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88-404: Jesus ( c.  4 BC  – AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet. Jesus may also refer to: Jesus Jesus ( c.  6 to 4 BC  – AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ , Jesus of Nazareth , and many other names and titles ,

176-507: A companion of Paul mentioned in a few epistles; and John by another of Jesus's disciples, the " beloved disciple ". According to the Marcan priority , the first to be written was the Gospel of Mark (written AD 60–75), followed by the Gospel of Matthew (AD 65–85), the Gospel of Luke (AD 65–95), and the Gospel of John (AD 75–100). Most scholars agree that the authors of Matthew and Luke used Mark as

264-487: A dual paternity, since there it is stated he descended from the seed or loins of David. By taking him as his own , Joseph will give him the necessary Davidic descent. Some scholars suggest that Jesus had Levite heritage from Mary, based on her blood relationship with Elizabeth . In Matthew, Joseph is troubled because Mary, his betrothed, is pregnant, but in the first of Joseph's four dreams an angel assures him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife because her child

352-589: A follower of Christ) has been in use since the 1st century. The four canonical gospels ( Matthew , Mark , Luke , and John ) are the foremost sources for the life and message of Jesus. But other parts of the New Testament also include references to key episodes in his life, such as the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 :23–26. Acts of the Apostles refers to Jesus's early ministry and its anticipation by John

440-549: A four-way division, including pleasant and punishing abodes near heaven and hell to hold souls until judgment day. The idea of Purgatory as a physical place was "born" in the late 11th century . Medieval Catholic theologians concluded that the purgatorial punishments consisted of material fire. The Catholic Church believes that the living can help those whose purification from their sins is not yet completed not only by praying for them but also by gaining indulgences for them as an act of intercession . All Souls' Day commemorates

528-498: A source for their gospels. Since Matthew and Luke also share some content not found in Mark, many scholars assume that they used another source (commonly called the " Q source ") in addition to Mark. One important aspect of the study of the Gospels is the literary genre under which they fall. Genre "is a key convention guiding both the composition and the interpretation of writings". Whether

616-507: A successful ministry, and the second shows Jesus rejected and killed when he travels to Jerusalem. Often referred to as " rabbi ", Jesus preaches his message orally. Notably, Jesus forbids those who recognize him as the messiah to speak of it, including people he heals and demons he exorcises (see Messianic Secret ). John depicts Jesus's ministry as largely taking place in and around Jerusalem, rather than in Galilee; and Jesus's divine identity

704-668: A teaching which may have influenced Jesus' parable of Lazarus and Dives . In the Septuagint and New Testament the authors used the Greek term Hades for the Hebrew Sheol , but often with Jewish rather than Greek concepts in mind, so that, for example, there is no activity in Hades in Ecclesiastes. An exception to traditional Jewish views of Sheol, Hades is found in the Gospel of Luke parable of

792-493: A town in Galilee in present-day Israel , where he lived with his family. Although Joseph appears in descriptions of Jesus's childhood, no mention is made of him thereafter. His other family members, including his mother, Mary , his four brothers James , Joses (or Joseph) , Judas , and Simon , and his unnamed sisters, are mentioned in the Gospels and other sources. Jesus's maternal grandparents are named Joachim and Anne in

880-448: Is a rendering of Joshua (Hebrew Yehoshua , later Yeshua ), and was not uncommon in Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus. Popular etymology linked the names Yehoshua and Yeshua to the verb meaning "save" and the noun "salvation". The Gospel of Matthew tells of an angel that appeared to Joseph instructing him "to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins". Since

968-582: Is an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth . It is a concept which arose soon after the Buddha's passing, with a number of earlier Buddhist groups accepting the existence of such an intermediate state, while other schools rejected it. In Tibetan Buddhism , bardo is the central theme of the Bardo Thodol (literally Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State ),

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1056-837: Is crazy . Jesus responds that his followers are his true family. In the Gospel of John, Jesus and his mother attend a wedding at Cana , where he performs his first miracle at her request. Later, she follows him to his crucifixion, and he expresses concern over her well-being. Jesus is called a τέκτων ( tektōn ) in Mark 6:3 , a term traditionally understood as carpenter but could also refer to makers of objects in various materials, including builders. The Gospels indicate that Jesus could read, paraphrase, and debate scripture, but this does not necessarily mean that he received formal scribal training. The Gospel of Luke reports two journeys of Jesus and his parents in Jerusalem during his childhood. They come to

