Christology: Jesus as God and Man
To claim that Jesus could not also be God because He was a man is an understandable position. But taking the presupposition that God exist, could not God—the Supreme Power—be able to become a man, whom He would have created, if He truly wanted to? Thus, the statement that Jesus, being a man, could not be God would contradict the description of a monotheistic God by supposing that this God is not powerful enough to render Himself as a man. If Jesus is merely a man, then He is merely that. But if Jesus claimed to be God, which He did, and then backs up His claim with cogent evidence, then God just rendered Himself as the man Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Again, I agree, Jesus was one hundred percent man. The Bible unveils Jesus to us as a man born of a woman. He had human DNA, was laid in a manger as a baby,(1) seen as a young adolescent being instructed by rabbis at his community synagogue,(2) a grown man with a craft, emotions, friends, followers, and so on.(3) He was birthed through a woman’s womb, and died just like every other human. There is no denying His humanity. However, the Bible unveils Jesus as the man born not like all other humans, but of a virgin and with God’s DNA.(4) His miraculous birth is one of many authentications to His deity. He claimed to be the Covenant God of Israel—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.(5) This was a blasphemous claim to the Jews. But He didn’t stop with a claim. He performed miracles, healed diseases, exercised authority over Creation, and defied the laws of nature.(6) Not to mention that while He died like every other human does, He didn’t stay dead. Jesus showed His authority and power even over death when He resurrected three days after His crucifixion.(7) This “man”, was more than a mere man, He was the God-man.
So you ask, “How can Jesus be both a man and the one Supreme Being at the same time?” Friends, this question has puzzled men for centuries. Though, not all men have been baffled by this question as we see in the New Testament. If you ever wanted to know how God would be if He was a human, Jesus Christ is that portrait. Jesus is the fullness of the Great Divine living as fully human.(8) Still, how is this possible? Jesus, being the all-perfect and infinitely wise God, knew exactly how to perfectly be perfectly human and perfectly God. Everything that makes us human (i.e. flesh & bones, breathing air, emotions, free will, personality, etc) He was, bar sin.(9) And everything that makes “God” “God” (i.e. sovereign, omniscience, righteous, holy, benevolent, etc) He was, bar whatever, if any, limitations He sovereignly placed upon Himself.(10) The Creator of the human race—whom was created in the image of the Creator—knew how to be fully human and still fully Creator in unison without compromising either nature. This is how Jesus can be both truly God and truly man at the same time. Moreover, Jesus being both God and man is extremely significant; for only one who is fully God and fully man can completely redeem mankind and once for all satisfy the law of God.(11) God established the law, when broken, to be fulfilled by an unblemished living sacrifice.(12) God cannot sacrifice himself, for God is Spirit.(13) All men fall short of the righteousness of God so no mere man will do.(14) But God-Incarnate can offer Himself as an unblemished living and fully satisfactory sacrifice.(15) Thus, the life and death of Jesus Christ, the God-man, is the only sufficient payment for God’s holy and righteous law.(16)
If one overemphasizes or denies either the deity or humanity of Jesus, they will lead themselves and others either into believing there are two Gods, or one greater and one less than God, or more God less man, or more man less God, and many variations of the sorts. What this does is make Jesus’ sacrifice not completely sufficient because of the imbalance of His humanity or deity, creates the heretical problems for the Trinity, the unity of God, and so on. The Scriptures clearly show that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and early church history affirms this as well. To deny this truth or overemphasize either one is distorting the truth within the Scriptures along with the character and attributes of God.
Reading and learning about my Lord’s humanity gives me hope during famine and stormy seasons because I know He endured the same. Furthermore, it draws me to a more intimate relationship with Him because I know He can experientially relate to my human weaknesses. To know that my God came and put on my humanity just to redeem me causes me to love and live for Him all the more!
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1. Luke 2:6-7
2. Luke 2:41-52
3. Matthew 12:46-50; 14:13-14, Mark. 6:3, Luke 7:13, John 15:15
4. Luke 1:26-35
5. John 6:35; 8:12, 58; 10:9-11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:5; 18:5-8
6. Luke 5:1-26; 6:17-19; 8:22-25; 9:14-17, Mark 6:45-52
7. Mark 15:25-16:6
8. Colossians 1:15, 19; 2:9
9. Hebrew 2:14-18; 4:14-15
10. Colossians 1:15-18, Philippians 2:6-8
11. Romans 3:21-26, Galatians 4:3-7, Colossians 1:19-20, 1Timothy 2:3-6
12. Hebrew 9:16-22
13. John 4:24
14. Romans 3:9-20, 23
15. Hebrews 9
16. Hebrews 7:20-28; 10:11-12
3/2011