{"id":100,"date":"2011-09-25T20:45:04","date_gmt":"2011-09-25T19:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=100"},"modified":"2011-09-25T20:45:04","modified_gmt":"2011-09-25T19:45:04","slug":"how-could-jesus-be-both-god-and-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=100","title":{"rendered":"How could Jesus be both God and man?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
\nAnd in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
\nWho, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man;<\/p>\n

How could Jesus really be both God and man? We have taken two weeks to begin to understand what God is really like, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and Earth. Now we are going to begin to grapple with what Christians believe about the Incarnation \u2013 how God became man in Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n

A few weeks ago we asked what the God of the Bible is really like? And we saw that the God we worship and believe in is almighty, all-knowing, ever-present, eternal, holy, all-loving, TRANSCENDENT! REPEAT – almighty, all-knowing, ever-present, eternal, holy, all-loving, TRANSCENDENT! It is totally impossible and beyond any human understanding how that transcendent God who is SO different from us, and so much greater than we can possibly imagine, could actually become a human being, limited in space and time and knowledge and mortality. This is the paradox and the total contradiction of the Incarnation! So let\u2019s begin by reminding ourselves just why we Christians believe that Jesus Christ was indeed God born as a human being, Immanuel, God with us.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s remember that it took the Early Church a couple of centuries all to agree on the truth that Jesus was actually divine. The reason for this was simple. The Jews believed there was only one God. Every day they recited in their prayers, \u201cHear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.\u201d (Deut 6:4) Jewish monotheism stood out against the polytheism of Greeks, Romans and Eastern Mystery Religions. So it was very difficult for Jewish Christians to recognise that Jesus of Nazareth was not only human but also divine. Indeed it took almost four centuries for the whole church to recognise God as Three in One, a Holy Trinity. Bear in mind that when the gospels speak of Jesus as \u201cthe Son of God\u201d NOBODY during Jesus\u2019s lifetime would have understood that title to mean \u201cGod the Son, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Remember as well that before the resurrection NOBODY who saw and listened to Jesus immediately said, \u201cThis man is God\u201d. Jesus\u2019s miracles, for example, were not taken as proof of Jesus\u2019s divinity. Indeed Jesus refused to give any such proof or sign. The only sign he would offer was the \u201csign of Jonah\u201d.<\/p>\n

MATTHEW 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
\nThe resurrection of Christ is God\u2019s ultimate proof that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. So the apostle Paul can begin his letter to the Romans talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord,
\nRomans 1 2 the gospel (God) promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead:. <\/p>\n

Only this side of the resurrection, with hindsight and the eye of faith, can we see the glimpses in Jesus\u2019s ministry and His teaching that He was more than a man \u2013 that He was indeed God incarnate. <\/p>\n

But the Bible does give us other compelling evidence that Jesus is indeed divine, \u201cthe only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father,\u201d <\/p>\n

And we find that evidence principally in the gospel of John. This is how John introduces Jesus \u2013 in those words so familiar to us at Christmas.
\n1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
\n3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
\n14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
\n18 No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father\u2019s side, has made him known.<\/p>\n

Looking back on the life of Jesus, John recognised that Jesus was indeed the One and Only Son, the Word made flesh, the one who had created the world.<\/p>\n

And we find the apostle Paul echoing that understanding of who Jesus is when he writes to the Colossians expressing the faith of the Early Church, and possibly quoting an early Christian hymn.<\/p>\n

COLOSSIANS 1:15-20<\/p>\n

We can best see why John and all the disciples, and Paul and the Early Church came to recognise Jesus as God by looking at the words of Jesus Himself.<\/p>\n

Some people would start with the seven great \u201cI am\u201d statements in John\u2019s Gospel. <\/p>\n

See John 6:35; . \u201cI am the bread of life.
\n 8:12; \u201c\u2026I am the light of the world.
\n10:7; \u2026 \u201cI tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ,,,,
\n11:25; \u201cI am the resurrection and the life.
\n14:6; \u2026. \u201cI am the way and the truth and the life.
\n15:1. \u201cI am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.<\/p>\n

All these great \u201cI am\u201d declarations certainly reveal that Jesus had a unique relationship with God. But they do not necessarily imply that Jesus was God. Two others however are almost certainly claims to be divine.<\/p>\n

10:11 \u201cI am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.\u201d
\nRemember that in the Old Testament God was the shepherd of Israel. Psalm 23 \u2013 the Lord is my Shepherd. So a claim to be the Good Shepherd could well be a claim actually to be God.
\n8:58; \u201cI tell you the truth,\u201d Jesus answered, \u201cbefore Abraham was born, I am!\u201d 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
\nHere is is very significant that \u201cI am\u201d was the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). That name of Yahweh is usually translated in our Bibles as \u201cthe LORD\u201d. Those Jews who picked up stones to punish Jesus for blasphemy certainly understood \u201cbefore Abraham was, I am\u201d as a claim to be older than Abraham, and probably actually a claim to be God.
\nSo the \u201cI am\u201d Jesus claims of Jesus do point to the idea that Jesus was indeed God. But there is a different saying which is even more important \u2013 when Jesus said in John 10:30, \u201cI and the Father are One\u201d. <\/p>\n

