In Judaism, from ancient times, people are seen as sinful or bad. They need to be forgiven by God. They believed that there were two ways to get God's forgiveness, by prayer and by sacrifice. Prayer could be done anywhere, but sacrifices were done at the temple. A person would bring an animal, often a lamb, or if they were poor, a dove. They would put their hands on the animal to lay their sins on it. Then the animal would be killed, as a punishment for the sin. This type of sacrifice continued until the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 71 AD. Paying money to the temple was also a sort of sacrifice. When Jesus drove the traders out of the temple, they were the people who sold lambs and doves, and the people who exchanged Roman money into special temple money.
Part of Christian belief is that Jesus Christ did not just come as a human person so that he could teach a better way of life. Christians also believe that Jesus was the "ultimate" sacrifice for the sin of humankind, that Jesus is the "Saviour": the one who is here to save. Christians believe that, unlike ordinary people, Jesus was completely pure and free from sin, but that when he died on the cross, he took on himself all the sins of every person who would believe in him, like the lamb sacrificed in the temple.
Based on John's Gospel, Christian teaching is that the death and resurrection of Jesus are the sign of his power to forgive the sins of any person who turns to him and truly asks for forgiveness. The Bible says that sinners who are forgiven should try to live a "new life" and not go back to their sinful behaviour. Christians believe that knowing about God's love helps people to live a new and better life.
These are three verses from the Bible that are important in this Christian belief:-
""For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John's Gospel, 3:16."
"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."" John's Gospel, 14:6.
""If we say we have no sins, we are fooling ourselves and not telling the truth. But if we tell our sins humbly to God, then He has promised to listen and to forgive our sins and make us clean from all our badness."" from the First Letter of John.
Some people who are not Christians believe that Jesus lived at the time that the Gospels say, but do not believe that Jesus was the "Son of God" or "Savior". They believe that Jesus was an ordinary, but very good person, a teacher and perhaps a prophet.
Mohandas Gandhi said, "I am a Muslim, and a Hindu, and a Christian, and a Jew," even though he was born a Jain.
Muslims believe Jesus (under the name Isa) was the second-to-last Prophet (messenger of God). They believe that Muhammad was the very last Prophet. They believe that both Jesus and Muhammad were ordinary men, chosen by God to be his servant and teach the word of Islam.
Muslims do not believe that Jesus was God or "the Son of God". Islam is strictly monotheistic: it says that there is only one God. Muslims believe that Jesus cannot be part of God, because there is only one God. If someone other than God is worshiped, it is thought to be polytheism (belief in more than one god). It is also thought to be idolatry: idolizing someone other than God.
Islam teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross, but another man disguised as him went on the cross for Isa (Qur'an 4:157). This is very different from Christianity. Jesus' death is a very important part of the Christian belief about salvation. Muslims always say "peace be upon him" after saying Jesus' name as a sign of respect in short and Arabic a.s.
Muslims also accept some other teachings about Jesus. These teachings say that Jesus will return to the earth in the End Of Days; he will then destroy the false messiah or Anti-christ before the day of judgment. Muslims also accept Jesus' claims to be a healer. They believe in the many miracles he is said to have performed, like raising the dead to life and giving sight to the blind. They believe that all his miracles were granted to him from God.
The Qur'an (like the Bible), mentions the virgin birth of Jesus but then it says other things about Mary (Islamic-Maryam). The Bible says that Joseph helped Mary give birth to Jesus, but in Islam there is no Joseph. Instead, Mary walked the desert alone in labor and found a tree. The angel Gabriel (Jibreel) asked if she was hungry, then told her to shake the tree and dates fell for her to eat. Then he asked if she was thirsty and he said look down at your feet and there was water and there she gave birth to Jesus. (Qur'an 19) This is why Muslims fast and how they break their fast. Mary knew she had to go back to her town and when she did, with Jesus in her arms, the people were shouting at her for adultery. Mary wanted to explain herself but the Angel told her not to speak.
Even though Jesus was a Jew and his teaching came out of the Jewish religion, most Jewish people do not believe that Jesus was the "Messiah" that is promised in the Jewish Scriptures.
In the Gospels, it tells that Jesus made the Jewish teachers very angry with his teachings. It says that part of their anger was because he told them they were "hypocrites" which means that they externally made themselves appear to be living a holy life, but internally their hearts were far from God's.
In the Gospels, the other reason that they became angry was that Jesus acted as if he was the "Messiah", and said he was the "Son of God". This meant that he was either a terrible liar, that he was mad and just imagined it, or that it was true. But Jesus did not seem to be mad. So that left only two choices. If Jesus was lying, then he was doing something badly against the Jewish religion. It was because of the claims that Jesus was the "Son of God" that some of the Jewish leaders wanted him killed and they handed him to the Roman rulers. The Romans did not care if Jesus said something that was against the Jewish beliefs. But they knew that people had also said that Jesus was "King of the Jews". The Jewish leaders claimed this was against the Roman Government's laws. Although the Roman leaders did not agree, they had him killed to prevent a possible riot.
Although, today and through history, most Jews do not believe what Christians say about Jesus, there are some Jews who do believe that Jesus was the "Messiah" promised in the Jewish Scriptures. Jews who believe this are called "Messianic Jews".
Nearly all modern scholars, both Christian and non-Christian agree that Jesus was a real person. Both Christian and non-Christian scholars base their studies of him on the Gospels. They are believed to have been written between 60-90 AD.
By tradition, "the Gospels" were written by four men, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John who gave their names to these books.
This is the order in which they are arranged in the New Testament of the Bible, but scholars think that it is not the order in which they were written. "The Gospel of Mark" was probably written before "the Gospel of Matthew". The four Gospels all tell the story of the Life of Jesus, but they do it from four different points of view, because they were written by different people and each writer had reasons to tell it in a different way.