The Religious Nerd

The question often rises of who Jesus was.   Some say he was a man who lived in the 1^st century. Most historians and biblical scholars from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds can agree that this man Jesus in fact existed during the time frame recorded in the bible.  There is very little dispute over Jesus ‘ earthly existence or that He was involved with religious teachings.

The dispute revolves around Jesus’ own statements of deity.  For example in John 14:6 it says “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Along with stating His deity in this verse, He also states that He is the exclusive means by which a person may come to the Father, or in other words, the exclusive path to eternal life in heaven.  As Christians we obviously believe what Jesus said.

Most Christians are comfortable making the claim that Jesus is God, and that He came to Earth through the virgin birth, and eventually died on the cross for our sins.  The confusion often revolves around his dual nature – being both man and God at the same time.  Why was it important for Jesus to become a man in order to save mankind? (Phil 2)  When He came to Earth did He abandon his Godly attributes (Kenosis theory) or did he maintain His Godly attributes and Godhood? I will handle these questions in this post.

Jesus Christ was fully God and fully Man in one person and will be so forever.  Here is how and why this is:

1)    Why did He have to be fully God?  He had to be fully God because God alone possesses the power to save people – without Him we are dead in our trespasses and sins and left alone to perish and die.  The divine gardener prepares the soil, plants the seed, waters the ground, enables the seed to come alive, which results in the growth of a beautiful flower that will never perish.  God alone keeps this beautiful blossom alive.  He never forgets to water, prune, and appreciate His precious flowers, and they remain in his garden forever.

2)    Why did He have to be fully Man?  He had to become man because the work of salvation had to be performed by a human being for human beings. As it is recorded in Philippians 2, Jesus took the nature of a servant, became a human man, and gave up His life on the cross to atone for our sins.  His life was sacrificed for our lives.  The wrath of God is removed from us because Jesus’ death on the cross removed it from us.  In the divine courtroom he stands as our divine defense, and when the judgment of God comes down on us for our sins, he stands in front of us like a man protecting his wife, and absorbs the fury of God’s wrath and judgment leaving us untouched.  God then see’s us through a new Lens, justified through saving faith in Jesus Christ.  We don’t have to constantly worry about our salvation any more.  We don’t have to fear the wrath of God every time we slip up.  Christians can rest easy at night knowing that Jesus, being both fully God and fully man, atoned for our sins, which put us in good standing with God.  It has nothing to do with any good works we have done and everything to do with Jesus.

3)    He was both fully God and fully man at the same time:  Some theologians believe that Jesus essentially emptied Himself of his divine attributes (Kenosis theory) when He came to Earth, and was just a man. They use verses in the scriptures which appear to limit the omniscience and omnipotence of Jesus.  While there are some texts which seemingly teach that Jesus isn’t omniscient (Matthew 24:36 ) these passages merely demonstrate the dual nature of Jesus.  His limitations existed in his manly nature alone while in His divine nature He remained fully omniscient.  I do realize this is hard to wrap one’s mind around.  The nature of Christ and of the Trinity have been debated and discussed for hundreds of years.

4)    John Calvin goes much further into this dual nature of Christ for those of you who want more on this:

1. ” Now it was of the greatest importance for us that he who was to be our mediator be both true God and true man…Since our iniquities, like a cloud cast between us and him, had completely estranged us from the Kingdom of Heaven, no man, unless he belonged to God, could serve as the intermediary to restore peace.  But who might reach to him? Any one of Adam’s children? No, like their father, all of them were terrified at the sight of God…What then? The situation would surely have been hopeless had the very majesty of God not descended to us, since it was not in our power to ascend to him.  Hence, it was necessary for the Son of God to become for us “Immanuel, that is God with us,” and in such a way that his divinity and our human nature might by mutual connection grow together…In undertaking to describe the Mediator, Paul then, with good reason, distinctly reminds us that He is man: “One mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.” John Calvin –  Institutes of Christian Religion.
2. I also recommend Wayne Grudems “Systematic Theology” and Michael Hortons “Systematic Theology” as well to get a more in depth knowledge of this dual nature of Jesus.

I would love to hear from you if you have any questions or comments.  God bless you!