Can you imagine the scene? Every day for more than a thousand years the Jews had prayed that same prayer, The Shema: \u201cHear O Israel the Lord your God, the Lord is One.\u201d Then one day Jesus of Nazareth, said that most amazing thing. JOHN 10:30 I and the Father are one.\u201d There was an outcry!
\n 31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, \u201cI have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?\u201d 33 \u201cWe are not stoning you for any of these,\u201d replied the Jews, \u201cbut for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.\u201d
\nIf we think it was easy or obvious for the first Christians to recognise that Jesus was God, remember that Jesus was executed for blasphemy for claiming to be God! \u201cI and the Father are One\u201d, Jesus said. 79 times in John\u2019s Gospel Jesus talks about the relationship between His Father and Himself. And in those sayings Jesus revealed His divine nature in a number of ways. <\/p>\n

PERFECT SERVANT OF GOD
\nTEACHING GOD’S WORDS<\/p>\n

Jn8:28 28 I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.<\/p>\n

Jn12:49 49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 \u2026 So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”<\/p>\n

Jn14:23 24 \u2026These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.<\/p>\n

Jn15:15 Everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.<\/p>\n

Jesus brought us God\u2019s teaching. He claimed to speak His Father\u2019s words with His Father\u2019s authority,
\nBut what about the miracles?<\/p>\n

DOING GOD’S WORK<\/p>\n

Jn5:19 19 “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.<\/p>\n

Jn5:36 36 “The very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. <\/p>\n

Jn14:31 31 I love the Father and \u2026 I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. <\/p>\n

According to the gospels, Jesus\u2019s miracles were not done in his own strength, by His own divine power as Son of God. The miracles were the work of the Holy Spirit through Jesus. So the miracles are not proof that Jesus was God \u2013 and nobody at that time took them as proof that Jesus was God. But the miracles do demonstrate that Jesus had a very special relationship with The Father.<\/p>\n

Jesus was the Perfect Servant of God \u2013 teaching God\u2019s truth and doing God\u2019s Work. But more than that, Jesus was
\nUNIQUE REVELATION OF GOD
\nEXPERIENCE OF GOD<\/p>\n

Jn10:. 38 \u2026. the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”<\/p>\n

Jn8:38 38. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence,<\/p>\n

The reason Jesus is able to reveal the Father to us is because of his unique relationship with God \u2013 his unique \u201cone-ness.\u201d<\/p>\n

REVEALING GOD<\/p>\n

Jn8:19 “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”<\/p>\n

Jn14:7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”<\/p>\n

Jn14:9 9 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;<\/p>\n

What Jesus is saying time and again is this. \u201cIf you want to know what God is like, look at me!\u201d That claim could be bold, outrageous, arrogant, insane, evil \u2013 if it is not true. But with Jesus it IS true! Jesus IS the Song of God who brings salvation to rebellious human beings by revealing God to us.
\nTHE SOURCE OF LIFE<\/p>\n

Jesus is\u201cthe resurrection and the life,\u201d the source of eternal life \u2013 the source of life in all its fulness<\/p>\n

Jn6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. …. 44 “No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am the bread of life\u201d \u2013 the source of grace and daily strength for all believers.
\nJn6:57 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.<\/p>\n

Jesus is the unique way to a relationship with the Father \u2013 the only way of salvation.
\nJn14:6 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. <\/p>\n

We share God\u2019s life \u2013 because Jesus share\u2019s the Father\u2019s life and we share the life of Jesus.
\nJn14:20 20 On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 …. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”<\/p>\n

The life which we have comes from God THROUGH Christ. The Holy Spirit makes that life real to us \u2013 and it is Christ who gives us the Spirit.
\nJn15:26 26. “When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.<\/p>\n

Jn16:15 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
\nSo it is the Holy Spirit who comes and shares Christ\u2019s life with us. All the blessings of Christ\u2019s death and resurrection are brought to us by the Holy Spirit \u2013 and it is Christ who gives the Spirit. <\/p>\n

So \u2013 Jesus is the perfect Servant of God. More than that, from His unique experience of God He brings a unique revelation of God and is the Source of eternal life. He can do this only because He is indeed much more than a man. Jesus is the<\/p>\n

UNIQUE SON OF GOD<\/p>\n

SENT BY GOD<\/p>\n

Jn8:42 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.<\/p>\n

Jn20:21 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”<\/p>\n

Jesus of Nazareth the man was fully human. Yet he was also conscious that God had sent him. More than that \u2013 Jesus was conscious that He had existed before his earthly life had begun. That He was indeed the Word become flesh!<\/p>\n

