Is Jesus Truly God and Truly Man?
Is Jesus truly God and truly Human? This was a very debated concept with the inception of the early church and did not get ironed out until the Council of Chalcedon [A.D. 451] and the Council of Constantinople [A.D. 680] (Bird, 2013). Jesus is known as the God-Man or theanthropic man (Bird, 2013). Theologians also call this union of two natures in one person the hypostatic union (Bird, 2013; Berkhof, 1938; Grudem, 2004).
All throughout the New Testament one can see how Jesus is fully human. First, Jesus was born through a real natural birth and displayed emotions (Luke 19:41). Jesus needed to eat and drink to continue to live, just like any other human would need to do (John 19:28). Jesus got tired from a hard day’s work (Mark 4:38) and also tempted at every level yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus needed to be a man to be born under the law (Galatians 4:4-5), live a perfect life so that He could provide atonement for our sins (Hebrews 9:22), and to demonstrate His love for us (John 3:16). Philippians 2:6-11 is probably the best section of scripture that describes Jesus’ humanity but also deity:
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Augustine of Hippo puts it this way:
Christ did not take human form for a time, to show himself to be a man in this guise, and an outward appearance that should thereafter be discarded. He took the visible form of man into the unity of his person, the form of God remaining invisible. Not only was he born in that form of a human mother, but he also grew up in it. He ate and drank and slept and was put to death in that form. In the same human form, he rose again and ascended into heaven. He now sits at the right hand of the Father in the same human form, in which he is to come to judge the living and the dead. (Bird, 2013, p. 485)
Jesus is also fully God. In the Old Testament we get pictures or previews of the one who will come and that will make all things right (Berkhof, 1938). This divine Messiah is spoken of is passages like: Ps. 2:6–12; 45:6, 7; 110:1; Isa. 9:6; Jer. 23:6; Dan. 7:13; Mic. 5:2; Zech. 13:7; Mal. 3:1.
In the New Testament, one will discover primary deity verses found in the first chapters of several books: John 1, Colossians, 1, Hebrews 1, 1 Peter 1, and Revelation 1. John shows us how the logos who existed before the world was created is the creator and is the person of Jesus Christ (“Biblical Studies Press, 2005”; Morris, 1995; Newman & Nida, 1993). Paul reminds his readers that Christ is the image or in the Greek (eikōn), which conveyed an exact representation of God, the exact likeness of God, and also in this case the actual presence of an object (MacArthur, 2006; MacDonald, 1995; Melick, 1991). The writer of Hebrews highlights Christ’s exaltation, Peter calls Jesus God, and Revelation gives us a description of Jesus in all His glory (1 Peter 1:3; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:12-18).
Jesus is entirely divine due to His authority in which He taught (Mark 11:28), He is the one who fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17; 5:21-44), He is the one who claimed to be God (John 8:19; 9:34-38; 10:30; 14:9), and proclaimed to be the prophesized Son of Man (Daniel 7:13; Mark 14:62; Psalm 110). Jesus forgave peoples sins which were only accredited to God (Grudem, 2004; Luke 5:20; 7:48; Matthew 9:2; Mark 2:5), He accepted worship which is reserved for God alone (Grudem, 2004; Hebrews 1:6; John 20:28; Matthew 14:33; 28:9; Mark 5:6), and carries the very names of God (Berkhof, 1938; Luke 1:43; John 1:1; 10:36; Matthew 1:22; Revelation 22:13). Jesus also holds the incommunicable attributes of God such as creator, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, and immutable (Ephesians 1:23; Hebrews 1:2; 13:8; John 1:1; 10:17-18; 16:30; Matthew 18:18-20; 28:30; Revelation 3:7).
Scripture is crystal clear, Jesus is truly God and truly man.
References
Berkhof, L. (1938). Systematic theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co.
Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible first edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.
Bird, M. F. (2013). Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: An introduction to Biblical doctrine. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible.(Jn 1:3). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon(Vol. 32). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Morris, L. (1995). The Gospel according to John(pp. 64–65). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John(p. 6). New York: United Bible Societies.