Let Us Begin Again ④ Jesus: Lord of Life and Salvation | Matthew 16:13–16
Christianity is a faith built entirely on Jesus Christ. To put it plainly: you are not a Christian unless you believe in Jesus. That raises the most important question any person can ask — who, exactly, is Jesus?
Christianity is not merely a religion that remembers Jesus once a year at Christmas, celebrating his arrival in human form and moving on. In Matthew 16, Jesus was passing through the region of Caesarea Philippi when he turned to his disciples and asked, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" The answers came quickly — John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Then Jesus pressed further: "But who do you say I am?" It was Peter who answered, and his answer changed everything. "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). That is the great confession of faith. Jesus responded by declaring Peter blessed — and announced that upon this very confession, he would build his church, against which the gates of hell would not prevail.
Christianity, at its core, is the community of those who make this same confession. The church is built not on institutions or traditions, but on this declaration: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. So then — who is Jesus to us?
First: Jesus Is God
As John 1 makes clear, Jesus is the Word — and the Word is God. He is the one through whom all things were made. He entered this world in human flesh not as a visitor, but as the Creator come to reclaim his creation. John 1 presents him as the Word, the Creator, the Life, and the Light that shines in the darkness.
Jesus himself said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. If you do not believe my words, believe on account of the works themselves." And those works were unmistakable: he healed every kind of disease, cast out demons, raised the dead, walked on water, and fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. These were not performances — they were revelations. Each miracle was a window into the divine nature and power of the one standing before them.
This is what Christians believe: Jesus came as a man, and Jesus is God.
Second: Jesus Is the Savior
Why would God take on human flesh at all? The answer runs straight to the heart of the human condition.
When Adam and Eve sinned, humanity fell. We became corrupted, under the curse of God, bound to sin and death — facing eternal judgment with no way out. There was nothing within us capable of reversing that sentence. And so God, in his mercy, came. Not as a distant observer, but as one who entered into our suffering, our hopelessness, our condemnation.
The wages of sin is death. That is not a metaphor — it is the legal reality of a holy God and a broken creation. So Jesus came in human form to pay what we could not. He went to the cross as our substitute, bearing the full weight of our guilt, dying the death we deserved.
This is why he was given the name Jesus. Matthew 1:21 says it directly:
"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
The name itself is the mission statement.
Salvation, then, is not achieved — it is received. When anyone comes to Jesus in genuine faith, recognizing their sin and turning to him in repentance, they receive the forgiveness of every sin and are given the right to become children of God. This is the gospel. This is the doctrine of salvation that sits at the center of Christian truth.
Humanity alone, among all creation, was made in the image of God — dignified, beloved, set apart. And yet we fell. No one can earn their way back through moral effort or religious performance. But when we trust in Jesus — who went to the cross for us — every sin is forgiven, and we are brought into the family of God.
Acts 4:12 leaves no ambiguity:
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
That is the truth of Christianity. That is the core of the gospel. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Savior who put on human flesh to deliver us from sin and death. Those who believe this — who confess it, who stake their lives on it — are Christians.
About Author
Choi Jong Eui
Pastor, teacher, and writer committed to connecting Christian faith with everyday life. He writes with the hope of praising the Lord and faithfully completing the mission entrusted to him, bearing good fruit to the glory of God.
