuals and guided them as they password of mouth from one person to next. This made them reached many people and had a significant influence on their spread. The next factors are the common language. These people spoke the same language, and this made it easy to communicate and spread Gospel. It aided in the spread of Christianity all over the Roman Empire. The next is the means of traveling which was well developed in this country. This made them penetrate many roads as they spread the word of God. Thaw next factor is the religious factors. This too aided and made it easy for the spread of Gospel in Rome. There are some religious factors which played this part ( Collar, 2013). The first is courageous martyrs. These people had deep faith in Christianity following the historical and courageous death of the early Christians. This gave them hope and urge to go on and spread the good news to more and more non-believers. The last one was the growing interest in monotheism. In the Rome, there was a culture of Polytheism. This was a situation where people believed in many gods who were different. This brought with it a lot of confusion. However, Christianity brought with it Monotheism which was a belief in one God. This made it known, and many people embraced it. In this case, the most important factor was the social factors. The peace that existed in this country, the accessibility of people through numerous road all were critical in enhancing the spread of the Christianity. 

Question three 

The term Johannine is used to refer to the gospel book of John and other epistles such as John 2, John 3 and epistle 1. "The books are called "Johannine" due to their customary relationship with the missionary John, despite the fact that they were composed secretly, and current New Testament researchers say that the writer of John's Gospel was not an onlooker to the occasions depicted." There are some reasons why this collection of books is very critical to the student who studies New Testament. The first reason is that this collection gives fine details account of Christianity of the second century ( Holladay, 2011). Note the Christianity spread faster second in the century. Note many books covered the details of this period and spread. This collection of the books covered the spread of Christianity in the second century and further, discusses the place of Johannine Christianity in the first century which was not also well covered in other books. The second reason is that this book collection is the only book which has referred to Christ Jesus as pre-existing as well as divine in addition to refereeing to him as Son of God. In other Gospels, Jesus is constantly referred to as Son of God and non-mentioned his pre-existence ( Meeks, 2017). Further, it is the only book which scholars have stated that the story published on it was not based on the eyewitness. The last impertinence of this book to the student of the new testaments is that this is the only book in the new testaments which has major the fogginess of sins rather than changing. 

References 

Brown, R. E. (2015). An introduction to the New Testament . Yale University Press. 

Collar, A. (2013). Religious networks in the Roman Empire: The spread of new ideas . Cambridge University Press. 

Holladay, C. R. (2011). A critical introduction to the New Testament: Interpreting the message and meaning of Jesus Christ . Abingdon Press. 

McGrath, A. E. (2016). Christian theology: An introduction . John Wiley & Sons. 

Meeks, W. (2017). The Prophet-King: Moses Traditions and the Johannine Christology (Vol. 5). Wipf and Stock Publishers. 

Sanneh, L. (2015). West African Christianity: the religious impact . Orbis Books. 

Scott, W. (2015). Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ . Irving Risch.