Who is Jesus? Part 9

The God-man: Fully Human (Though Sinless)

In this lesson, we celebrate the incarnation (enfleshment) of the eternal Son of God, by affirming that, though He shares the nature of the eternal God, at a specific point in space-time history, the Son of God became a man, without ceasing to be God. Put differently, the eternal Son of God became a human being by entering Adam’s race to become fully human like us.

Key Takeaway: Jesus had to be a sinless, fully human being to be our Savior-King.

Discussion

Read Luke 1:31; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:5

What do these verses affirm about the person of Jesus Christ?

Read John 4:6, John 19:28; Matthew 4:2

How did Jesus’s human experience compare with ours?

We affirmed in Lesson 8 that God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Moreover, God can never cease to be what He is. But this means, when the Son of God (the 2nd person of the Trinity) became a human being (Philippians 2:6-8), He did not cease to be God (Colossians 2 :9). In other words, He did not empty Himself of His Deity, for this would have been impossible. Instead, at the incarnation (John 1:14) He became the one-and-only God-man: one person possessing two natures that never compete with nor diminish one another. This mystery is great, far beyond our comprehension, but it compels us to worship Jesus Christ, the God-man, who alone could become our Savior-King.

Let’s consider three reasons Jesus had to be a (perfect) fully human being order to be our Redeemer:

Read Romans 5:12-19; Romans 8:3; Hebrews 2:14-17

  1. Our justification depends upon the full humanity of Jesus. For only a man could pay for men’s sins. Moreover, only a man from Adam’s race could save Adam’s race, by becoming our new, legal representative (Adam 2.0) who could/would:

    • Live the perfect life we don’t live, to reverse the disobedience of Adam 1.0 on our behalf (Rom 5:19)
    • Pay for our sins and thereby reconcile us to God (Rom 8:3).

    Remember 2 Corinthians 5:21: Our justification (right-standing before God) required that our sins be imputed (assigned) to Christ and, thereby, canceled at the cross; AND that Christ’s righteous obedience be imputed to us so that we are now righteous before God in Christ.

Read Leviticus 1:3; Hebrews 7:26-28; 1 Peter 1:18-19

  1. In addition to being a fully human member of Adam's race, Jesus was the only sinless human being who ever lived.

    What if Jesus had only been the best man who ever lived but was still imperfect? Could He still have paid the penalty for our sins? Why or why not?

  1. Only as “one of us” could Jesus truly be our compassionate example for human living.

Read 1 Peter 2:21; Hebrews 2:18, Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 2:6

How does Jesus’s familiarity with and victory over temptation encourage us when we are tempted?

How does Jesus’s familiarity with suffering encourage us when we suffer?

Because He was fully God, Jesus Christ could represent the holy God who desired to reconcile sinners to Himself. Because He was fully human, Jesus could be our perfect representative before the holy God, and thereby bring us salvation and compassionate guidance.

Pause for a moment to marvel at the one-and-only God-man, Savior-King: Jesus Christ.

Additional Study

The sinless humanity of Jesus Christ is central to His role as our Savior-King. To think more about this beautiful doctrine, see, Grudem, Systematic Theology, The Person of Christ, pp. 535-539

In addition to having never sinned, the God-man, could not have sinned. This doctrine is referred to as the “impeccability of Christ.” Though affirmed by Scripture, it raises questions about the nature of Christ’s temptations. For example, how could they be genuine if, in the end, Jesus could not ultimately fail? While this a good question (dealt with in the articles below), we must affirm with Scripture that:

  1. The temptations experienced by the God-man were real and at least as intense as anything we will ever experience.
  2. Because He was and is the God-man, He could not, in fact, have sinned.

To think more about and ultimately celebrate this beautiful tension, see:

Karin Aiello