THE PRE-EXISTENT SON<\/p>\n

Jn16:27 27 I came from God. 28. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”<\/p>\n

Jn17:21 Jesus PRAYED 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
\nOne \u2013 just as you are in me and I am in you \u2013 a unique closeness to God<\/p>\n

Jn17:24 24. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.<\/p>\n

Beyond His death and resurrection, Jesus knew he was returning to His Father.
\nJn20:17 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, `I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”<\/p>\n

Jn10:17 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life- only to take it up again. 18 No-one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”<\/p>\n

We can see that Jesus is more than a man from this power he had over his own life and death. He was the Son of God \u2013 God, the Son, born as a human being for us and our salvation. And all these claims Jesus makes about Himself and His understanding of his own identity are confirmed for Him and for us by God the Father. <\/p>\n

GLORIFIED BY GOD<\/p>\n

5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.<\/p>\n

Jn8:54 54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.<\/p>\n

In Gethsemane Jesus prays Jn17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.<\/p>\n

So here we see Jesus Christ as HE describes Himself in John\u2019s gospel.
\nThe Perfect Servant of God \u2013 teaching God\u2019s words and doing God\u2019s works
\nThe Unique Revelation of God \u2013 having a unique experience of God, revealing God, indeed being the source of life itself
\nThe Unique Son of God \u2013 sent by God, coming from the Father and returning to the Father, given glory by God Himself.<\/p>\n

And at the end of John\u2019s gospel, the apostle Thomas gives us a pattern for the way we should respond to Jesus, God\u2019s own Son.
\nJOHN 20:26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, \u201cPeace be with you!\u201d 27 Then he said to Thomas, \u201cPut your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.\u201d
\n28 Thomas said to him, \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Perfect Servant \u2013 the Unique Revelation \u2013 The Unique Son of God. Jesus allowed Thomas to worship him \u2013 \u201cMy Lord and My God! <\/p>\n

How CAN Jesus be BOTH God and man? Three questions to stretch our understanding.
\n1.\tCould Jesus have used His divine power to overcome the Temple guards when they came to arrest Him?
\n2.\tDid Jesus know everything God knows?
\n3.\tWas the Divine Word holding the whole universe together at the same time as He was dying on the cross?<\/p>\n

How can Jesus be BOTH God and man?<\/p>\n

Beware of the \u201csuperhero\u201d heresy!
\nJesus was God only APPEARING to be a man \u2013
\nlike Superman disguised as Clark Kent, or
\na King disguised as a beggar.
\n1 John and 2 John challenge this heresy of \u201cdocetism\u201d.
\n\u201cThis is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.\u201d (1 John 4:2-3)<\/p>\n

How can Jesus be BOTH God and man? The clue lies in Philippians chapter 2:6-7<\/p>\n

who, though he was in the form of God,
\ndid not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,being born in human likeness.
\nPhil 2:6-7 New Revised Standard Version.
\nhe gave up all he had, (Good News Bible)
\nHe laid aside His mighty power and glory
\n(New Living Translation)
\nHe made Himself nothing (NIV)<\/p>\n

1. \u201cDIVINE SUICIDE\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe EMPTIED HIMSELF\u201d \u2013 \u201cKenosis\u201d
\nGod becomes man and ceases to be God
\nBUT that is also heresy!
\n\u201cGod was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in him,\u201d \u201cFor in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form.\u201d Colossians 1:19, 2:9<\/p>\n

2. \u201cDOUBLE LIFE\u201d
\nGod the Son became human and at the same time continued to sustain the universe.
\n2 sets of relationships in parallel
\n\u201cThe Word\u201d as God with the universe
\n\u201cJesus of Nazareth\u201d as a man in the world<\/p>\n

3. \u201cSELF-RESTRAINT\u201d
\nDeity \u201cretracted\u201d into humanity \u2013 God the Son voluntarily contracted His divine life to the form and dimensions of human existence.
\nSo Jesus did not necessarily know that He was actually God \u2013 the King living as a beggar because he had amnesia .
\nBut what about \u201ccosmic chaos\u201d? Who then was sustaining and ruling the universe while Christ was dying on the cross. PT Forsythe \u2013 \u201cThe resources of the Trinity are adequate\u201d!<\/p>\n

How can Jesus be BOTH God and man? Some final thoughts:<\/p>\n

\u201cGod into man won\u2019t go \u2013 and yet has gone!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman logic is not omnicompetent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur metaphysics is not adequate to cope with the incarnation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deity and humanity are NOT mutually exclusive \u2013 \u201ca mathematician AND an englishman\u201d \u2013 perhaps they are \u201corthogonal\u201d. <\/p>\n

Circle is intersection of cone with plane \u2013 so Christ is intersection of God with humanity.<\/p>\n

WE BELIEVE in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.<\/p>\n

How could Jesus be both God and man? Bow down and worship \u2013 for this is your God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord…<\/span><\/p>\n

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