1144-480: Is described as both imminent and already present in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus promises inclusion in the Kingdom for those who accept his message. He talks of the " Son of man ", an apocalyptic figure who will come to gather the chosen. Jesus calls people to repent their sins and to devote themselves completely to God. He tells his followers to adhere to Jewish law , although he is perceived by some to have broken

1232-504: Is determined at death. Such prayer came to be restricted to souls in Purgatory , which idea has "ancient roots" and is demonstrated in early Church writings. The Roman Catholic Church offers indulgences for those in purgatory, which evolved out of the earlier practice of canonical remissions. Others, such as Lutherans and Anglicans, affirmed prayer for the dead. Nonconformist Protestants, such as Baptists, largely ceased praying for

1320-513: Is impossible to find any direct literary relationship between the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. While the flow of many events (e.g., Jesus's baptism, transfiguration , crucifixion and interactions with his apostles ) are shared among the Synoptic Gospels, incidents such as the transfiguration and Jesus's exorcising demons do not appear in John, which also differs on other matters, such as

1408-545: Is openly proclaimed and immediately recognized. Scholars divide the ministry of Jesus into several stages. The Galilean ministry begins when Jesus returns to Galilee from the Judaean Desert after rebuffing the temptation of Satan . Jesus preaches around Galilee, and in Matthew 4:18–20 , his first disciples , who will eventually form the core of the early Church, encounter him and begin to travel with him. This period includes

1496-532: The Apocryphon of James , and many other apocryphal writings . Most scholars conclude that these were written much later and are less reliable accounts than the canonical gospels. The canonical gospels are four accounts, each by a different author. The authors of the Gospels are pseudonymous, attributed by tradition to the four evangelists , each with close ties to Jesus: Mark by John Mark , an associate of Peter ; Matthew by one of Jesus's disciples; Luke by

1584-551: The Cleansing of the Temple . The Synoptics emphasize different aspects of Jesus. In Mark, Jesus is the Son of God whose mighty works demonstrate the presence of God's Kingdom . He is a tireless wonder worker, the servant of both God and man. This short gospel records a few of Jesus's words or teachings. The Gospel of Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the fulfilment of God's will as revealed in

1672-607: The Gospel of James . The Gospel of Luke records that Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Extra-biblical contemporary sources consider Jesus and John the Baptist to be second cousins through the belief that Elizabeth was the daughter of Sobe , the sister of Anne. The Gospel of Mark reports that at the beginning of his ministry , Jesus comes into conflict with his neighbours and family. Jesus's mother and brothers come to get him because people are saying that he

1760-520: The Gospels , especially the four canonical Gospels in the New Testament . Academic research has yielded various views on the historical reliability of the Gospels and how closely they reflect the historical Jesus . Jesus was circumcised at eight days old, was baptized by John the Baptist as a young adult, and after 40 days and nights of fasting in the wilderness, began his own ministry . He

1848-456: The Jordan River and the temptations he suffered while spending forty days in the Judaean Desert , as a preparation for his public ministry . The accounts of Jesus's baptism are all preceded by information about John the Baptist . They show John preaching penance and repentance for the remission of sins and encouraging the giving of alms to the poor as he baptizes people in the area of

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1936-489: The Roman government, and crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate , the Roman prefect of Judaea . After his death, his followers became convinced that he rose from the dead , and following his ascension, the community they formed eventually became the early Christian Church that expanded as a worldwide movement . It is hypothesized that accounts of his teachings and life were initially conserved by oral transmission , which

2024-927: The Sea of Galilee along the Jordan River . The final ministry in Jerusalem begins with Jesus's triumphal entry into the city on Palm Sunday . In the Synoptic Gospels, during that week Jesus drives the money changers from the Second Temple and Judas bargains to betray him. This period culminates in the Last Supper and the Farewell Discourse . Near the beginning of his ministry, Jesus appoints twelve apostles . In Matthew and Mark, despite Jesus only briefly requesting that they join him, Jesus's first four apostles, who were fishermen, are described as immediately consenting, and abandoning their nets and boats to do so. In John, Jesus's first two apostles were disciples of John

2112-660: The Sermon on the Mount , one of Jesus's major discourses, as well as the calming of the storm , the feeding of the 5,000 , walking on water and a number of other miracles and parables . It ends with the Confession of Peter and the Transfiguration. As Jesus travels towards Jerusalem, in the Perean ministry, he returns to the area where he was baptized, about a third of the way down from

