What Does the Bible Say About Jesus?

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The Bible has a great deal to say about Jesus. This study gathers passages from across Scripture and sets them out for reading and reflection.

What Scripture Says

The Bible’s witness to Jesus Christ begins in the opening verse of the New Testament, where Matthew calls Him “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). This single line ties Jesus to the whole story of Israel—the promised heir of David’s throne and the descendant through whom blessing would come to every nation. Mark opens his account even more directly, naming his book “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). From the very first sentences of the Gospels, Jesus is presented as both deeply rooted in human history and uniquely divine.

The announcement of His birth carries the same weight. The angel tells Mary she will conceive, bear a son, and “shalt call his name JESUS” (Luke 1:31). The name itself is the point—Jesus means Savior, and the child is named before He is born. John then frames the mission of this child against the backdrop of the law: “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). What Moses delivered prepared the way; what Jesus brought fulfilled and surpassed it. Luke, writing his second volume to Theophilus, summarizes his Gospel as the record of “all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts 1:1)—a striking phrase, because it implies that Jesus’ work did not end with His earthly ministry but continued through His apostles.

The letters of Paul show how completely Jesus Christ shaped the life of the early church. Paul introduces himself in letter after letter as “a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle” (Romans 1:1), an apostle “through the will of God” (1 Corinthians 1:1), and one whose commission came “not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead” (Galatians 1:1). He writes to churches “in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1), to saints who are “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:1), and he sends grace and peace from both the Father and the Son (2 Thessalonians 1:1). Across Gospels, Acts, and Epistles, the same picture emerges: Jesus is the center—the promised Son, the Savior named before birth, the source of grace and truth, the risen Lord who calls, sends, and holds His people.

Living It Out

Notice how naturally the New Testament writers attach Jesus’ name to everything they do. Paul does not describe his ministry as his own project; he is a servant, an apostle by the will of God, sent by Jesus Christ. That is a pattern for ordinary believers too. The question is not whether you have a dramatic calling like Paul’s, but whether the name of Jesus sits at the center of your everyday life—your work, your family, your decisions, your identity. If someone read the opening lines of your day the way we read the opening lines of Paul’s letters, would Jesus be the one sending you, the one you serve?

There is also comfort here. The angel named Jesus before He was born; God’s purposes were settled ahead of time. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus—grace, not performance, is the ground you stand on. When you fail, you are not cast off; you are still “in Christ Jesus,” the same phrase Paul uses for the saints at Philippi and Ephesus. Let that shape how you approach God this week: not as one hoping to earn a hearing, but as one already named, claimed, and sent by the Savior whose name was given before He drew breath.

Reflection

  1. If someone summarized your life the way Luke summarized his Gospel—”all that Jesus began both to do and teach”—would Jesus be the subject of the sentence, or would you?
  2. Paul calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ before he calls himself anything else. What would change in your daily choices if “servant of Jesus Christ” were the first title you claimed each morning?

Verses to Consider

  • Matthew 1:1 — The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
  • Mark 1:1 — The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
  • Luke 1:31 — And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
  • John 1:17 — For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
  • Acts 1:1 — The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
  • Romans 1:1 — Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
  • 1 Corinthians 1:1 — Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
  • 2 Corinthians 1:1 — Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
  • Galatians 1:1 — Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
  • Ephesians 1:1 — Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
  • Philippians 1:1 — Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
  • Colossians 1:1 — Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
  • 1 Thessalonians 1:1 — Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • 2 Thessalonians 1:1 — Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Where These Come From

These verses are drawn from different parts of the Bible on purpose. A subject is rarely settled by a single line; the whole counsel of Scripture gives the shape of it.

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