Jesus in Christianity

==Incarnation, Nativity and Second Adam==
{{Main|Incarnation (Christianity)|Nativity of Jesus|Second Adam}}
[[File:Geertgen tot Sint Jans, The Nativity at Night, c 1490.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Nativity at Night]]'', by [[Geertgen tot Sint Jans]], {{Circa|1490}}]]{{blockquote|''He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible''. — [[s:Bible (American Standard)/Colossians#1:15|Colossians 1:15-16]]}}

The above verse from Colossians regards the birth of Jesus as the model for all creation.<ref>Bromiley, Geoffrey W. ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'', 1988. {{ISBN|0-8028-3785-9}}</ref><ref>Espín, Orlando O. and James B. Nickoloff.''An introductory dictionary of theology and religious studies'', 2007. {{ISBN|0-8146-5856-3}}, p. 238</ref><ref>Mills, Watson E. and Roger Aubrey Bullard. ''Mercer dictionary of the Bible'', 1998. {{ISBN|0-86554-373-9}}. p. 712</ref><ref>Ryrie, Charles C. ''Basic Theology:'', 1999. {{ISBN|0-8024-2734-0}}.  p. 275</ref>

[[Paul the Apostle]] viewed the birth of Jesus as an event of cosmic significance which brought forth a "new man" who undid the damage caused by the fall of the first man, Adam. Just as the [[Gospel of John|Johannine]] view of Jesus as the incarnate Logos proclaims the universal relevance of his birth, the Pauline perspective emphasizes the birth of a new man and a new world in the birth of Jesus.<ref name=Pannenberg /> Paul's [[eschatology|eschatological]] view of Jesus counter-positions him as a new man of morality and obedience, in contrast to Adam. Unlike Adam, the new man born in Jesus obeys God and ushers in a world of morality and salvation.<ref name="Pannenberg"/>

In the Pauline view, Adam is positioned as the first man and Jesus as the second: Adam, having corrupted himself by his disobedience, also infected humanity and left it with a curse as its inheritance. The birth of Jesus counterbalanced the fall of Adam, bringing forth redemption and repairing the damage done by Adam.<ref name=Daille >Daille, Jean. ''An exposition of the epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians'', 1995. {{ISBN|0-8028-2511-7}}. pp. 194-195</ref>

In the 2nd century Church Father [[Irenaeus]] writes:
<blockquote>
"When He became incarnate and was made man, He commenced afresh the long line of human beings, and furnished us, in a brief, comprehensive manner, with salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam—namely to be according to the image and likeness of God- that we might recover in Christ Jesus."<ref name=Bethune >Bethune-Baker, James Franklin. ''An introduction to the early history of Christian doctrine'', 2005. {{ISBN|1-4021-5770-3}}. p. 334</ref><ref name=Williston >Walker, Williston. ''A History of the Christian Church'', 2010. {{ISBN|1-4400-4446-5}}. pp. 65-66</ref>
</blockquote>

In [[patristic]] theology, Paul's contrasting of Jesus as the new man versus Adam provided a framework for discussing the uniqueness of the birth of Jesus and the ensuing events of his life. The nativity of Jesus thus began to serve as the starting point for "cosmic Christology" in which the birth, life and Resurrection of Jesus have universal implications.<ref name=Pannenberg /><ref>Grillmeier, John Bowden. ''Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon''. Aloys, 1975. {{ISBN|0-664-22301-X}}. pp. 15-19</ref><ref>Helyer, Larry R.  ''The Witness of Jesus, Paul and John: An Exploration in Biblical Theology'', 2008. {{ISBN|0-8308-2888-5}} p. 282</ref> The concept of Jesus as the "new man" repeats in the cycle of birth and rebirth of Jesus from his nativity to his Resurrection: following his birth, through his morality and obedience to the Father, Jesus began a "new harmony" in the relationship between God the Father and man. The nativity and Resurrection of Jesus thus created the author and exemplar of a new humanity.<ref>Rahner, Karl. ''Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi'', 2004. {{ISBN|0-86012-006-6}}. pp. 474 and 1434</ref> In this view, the birth, death and Resurrection of Jesus brought about salvation, undoing the damage of Adam.<ref>Burke, Raymond L.; et al. (2008). ''Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons''. {{ISBN|978-1-57918-355-4}}. pp.  613-614</ref>