2200-621: The Temple in Jerusalem for the presentation of Jesus as a baby in accordance with Jewish Law, where a man named Simeon prophesies about Jesus and Mary. When Jesus, at the age of twelve, goes missing on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover , his parents find him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions, and the people are amazed at his understanding and answers. Mary scolds Jesus for going missing, to which Jesus replies that he must "be in his father's house". The synoptic gospels describe Jesus's baptism in

2288-408: The earth for 40 days after the death. When the ties aren't released after 40 days, the body is said to jump out from the grave to warn people that the soul need the bonds to be released. Because of the tie under the feet, the ghost can't walk. This causes the pocong to hop. After the ties are released, the soul will leave the earth and never show up anymore. In some schools of Buddhism , bardo

2376-496: The Baptist . Acts 1:1–11 says more about the Ascension of Jesus than the canonical gospels do. In the undisputed Pauline letters , which were written earlier than the Gospels, Jesus's words or instructions are cited several times. Some early Christian groups had separate descriptions of Jesus's life and teachings that are not in the New Testament. These include the Gospel of Thomas , Gospel of Peter , and Gospel of Judas ,

2464-559: The Baptist testifies that he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus. John publicly proclaims Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God , and some of John's followers become disciples of Jesus. Before John is imprisoned, Jesus leads his followers to baptize disciples as well, and they baptize more people than John. The Synoptics depict two distinct geographical settings in Jesus's ministry. The first takes place north of Judea , in Galilee, where Jesus conducts

2552-616: The Baptist. The Baptist sees Jesus and calls him the Lamb of God; the two hear this and follow Jesus. In addition to the Twelve Apostles, the opening of the passage of the Sermon on the Plain identifies a much larger group of people as disciples. Also, in Luke 10:1–16 Jesus sends 70 or 72 of his followers in pairs to prepare towns for his prospective visit. They are instructed to accept hospitality, heal

2640-499: The Children of God because it would divide Satan's house and bring his kingdom to desolation; furthermore, he asks his opponents that if he exorcises by Beelzebub , "by whom do your sons cast them out?". In Matthew 12:31–32 , he goes on to say that while all manner of sin, "even insults against God" or "insults against the son of man", shall be forgiven, whoever insults goodness (or "The Holy Spirit ") shall never be forgiven; they carry

2728-631: The Confession of Peter and the Transfiguration of Jesus. These two events are not mentioned in the Gospel of John. In his Confession, Peter tells Jesus, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus affirms that Peter's confession is divinely revealed truth. After the confession, Jesus tells his disciples about his upcoming death and resurrection. In the Transfiguration, Jesus takes Peter and two other apostles up an unnamed mountain, where "he

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2816-508: The Jordan River around Perea and foretells the arrival of someone "more powerful" than he. In the Gospel of Mark, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus, and as he comes out of the water he sees the Holy Spirit descending to him like a dove and a voice comes from heaven declaring him to be God's Son. This is one of two events described in the Gospels where a voice from Heaven calls Jesus "Son",

2904-702: The Old Testament, and the Lord of the Church. He is the " Son of David ", a "king", and the Messiah. Luke presents Jesus as the divine-human saviour who shows compassion to the needy. He is the friend of sinners and outcasts, who came to seek and save the lost. This gospel includes well-known parables, such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son . The prologue to the Gospel of John identifies Jesus as an incarnation of

2992-556: The Rich man and Lazarus which describes Hades along the lines of intertestamental Jewish understanding of a Sheol divided between the happy righteous and the miserable wicked. Later Hippolytus of Rome expanded on this parable and described activity in the Bosom of Abraham in Against Plato . Since Augustine , Christians have believed that the souls of those who die either rest peacefully, in

3080-618: The Scripture acknowledges none. The neutral historical term for this belief today is usually Mortalism or Christian Mortalism . The terms Soul sleep Psychopannychism are somewhat loaded by their derivation from a tract (1534) by John Calvin , though use of the terms are not necessarily polemic or pejorative. Both terms may be used together. A minority of Christians, including some Anglicans such as William Tyndale and E. W. Bullinger , as well as churches/groups such as Seventh-day Adventists , Christadelphians and others, deny

