Chapter Intro Video

Chapter Objectives

• Discuss how Jesus was able to communicate his message effectively
• Identify the reasons for Jesus’s effective preaching style
• List the four major theological areas that Jesus touched on in his teaching
• Explain Jesus’s relationship to the kingdom of God
• Note the way that Jesus was unique among men
• Describe the human characteristics that Jesus understood and the way he treated them
• Use Scripture references to describe the second coming

Chapter Summary

1. Jesus came primarily as a preacher-teacher who communicated his message so that people would be able to build their own knowledge based on his teachings and would also be challenged to apply the teachings to their lives.

2. Jesus communicated his message in a form similar to that of the rabbis of his day and used parables, illustrations, object lessons, contemporary proverbial sayings, and quotes from the Old Testament.

3. Jesus taught extensively about the kingdom of God and his own relationship to it as its proclaimer, embodiment, and fulfiller.

4. Jesus is unique because he has a special relationship to God and to the human race and a special sense of mission here on earth.

5. Jesus believed and taught that our ultimate destiny depends on our relationship to God through him and on his evaluation of us.

6. Jesus realized his special mission early in life, at least by the age of twelve.

7. Jesus used and/or accepted the titles of Teacher, Rabbi, Son of David, and Son of Man.

8. Jesus’s chief objective was to make God real in the lives of his people by stressing the love and concern of God instead of legal requirements.

9. Jesus made clear that a true disciple is one who follows in his footsteps.

10. Jesus emphasized that life does not end at death; the world will end someday at his second coming, which will be powerful, unexpected, glorious, personal, and visible.

Study Questions

1. What are some of the things that help us to understand Jesus as a communicator?

2. What are some of the ways Jesus used language when he preached?

3. What was Jesus’s favorite teaching device? Describe how Jesus used this form to communicate his message.

4. How and why did Jesus relate himself so directly to his message?

5. Discuss Jesus’s teaching on the kingdom and how he related himself to it.

6. In what ways was Jesus unique?

7. What did Jesus teach about human life and sinfulness?

8. According to Jesus, what will the end of the age be like?