BIBLE DOCTRINE II
LECTURE 29
CHRISTOLOGY: HIS HUMANITY
The following is from Robert Sargeant’s ebook ‘Landmarks of Baptist Doctrine’.
All information in [brackets] is from Pastor Warner
THE NATURE OF CHRIST — HIS HUMANITY
[Jesus Christ was/is a man:
1 Tim 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
His humanity is very special indeed; it is interrelated with the forgiveness of sins, His position in Heaven, and His being The Judge.
Acts 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Luke 5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
Matt 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.]
Ancient Controversies
The humanity of Jesus Christ has never been the subject of widespread theological controversy. [However]:
1. The Docetists of the second century denied the reality of Christ’s body
2. The Apollinarians of the fourth century declared Christ was two-thirds human
3. The Eutychiansbelieved His body was actually divine
The Bible clearly teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ was human in the full and complete sense of the word. [Though, there was one striking difference; He did not inherit the ‘sin nature’!]
A Human Birth
Born of a woman (virgin):
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.
After His supernatural conception, Jesus underwent a normal period of development in Mary’s womb.
[I believe that Jesus’ humanity began at conception; therefore, He left His throne in Heaven and humbled Himself to take on the form of a human at the ‘embryonic stage’ of development! Quit an impressive humbling!
Was Jesus a mixture of Mary’s chromosomes and then those placed there by the Holy Ghost (the male chromosomes)? Or, did the Holy Ghost place the ‘completed package’ of genetic information in Mary’s womb, and thus Jesus did not have any characteristics of Mary? The latter does not seem likely since He needed to be authentically ‘man’, human…He needed some origin coming from a human (i.e. Mary)]
Human Genealogy
Matt 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew’s Gospel gives the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph (Matthewl :1-17), and establishes his legal right to the throne of David. Christ is the seed of David — Rom 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Luke’s Gospel gives the genealogy of Jesus through Mary ( Luke 3:23-38), herselfadescendantofDavid( Luke2:3,5). Christ istheseed of the woman — Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
He Experienced Normal Human Development
Our Lord passed through infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood in the same fashionasanyotherchild. Lk 2:40, 46, 51, 52 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him ... And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sifting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions ... And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
[He grew mentally (wisdom), physically (stature), spiritually (favor with God), and socially (favor with man).
Thus, Jesus did not automatically know everything…He had to learn; He developed the ability to properly socially interact with adults (by age 12 He probably had it mastered); He pleased His heavenly Father more and more as He matured (at age 1 He was not as spiritually mature as at age 30; He was always filled with the Spirit, though; we all grow spiritually and are not just automatically fully mature; He was always ‘perfect’, right where He was suppose to be for that age).]
He had a Typical Human Appearance
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?” — John 4:9. Most likely, this meant He had dark hair, olive complexion, and brown eyes.
He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” —
Isaiah 53:2.
He didn’t stand out in the crowd: Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him” — Matthew 26:48,49.
He looked nothing like that portrayed in religious art. Byzantine and renaissance depictions of Jesus Christ show Him with long (usually fair) hair and blue eyes (not to mention a halo!).
[This portrayal came from a very wicked and perverse time in society and the art form then typically showed males as very effeminate; also, nudity was common for anything ‘religious’. Satan had deeply corrupted the representation of anything holy and made it to be perverse.
Nowadays, if a man has long hair and a beard they often are referred to as ‘looking like Jesus’; Jesus never had long hair!]
1Co 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
Whenever a man in the Bible did have long hair, a special note of it is made in the narrative — indicating it was not the norm; e.g. Samson, Absalom, demonic locusts.
The Jewish Talmud prescribed haircuts for men every month.
Busts of Roman emperors, etc. of that era show short hair on men.
Some argue that Jesus wore long hair because He was a Nazarite, but that is not so — He was a Nazarene (i.e. from Nazareth.)
He has a Tri-Partite Human Nature
He had/has a physical body: (sense consciousness)
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” — Hebrews 10:5.
Lk 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
The Docetists denied that Jesus had a literal body. They believed that, since flesh was sinful, it was impossible for Jesus to have a body of flesh, reasoning that the disciples and apostles only imagined He did.
[His post-resurrection body was ‘flesh’ (Lk 24:39); it even had the marks from His injuries of going to the cross:
Jn 20:27,28 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Forever He will bear those marks in ‘His glorified body’!]
He had/has a soul: (self consciousness)
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me” — Matthew 26:38.
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour” — John 12:27.
[The soul is that which is the ‘real you’; your ‘heart’, ‘mind’, ‘being’; ‘personhood’. It is the ‘self-consciousness’. It is your ‘will’.
Lk 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not mywill, but thine, be done.
His soul, His will, was always in subjection to the Father’s.]
He had/has a spirit: God consciousness.
And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?” — Mark 2:8.
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commendmy spirit: and havingsaid
thus, hegave upthe ghost—Luke23: 46.
[The spirit is where the Holy Spirit resides. While Jesus Christ was on Earth, He relied on the Holy Spirit.
Lu4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,]
Jesus had Normal Human Limitations
He experienced weariness -- John 4:6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
He required sleep -- Matthew 8:24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was sleep.
He experienced hunger -- Matthew 21:18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
He experienced thirst -- John 19:28After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
He suffered agony (strong emotions) --Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Jn 11:35 Jesus wept.
His physical body suffered death --Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
He was tempted in all points -- Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. All points: body (hunger; lust of the flesh), soul (fame; pride of life), and spirit (worship; lust of the eyes)
[He had a lack of knowledge – Mk 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. I believe that He now has that knowledge.]
Jesus Received Human Names and Titles
Jesus (a common name among Jews; the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew ‘Joshua’.)
Son of Man (This title is used over 80 times in the New Testament — Jesus Himself using it some 40 times. It is a title expressing His humanity.)
Jesus of Nazareth; The man Christ Jesus; The second man; The prophet of Nazareth; The carpenter; Master; The Nazarene.
Jesus’Relationship with His Father
Our Lord prayed often to His Father. He referred to God as His “Father” and “My God” — indicating a human relationship.
[This often confuses people into surmising that Jesus was not God; they imagine that since He called God the Father His ‘God’, then He was not God. But, the reason for this was His ‘humanity’; His humanity showed as He cried out for His God. He was completely God and completely man (yet without sin…and without the sin nature)!]
The Hypostatic Union
Definition: Two natures (full deity and full humanity) inseparably united in the one person of Christ.
(“The union in one person of the divine and human nature of Christ. The union of undiminished deity and perfect humanity forever in one Person is called the doctrine of the hypostatic union (that is, the union of two hypostases or natures), and this is the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.” – Ryrie)
1. Full Humanity: Jn.8:40; ITim.2:5; Heb.2:l4,l7
Importance: Because man brought in sin and death (Rom.5:l2-l9) [it would take ‘man’ to ‘die’ (God, of course, can’t
die).]
2. Sinless Humanity: IICor.5:2l; Heb.4:l5; IJn.3:5.
Importance: To be able to die for others (Heb.7:26-28) [it would take someone who was indeed sinless to satisfy the
Holy God of Heaven.]
3. Full Deity: Jn.l:l-3; l0; 30; Heb.l:l0-l2; Rom.9:5; Col.2:9.
Importance: To reveal God to us (Jn.l:l8; Heb.l:l-3); to pay for an infinite amount of sin and absorb an infinite
amount of wrath in a finite amount of time (Heb.l0:l0,l2); [only God could do something incredible like this!]
(Xenos Christian Fellowship)
[“Jesus Christ was fully God and perfect man, and that these two natures were united in one Person without forming a third nature” – Ryrie.]
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