As the [[genealogy of Jesus|biological son of David]], Jesus would be of the [[Who is a Jew?|Jewish race, ethnicity, nation, and culture]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/1:6 |title=Matthew 1:6 Matthew 1:6 |access-date=2019-06-29 |archive-date=2019-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202212520/http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/1:6 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/3:31 |title=Luke 3:31 |access-date=2019-06-29 |archive-date=2019-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202213800/http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/3:31 |url-status=live }}</ref> One argument against this would be a contradiction in Jesus' genealogies: Matthew saying he is the son of [[Solomon]] and Luke saying he is the son of [[Nathan (son of David)|Nathan]]—Solomon and Nathan being brothers. [[John of Damascus]] taught that there is no contradiction, for Nathan wed Solomon's wife after Solomon died in accordance with scripture, namely, [[yibbum]] (the [[mitzvah]] that a man must marry his brother's childless widow).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OToIDAAAQBAJ&dq=One+ought+also+to+observe+this%2C+that+the+law+was+that+when+a+man+died+without+seed%2C+this+man%27s+brother+should+take+to+wife+the+wife+of+the+dead+man+and+raise+up+seed+to+his+brother&pg=PT163 |title=Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, chapter XIII |access-date=2019-06-29 |archive-date=2022-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123125100/https://books.google.com/books?id=OToIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT163&lpg=PT163&dq=One+ought+also+to+observe+this,+that+the+law+was+that+when+a+man+died+without+seed,+this+man%27s+brother+should+take+to+wife+the+wife+of+the+dead+man+and+raise+up+seed+to+his+brother&source=bl&ots=EfMhh8epRo&sig=ACfU3U2Y9_c4NOWlXFK9bmTzBGFj4BlKxQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4gaqLr53gAhXo8YMKHQzmAycQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=One%20ought%20also%20to%20observe%20this%2C%20that%20the%20law%20was%20that%20when%20a%20man%20died%20without%20seed%2C%20this%20man's%20brother%20should%20take%20to%20wife%20the%20wife%20of%20the%20dead%20man%20and%20raise%20up%20seed%20to%20his%20brother&f=false |url-status=live |last1=Damascus |first1=Saint John of |publisher=Aeterna Press }}</ref>

Jesus grew up in Galilee and much of his ministry took place there.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Joel B. |last1=Green |first2=Scot |last2=McKnight |first3=I. Howard |last3=Marshall |author-link1=Joel B. Green |author-link2=Scot McKnight |author-link3=I. Howard Marshall |title=Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ntwNm-tOogC |publisher=InterVarsity Press |year=1992 |page=442 |isbn=978-0-8308-1777-1}}</ref> The languages spoken in Galilee and Judea during the 1st century AD include [[Jewish Palestinian Aramaic]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and [[Koine Greek|Greek]], with Aramaic being predominant.<ref name="BarrLang">{{cite journal|first=James|last= Barr|title=Which language did Jesus speak| journal=Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester|year= 1970|volume= 53|issue=1| pages= 9–29 |url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:1m2973|doi= 10.7227/BJRL.53.1.2}}</ref><ref name="Porter110">{{cite book|title=Handbook to exegesis of the New Testament|url=https://archive.org/details/handbooktoexeges00port|url-access=limited|first=Stanley E.|last= Porter|year= 1997| isbn= 978-90-04-09921-0 |publisher=Brill |pages= [https://archive.org/details/handbooktoexeges00port/page/n124 110]–12}}</ref> There is substantial consensus that Jesus gave most of his teachings in Aramaic<ref>{{cite book |first=James D.G. |last=Dunn |author-link=James Dunn (theologian) |title=Jesus Remembered |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8028-3931-2 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4qpnvoautgC |pages=313–315}}</ref> in the [[Galilean dialect]].<ref name="Allen C. Myers">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary|title=Aramaic|quote=It is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Israel in the first century AD. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean dialect, which was distinguished from that of Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73).|page=72|isbn=0-8028-2402-1|editor=Allen C. Myers|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|publisher=William B. Eerdmans|year=1987}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32043/Aramaic-language|title=Aramaic language|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

The canonical gospels describe Jesus wearing [[tzitzit]] – the tassels on a [[tallit]] – in {{bibleverse|Matthew|14:36|KJV}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/bible/mt/14:36 |title=Matthew 14:46 |access-date=2019-06-29 |archive-date=2020-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801152744/http://www.usccb.org/bible/mt/14:36 |url-status=live }}</ref> and {{bibleverse|Luke|8:43-44|KJV}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/8:43 |title=Luke 8:43-44 |access-date=2019-06-29 |archive-date=2020-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801140935/http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/8:43 |url-status=live }}</ref> Besides this, the New Testament includes no descriptions of Jesus' appearance before his death and the gospel narratives are generally indifferent to people's racial appearance or features.<ref>Robin M. Jensen "Jesus in Christian art", Chapter 29 of ''The Blackwell Companion to Jesus'' edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 {{ISBN|1-4051-9362-X}} page 477-502</ref><ref>''The likeness of the king: a prehistory of portraiture in late medieval France'' by Stephen Perkinson 2009 {{ISBN|0-226-65879-1}} page 30</ref><ref name="Kidd">{{cite book |author=Colin Kidd |year=2006 |title=The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600–2000 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=978-0-521-79324-7}}</ref>{{rp|48–51}}