We’ve talked about Jesus being one with God in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and of Jesus being co-eternal and co-creator with God. Now we come to another defining belief of the Christian faith: Jesus was not only fully God, but was also fully human.
This was one of the most challenging things for early Christians to believe, and it is still a stumbling block for many.
In a sense, though, we face the opposite objection to what the early Christians faced. In our day, it’s easy for most people to accept that Jesus was fully human; they have trouble accepting that he was fully divine as well.
You might see this when people want to speak of him merely as a great teacher or a great moral example. Maybe they think of him as a great prophet or preacher who was unusually in tune with God and developed a devoted following.
Sometimes even sincere believers minimize the humanity of Jesus out of a misguided effort to honor him. They might read a verse like Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin,” and think, “No, Jesus couldn’t have really been tempted; he knew God.”
Or maybe they look at the temptations during the forty days in the wilderness or Jesus’s plea in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me,” and can’t imagine a Jesus who is wholly God facing real temptation.
But to deny the temptation and pain that Jesus faced is to trivialize the gift God gave. In the words of Philippians, Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
In the early days of the church there were many voices that took that same viewpoint. Some suggested that Jesus only appeared to be human, and his apparent temptation was simply a show put on for people. Some believed that God temporarily inhabited that man, Jesus, but didn’t share his actual human limitations. Or they came up with other theories to explain away the clear words of scripture: “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”
Look at how much of the Nicene Creed is devoted to emphasizing the dual reality of Jesus as both human and divine: “eternally begotten of the Father…true God from true God…came down from heaven…suffered death and was buried.”
An understanding of Jesus who isn’t fully human can’t grasp the level of compassion and sacrifice God showed in him. An understanding of Jesus who isn’t fully divine can’t grasp the power he has to save us.
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
He really meant that.
– Rev. Mark Fleming
This is part of a sermon/reading series in July-August, 2024, looking at some core Christian beliefs, along with distinctive emphases of the Methodist branch of Christianity.
The daily readings are my own, but they are loosely based on the topics covered in the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church. The column at the right contains the questions from the catechism and the sources it lists.
You can find the full catechism and other information about the Global Methodist Church at globalmethodist.org.
I invite you to join us for worship and other church gatherings at China Methodist Church and Forest Park Methodist Church.
Respectful conversation is welcome. Use the comment section at the end of this post.
From the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church:
10. Why did the Son of God become human?
For us and for our salvation.
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
Acts 16:30-31 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Romans 3:21-26 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Titus 3:6-7 …whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
11. How did the Son of God become human?
He came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.
Matthew 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:30-35 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Romans 1:3-4 …regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Galatians 4:4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…
Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
1 John 1:1-3 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
12. Who is Jesus Christ?
The Son of God and our Lord Jesus Christ are one person in whom the divine and human naturesare perfectly and inseparably united.
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Matthew 1:20-23 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 14:9-11 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
Romans 1:3-4 …regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Colossians 1:15-20 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
1 Timothy 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
Hebrews 1:1-3 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Confession of Faith, Article II* We believe in Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, in whom the divine and human natures are perfectly and inseparably united. He is the eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. As ministering Servant he lived, suffered and died on the cross. He was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, from whence he shall return. He is eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us, and by him all men will be judged.
*From the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a predecessor denomination of the Global Methodist Church.