1. Who is Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, true God and true Man.
“When the fullness of the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4).
2. Is Jesus really God?
Yes, Jesus is really God, equal to God the Father and equal to God the Holy Ghost.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14).
“Our God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2nd Peter 1:1).
3. Did Jesus say that He was God?
Yes, Jesus said that He was God before His Apostles, before the people and under oath in the courtroom.
“Who do you say that I am?… Simon Peter answering, said Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:15-17).
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
“And the high priest said to Him: I adjure Thee by the living God that Thou tell us if Thou be the Christ the Son of God. Jesus saith to him: Thou hast said it.” (Matthew 26-63, 64).
4. How did Jesus prove that He is God? Jesus proved that He is God chiefly by His miracles.
“If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though you will not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (John 10:37, 38).
5. What is a miracle?
In general, a miracle is an unusual event which is contrary or beyond the laws of nature and which cannot be explained except through the power of God.
6. Could science in years to come explain away miracles?
Science could never explain away true miracles. Blindness, for example, could never be cured instantly by spittle (Mark 8:23), nor leprosy by the touch of a hand (Matthew 8:3), nor could the dead come back to life just by the sound of a voice (John 11:43).
“For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible” (Franz Werfel in “The Song of Bernadette”‘).
7. How can miracles prove a statement to be true?
Miracles prove the truth of a statement because a miracle can be performed only by the power of God, and God could not perform a miracle in favor of a lie.
“I have a greater testimony … for the works which the Father hath given Me to perfect; the works themselves which I do, give testimony of Me, that the Father bath sent Me” (John 5:36).
“Some therefore of the Pharisees said: This man is not of God, who keepeth not the sabbath. But others said: How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles … unless this man were of God, He could not do anything” (John 1:16, 33).
8. What were some of the miracles of Jesus?
Some of the miracles of Jesus were: the cure of six blind men, eleven lepers, two paralytics, a deaf mute and many other sick people. He raised three people from the dead, cast the devil out of many persons, changed water into wine, calmed a storm, walked on the waters of the sea, twice fed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish—a word, a look, a gesture, a simple touch, and all nature obeys Him as Master.
“Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life in His Name” (John 20:30, 31).
9. What was the greatest miracle of Jesus?
The greatest miracle of Jesus was His resurrection from the dead three days after He died.
“They being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Handle, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me to have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. … And when he had eaten before them, taking the remains, he gave to them” (Luke 24:37 to 43).
10. In what other ways did Jesus prove that He is God?
Besides the miracles, Jesus proved that He is God by the holiness of His life, by the perfection of His teachings, by His prophecies and by fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament.
“Believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (John 10:38).
11. What is prophecy?
A prophecy is a sure foretelling of a future event which cannot be naturally foreseen.
12. Were the prophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus?
Yes, the prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus, among which were prophecies about His origin, nationality, tribe, divinity, time and place of His birth, the virginity of His Mother, His fight into Egypt, His betrayal, and practically all the details of His passion and death, agony, scourging, mock. ery, crucifixion, burial and resurrection.
See: Gen: 9:26; 49:8, Ps. 131:11; Ps. 2:7; Is. 6-6; 9:6; 2:5; 11:11; 7:14; Mich. 5:2; Ps. 71:10; Osee 11:1: Zach. 9:9: Is. 53:6; 53:4; Ps. 40:10; Zach. 11:12; Ps. 54:5, 6; Is. 1:6; Ps. 21:8, 9; Osee 13:14.
Also read carefully the Gospel according to St. Matthew, who shows how the prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus.
13. What are some of the prophecies made by Jesus which
have already been fulfilled? Some of the prophecies which Jesus made and which have already been fulfilled are: concerning His passion, death on the cross, resurrection, denial by Peter, betrayal by Judas, the coming of the Holy Ghost, the persecution of His followers, the details of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the preaching of the Gospel throughout the whole world.
See: Matt. 22:18; 26:34; John 13:21; John 14:26; Luke 21:12; Luke 19:42-43; Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21:6-24; Matt. 8:11, 12; Matt. 24:14; John 12, 32; John 14:12; Matt. 10:22.
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14. What value do these prophecies have?
These prophecies prove that Jesus was telling the truth when He said that He is God.
“The works that I do in the name of My Father, they give testimony of Me. .. . Believe the works” (John 10:25, 38).
15. Is Jesus a real man?
Yes, Jesus Christ is a real man, because He has a body and a soul, like ours.
“Now you seek to kill Me, a man” (John 8:40).
16. Is Jesus Christ a human person?
No, Jesus is not a human person, but a Divine Person, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
Jesus Christ has two natures, a human nature and a divine nature, and yet He is only one Person. This is a mystery, the truth of which we cannot fully understand.
17. Is Jesus both God and Man?
Yes, Jesus is both God and Man.
“In Him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead corporeally” (Colossians 2:9)
18. Was the Son of God always man?
No, the Son of God was not always man, but became man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“When all the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman” (Galatians 4:4).
19. Is Mary, then, the Mother of God?
Yes, the most Blessed Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God, because the Person whom she bore in her womb is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
“And behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
20. Why did God become man?
God became man in order to save man from his sins and to open again the gates of heaven.
A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (1st Timothy 1:15).
“Who his own self bore our sins in His body upon the tree: that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice: by whose stripes you were healed” (1st Peter 2:24),
21. How did Jesus save man?
Jesus saved man by His death on the cross. “Converse in fear during the time of your sojourning here, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver … but with the precious Blood of Christ”: (1st Peter 1:17, 18).
22. Am I automatically saved by the death of Jesus?
No, I am not automatically saved by the death of Jesus, be. cause His death merely makes it possible for me to be saved and get into heaven.
“With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). “And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear.?” (1st Peter 4:18).
23. Will I not be saved by accepting Jesus as my personal Saviour? No, I will not be saved merely by accepting Jesus as my personal Saviour or merely by believing in Him.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but be that doth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven”: (Matthew 7:21).
24. What, then, must I do in order to be saved?
In order to be saved, I must be baptized in the Catholic Church, belong to the One True Church established by Jesus, obey the Ten Commandments, receive the Sacraments, pray, do good works and die with no mortal sin on my soul.