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 was the accepted norm within the early Christians (including the Christian community in Jerusalem, given the references to collections there) twenty to thirty years after the death of Jesus, at a time when those who could have been acquainted with him could still be alive. The seven Pauline epistles that are widely regarded as authentic include the following information that along with other historical elements are used to study the historicity of Jesus: The existence of only these references to Jesus in the Pauline epistles has given rise to criticism of them by G. A. Wells, who is generally accepted