3168-624: The Synoptics, the last week in Jerusalem is the conclusion of the journey through Perea and Judea that Jesus began in Galilee. Jesus rides a young donkey into Jerusalem, reflecting the tale of the Messiah's Donkey , an oracle from the Book of Zechariah in which the Jews' humble king enters Jerusalem this way. People along the way lay cloaks and small branches of trees (known as palm fronds ) in front of him and sing part of Psalms 118:25–26. Jesus next expels

3256-551: The World , the True Vine and more. In general, the authors of the New Testament showed little interest in an absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life with the secular history of the age. As stated in John 21:25 , the Gospels do not claim to provide an exhaustive list of the events in Jesus's life. The accounts were primarily written as theological documents in

3344-464: The accuracy of the accounts, viewpoints run the gamut from considering them inerrant descriptions of Jesus's life, to doubting whether they are historically reliable on a number of points, to considering them to provide very little historical information about his life beyond the basics. According to a broad scholarly consensus, the Synoptic Gospels (the first three—Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are

3432-524: The angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a child called Jesus through the action of the Holy Spirit. When Mary is due to give birth, she and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Joseph's ancestral home in Bethlehem to register in the census ordered by Caesar Augustus . While there Mary gives birth to Jesus, and as they have found no room in the inn, she places the newborn in a manger . An angel announces

3520-441: The birth to a group of shepherds , who go to Bethlehem to see Jesus, and subsequently spread the news abroad. Luke 2:21 tells how Joseph and Mary have their baby circumcised on the eighth day after birth , and name him Jesus, as Gabriel had commanded Mary. After the presentation of Jesus at the Temple , Joseph, Mary and Jesus return to Nazareth. Jesus's childhood home is identified in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew as Nazareth,

3608-410: The case of Christians, or are afflicted, in the case of the damned, after death until the resurrection . Augustine distinguishes between the purifying fire that saves and eternal consuming fire for the unrepentant, and speaks of the pain that purgatorial fire causes as more severe than anything a man can suffer in this life. The Venerable Bede and Saint Boniface both report visions of an afterlife with

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3696-430: The conscious existence of the soul after death, believing the intermediate state of the dead to be unconscious "sleep". Jehovah's Witnesses also believe this with the exception of the 144,000 . In this case, the person is not conscious of any time or activity and would not be aware even if centuries elapsed between their death and their resurrection. They would, upon their death, cease consciousness, and gain it again at

3784-498: The context of early Christianity , with timelines as a secondary consideration. In this respect, it is noteworthy that the Gospels devote about one third of their text to the last week of Jesus's life in Jerusalem , referred to as the Passion . The Gospels do not provide enough details to satisfy the demands of modern historians regarding exact dates, but it is possible to draw from them a general picture of Jesus's life story. Jesus

3872-431: The crowds regularly respond to Jesus's miracles with awe and press on him to heal their sick. In John's Gospel, Jesus is presented as unpressured by the crowds, who often respond to his miracles with trust and faith. One characteristic shared among all miracles of Jesus in the gospel accounts is that he performed them freely and never requested or accepted any form of payment. The gospel episodes that include descriptions of

3960-606: The current year is AD 2024 (or 2024 CE )—is based on the approximate birthdate of Jesus . In Islam , Jesus is considered the messiah and a prophet of God , who was sent to the Israelites and will return to Earth before the Day of Judgement . Muslims believe Jesus was born of the virgin Mary but was neither God nor a son of God. Most Muslims do not believe that he was killed or crucified but that God raised him into Heaven while he

4048-502: The dead . The nature miracles show Jesus's power over nature, and include turning water into wine , walking on water, and calming a storm, among others. Jesus states that his miracles are from a divine source. When his opponents suddenly accuse him of performing exorcisms by the power of Beelzebul , the prince of demons, Jesus counters that he performs them by the "Spirit of God" ( Matthew 12:28 ) or "finger of God", arguing that all logic suggests that Satan would not let his demons assist

4136-486: The dead. Protestants universally reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory, while affirming the existence of an intermediate state, usually termed Hades . John Calvin depicted the righteous dead as resting in bliss. The early Hebrews had no notion of resurrection of the dead and thus no intermediate state. As with neighboring groups, they understood death to be the end. Their afterlife, sheol (the pit),

4224-565: The devil and his angels, where with them the wicked will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire forever and ever and that heaven is the final abode of the righteous, where they will dwell in the fullness of joy forever and ever. Matt. 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev. 14:8-11; 20:10, 15; II Cor. 5:21; Rev. 21:3-8; 22:1-5. —1921 Garden City Confession of Faith (Mennonite Anabaptist) I. The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them:

