Redemptive suffering He made Himself human in Jesus in order to redeem mankind: It is believed that Jesus freed mankind from the bondage of sin: Thus one may consider that God paid for mankind's freedom from sin in His human incarnation: The belief is that the price that God, in Jesus, paid for the redemption of mankind, is the Passion, that is, his suffering and agony that led directly to his Crucifixion. Christians believe that, as members of the Church, they are members of the body of Jesus Christ: Hence, orthodox Catholic theology presents the belief that our suffering can be united
Sources for the historicity of Jesus , but is mostly about the post ascension teachings of Jesus in a vision, not a narrative of his life. Some scholars such as Edward Arnal contend that the Gospel of Thomas continues to remain useful for understanding how the teachings of Jesus were transmitted among early Christians, and sheds light on the development of early Christianity. There is overlap between the sayings of Jesus in the apocryphal texts and canonical Christian writings, and those not present in the canonical texts are called agrapha. There are at least 225 agrapha but most scholars who have studied them have drawn negative