4312-469: The distinction between the alternative definitive fates of Heaven and Hell . The Western Church goes differently by defining the intermediate state, with evidence from as far back as the Passion of Saint Perpetua, Saint Felicitas, and their Companions (203) of the belief that sins can be purged by suffering in an afterlife , and that purgation can be expedited by the intercession of the living. Those in

4400-553: The divine Word ( Logos ). As the Word, Jesus was eternally present with God, active in all creation, and the source of humanity's moral and spiritual nature. Jesus is not only greater than any past human prophet but greater than any prophet could be. He not only speaks God's Word; he is God's Word. In the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals his divine role publicly. Here he is the Bread of Life , the Light of

4488-497: The early period of Christianity, Christians have commonly referred to Jesus as "Jesus Christ". The word Christ was a title or office ("the Christ"), not a given name. It derives from the Greek Χριστός ( Christos ), a translation of the Hebrew mashiakh ( משיח ) meaning " anointed ", and is usually transliterated into English as " messiah ". In biblical Judaism, sacred oil

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4576-579: The faithful from all parts of the earth. Jesus warns that these wonders will occur in the lifetimes of the hearers. In John, the Cleansing of the Temple occurs at the beginning of Jesus's ministry instead of at the end. Intermediate state (Christianity) Early Christians looked for an imminent end of the world and many of them had little interest in an interim state between death and resurrection. The Eastern Church admits of such an intermediate state, but refrained from defining it, so as not to blur

4664-405: The gospel authors set out to write novels, myths, histories, or biographies has a tremendous impact on how they ought to be interpreted. Some recent studies suggest that the genre of the Gospels ought to be situated within the realm of ancient biography. Although not without critics, the position that the Gospels are a type of ancient biography is the consensus among scholars today. Concerning

4752-448: The guilt of their sin forever. In John, Jesus's miracles are described as "signs", performed to prove his mission and divinity. In the Synoptics, when asked by some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees to give miraculous signs to prove his authority, Jesus refuses, saying that no sign shall come to corrupt and evil people except the sign of the prophet Jonah . Also, in the Synoptic Gospels,

4840-500: The individual's hometown. Thus, in the New Testament, Jesus is commonly referred to as "Jesus of Nazareth ". Jesus's neighbours in Nazareth referred to him as "the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon ", "the carpenter's son", or " Joseph 's son"; in the Gospel of John, the disciple Philip refers to him as "Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth". The English name Jesus , from Greek Iēsous ,

4928-592: The intermediate state have traditionally been the beneficiaries of prayers, such as requiem masses . In the East, the saved are said to rest in light while the wicked are confined in darkness; the dead can be assisted by prayer . Prayers are said to benefit those in Hades , even those who were pagans . In the West, Augustine described prayer as useful for those in communion with the church, and implied that every soul's ultimate fate

5016-513: The intermediate state is a disembodied foretaste of the final state. Therefore, those who die in Christ go into the presence of God (or the bosom of Abraham ) where they experience joy and rest while they await their resurrection (cf. Luke 23:43 ). Those who die unrepentant will experience torment (perhaps in hell ) while they await final condemnation on the day of judgment ( 2 Peter 2:9 ). ARTICLE XVIL OF THE INTERMEDIATE STATE: We believe that in

5104-504: The intermediate state is used in Anglican , Eastern Orthodox , and Methodist theology. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that all who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven, a final purification to which it gives the name " purgatory ". Roman Catholic theologians had given

5192-403: The interval between death and resurrection, the righteous will be with Christ in a state of conscious bliss and comfort, but that the wicked will be in a place of torment, in a state of conscious suffering and despair. Lu. 16:19-31; 23:43; Phil. 1:23; II Cor. 5:1-8; I Thes. 5:10; II Pet. 2:9 (R.V.). ARTICLE XVII. OF THE FINAL STATE: We believe that hell is the place of torment, prepared for

5280-448: The law himself, for example regarding the Sabbath . When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replies: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind ... And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ' " Other ethical teachings of Jesus include loving your enemies , refraining from hatred and lust, turning

5368-668: The living and the dead , either before or after their bodily resurrection , an event tied to the Second Coming of Jesus in Christian eschatology . The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of the Trinity . The birth of Jesus is celebrated annually, generally on 25 December, as Christmas . His crucifixion is honoured on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday . The world's most widely used calendar era —in which

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5456-412: The miracles of Jesus also often include teachings, and the miracles themselves involve an element of teaching. Many of the miracles teach the importance of faith. In the cleansing of ten lepers and the raising of Jairus's daughter , for instance, the beneficiaries are told that their healing was due to their faith. At about the middle of each of the three Synoptic Gospels are two significant events:

5544-425: The money changers from the Second Temple , accusing them of turning it into a den of thieves through their commercial activities. He then prophesies about the coming destruction, including false prophets, wars, earthquakes, celestial disorders, persecution of the faithful, the appearance of an "abomination of desolation", and unendurable tribulations. The mysterious "Son of Man", he says, will dispatch angels to gather

5632-406: The most reliable sources of information about Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels, from the Greek σύν ( syn , 'together') and ὄψις ( opsis , 'view'), because they are similar in content, narrative arrangement, language and paragraph structure, and one can easily set them next to each other and synoptically compare what is in them. Scholars generally agree that it

5720-426: The name " limbo " to a theory on the possible fate of infants who die without baptism. The just who died before Jesus Christ are also spoken of as having been in limbo until he had won salvation for them. In Islamic eschatology , Barzakh ( Arabic : برزخ ) is the intermediate state in which the soul of the deceased is transferred across the boundaries of the mortal realm into a kind of "cold sleep" where

5808-459: The names on the two lists. Various theories have been put forward to explain why the two genealogies are so different. Matthew and Luke each describe Jesus's birth, especially that Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary in Bethlehem in fulfilment of prophecy . Luke's account emphasizes events before the birth of Jesus and centers on Mary, while Matthew's mostly covers those after the birth and centers on Joseph. Both accounts state that Mary,

5896-451: The other being the Transfiguration . The spirit then drives him into the wilderness where he is tempted by Satan . Jesus then begins his ministry in Galilee after John's arrest. In the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus comes to him to be baptized, John protests, saying, "I need to be baptized by you." Jesus instructs him to carry on with the baptism "to fulfill all righteousness". Matthew details three temptations that Satan offers Jesus in

5984-406: The other cheek , and forgiving people who have sinned against you. John's Gospel presents the teachings of Jesus not merely as his own preaching, but as divine revelation . John the Baptist, for example, states in John 3:34 : "He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure." In John 7:16 Jesus says, "My teaching is not mine but his who sent me." He asserts

6072-440: The physical world to the spiritual . Common themes in these tales include the kindness and generosity of God and the perils of transgression. Some of his parables, such as the Prodigal Son , are relatively simple, while others, such as the Growing Seed , are sophisticated, profound and abstruse. When asked by his disciples why he speaks in parables to the people, Jesus replies that the chosen disciples have been given to "know

6160-417: The same thing in John 14:10 : "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works." Approximately 30 parables form about one-third of Jesus's recorded teachings. The parables appear within longer sermons and at other places in the narrative. They often contain symbolism, and usually relate

6248-629: The secrets of the kingdom of heaven", unlike the rest of their people, "For the one who has will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived even more", going on to say that the majority of their generation have grown "dull hearts" and thus are unable to understand. In the gospel accounts, Jesus devotes a large portion of his ministry to performing miracles , especially healings. The miracles can be classified into two main categories: healing miracles and nature miracles. The healing miracles include cures for physical ailments, exorcisms , and resurrections of

6336-505: The sick, and spread the word that the Kingdom of God is coming. In Mark, the disciples are notably obtuse. They fail to understand Jesus's miracles, his parables, or what "rising from the dead" means. When Jesus is later arrested, they desert him. In the Synoptics, Jesus teaches extensively, often in parables , about the Kingdom of God (or, in Matthew, the Kingdom of Heaven ). The Kingdom

6424-494: The soul will rest until the Qiyamah or End Time ( Judgement Day ). The term appears in the Qur'an Surah 23, Ayat 100 . Barzakh is a sequence that happens after death, in which the soul will separate from the body. Three events make up barzakh : In Islam all human beings go through five steps of age: According to the native Indonesian beliefs, the soul of a dead person will stay on

6512-455: The souls in purgatory. The Late Middle Ages saw the growth of considerable abuses, such as the unrestricted sale of indulgences by professional "pardoners" to release the donors' departed loved ones from suffering in purgatory, or the donors themselves. In the 16th century, Protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin challenged the doctrine of purgatory because they believed it

6600-415: The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day.[4] Beside these two places, for souls separated from their bodies,

6688-579: The time of the resurrection having experienced no time lapse. For them, time would thus be suspended, as if they moved immediately from death to resurrection and the General Judgment of the Judgment Day . The intermediate state is sometimes referred to by the Greek term hades , even in other languages. The term is equivalent to Hebrew sheol and Latin infernum (meaning "underworld"). This term for

6776-413: The wilderness. In the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit descends as a dove after everyone has been baptized and Jesus is praying . Later John implicitly recognizes Jesus after sending his followers to ask about him. Luke also describes three temptations received by Jesus in the wilderness, before starting his ministry in Galilee. The Gospel of John leaves out Jesus's baptism and temptation. Here, John

6864-425: Was Jewish, born to Mary , wife of Joseph . The Gospels of Matthew and Luke offer two accounts of his genealogy . Matthew traces Jesus's ancestry to Abraham through David . Luke traces Jesus's ancestry through Adam to God. The lists are identical between Abraham and David but differ radically from that point. Matthew has 27 generations from David to Joseph, whereas Luke has 42, with almost no overlap between

6952-573: Was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader, and the central figure of Christianity , the world's largest religion . Most Christian denominations believe Jesus to be the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited messiah , or Christ , a descendant from the Davidic line that is prophesied in the Old Testament . Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically . Accounts of Jesus's life are contained in

7040-490: Was a dark place from which none return. By Jesus' time, however, the Book of Daniel ( Daniel 12:1–4 ) and a prophecy in Isaiah (26:19) had made popular the idea that the dead in sheol would be raised for a last judgment . The intertestamental literature describes in more detail what the dead experience in sheol . According to the Book of Enoch , the righteous and wicked await the resurrection in separate divisions of sheol ,

7128-450: Was an itinerant teacher who interpreted the law of God with divine authority and was often referred to as " rabbi ". Jesus often debated with fellow Jews on how to best follow God , engaged in healings, taught in parables , and gathered followers, among whom twelve were appointed as his chosen apostles . He was arrested in Jerusalem and tried by the Jewish authorities , turned over to

7216-631: Was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 2:1 – 12 , wise men or Magi from the East bring gifts to the young Jesus as the King of the Jews . They find him in a house in Bethlehem. Herod the Great hears of Jesus's birth and, wanting him killed, orders the murders of male infants in Bethlehem and its surroundings. But an angel warns Joseph in his second dream, and the family flees to Egypt —later to return and settle in Nazareth . In Luke 1:31–38, Mary learns from

7304-536: Was engaged to a man named Joseph, who was descended from King David and was not his biological father, and both support the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus , according to which Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb when she was still a virgin. At the same time, there is evidence, at least in the Lukan Acts of the Apostles , that Jesus was thought to have had, like many figures in antiquity,

7392-555: Was not supported in the Bible. Both Calvin and Luther continued to believe in an intermediate state, but Calvin held to a more conscious existence for the souls of the dead than Luther did. For Calvin, believers in the intermediate state enjoyed a blessedness that was incomplete, in anticipation of the resurrection. Reformed theology largely followed Calvin's teaching on the intermediate state. Some theological traditions, including most Protestants, Anabaptists and Eastern Orthodox, teach that

7480-467: Was still alive . Jesus is also revered in the Baháʼí Faith , Druze Faith and Rastafari . In contrast, Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill messianic prophecies , was not lawfully anointed and was neither divine nor resurrected. A typical Jew in Jesus's time had only one name , sometimes followed by the phrase "son of [father's name]" , or

7568-554: Was the source of the written Gospels. Christian theology includes the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit , was born of a virgin named Mary , performed miracles , founded the Christian Church , died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement for sin , rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven , from where he will return . Commonly, Christians believe Jesus enables people to be reconciled to God. The Nicene Creed asserts that Jesus will judge

7656-548: Was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white". A bright cloud appears around them, and a voice from the cloud says, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him." The description of the last week of the life of Jesus (often called Passion Week ) occupies about one-third of the narrative in the canonical gospels, starting with Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and ending with his Crucifixion. In

7744-462: Was used to anoint certain exceptionally holy people and objects as part of their religious investiture. Christians of the time designated Jesus as "the Christ" because they believed him to be the messiah, whose arrival is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. In postbiblical usage, Christ became viewed as a name—one part of "Jesus Christ". Etymons of the term Christian (meaning

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