A.W. Tozer, in the Knowledge of the Holy, says that what you think about God is of utmost importance. I would like to extend that thesis to the person of Jesus, for John 3:36 makes it clear that what you believe about Christ has life and death consequences.
My theology class this semester is intended in part as an answer to a simple question: “Who is Jesus?”
Dr. Porter states that most systematic theology classes and books focus their “Christology” on trying to make sense of how Jesus can be both fully divine and fully human — a complex topic indeed! While understandable, they do this, however, at the expense of neglecting a complete answer to the question above. If all you ever hear about Jesus is that He is fully God, and fully human, and then move on to the work of Christ on the cross, you may be left with an imprecise view of Christ.
It’s understandable — for how are we to expect a systematic theologian to go into more detail than that, when it can take a modern day biographer up to 500 pages just on the life of one historical figure — and Jesus was no mere historical figure!
Nonetheless, one’s understanding of the person of Christ directly affects one’s perspective on the works of Christ and therefore the doctrine of salvation (soteriology). While not necessarily creating fallacy, it will at the very least diminish one’s view of His glory — which Paul states is crucial to our growth in our relationship with God (2 Corinthians 3:18).
And so, Dr. Porter seeks to mend this gap by providing emphasis to the aspects of the character and work of Christ that are often misunderstood or overlooked, beginning with Christ’s humanness.
This is where our systematic theologians are irreplaceable — for they lay the foundation for properly seeing Jesus for who He is by helping us wrap our minds around this “God-man”. When we look at Jesus as man, we have to understand how His divinity interacts with His humanity. For instance, when Jesus healed the sick, was He engaging in His divine nature — thus drawing upon His own resources and power. Or was He instead so humanly united to God the Father through the Holy Spirit that He was led and empowered from on high as a human to heal? When Jesus is said to have “known what was in man” (John 2:25), did He know that because He was omniscient, or did He know that because of a pure, sinless human intuition built upon years of experience of relating with imperfect mankind? When Jesus was tempted, did He truly experience the real possibility of sinning against God, or did He have some advantage because of His divine nature?
Philippians 2:1-11 is a crucial passage in attempting to understand the relationship between Jesus’ human nature and His divine nature. In verse 6-7, it says “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…”. Other translations use the phrase “He emptied Himself”. Does it mean that in becoming completely human, He had to empty Himself of any of His divine nature? Millard Erickson, in his book Christian Theology, cites this as problematic. For it suggest that “Jesus was not God and man simultaneously, but successively,” (p. 749). This is contrary to the perspective of the Biblical authors who knew Jesus as both God and man.
So what did Jesus empty Himself of? Millard suggests that the phrase before and after it is enlightening: Jesus let go of His equality with God, but not the form of God — He functionally became a servant, subordinating Himself to God.
Why is all this important? There are several reasons, such as the necessity of being the perfect atonement for our sins. But primary to our every day lives is that if Jesus in any way utilized His divine nature during His time on earth, it would not be reasonable for Him to expect us to be able to imitate Him; He could not be our model and example for how to live our lives, for He would have an advantage we lack — the divine nature.
But if Jesus’ divine nature was subordinated to His Father, then when He experienced temptation, He experienced it as a human, not as God. The power He had to resist temptation came not from He being a person of the Trinity but from His continual relationship with God His Father through the Spirit.
The famous words of Jesus in John 15:5, “Whoever abides in me and I in Him, He it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing,” strike a surprising resemblance to His description of His relationship with God the Father in John 14:10: “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, bu the Father who dwells in me does His works”. Jesus refers here both to His teaching and His ministry being of the Father, not of His own authority. So it is reasonable for Him to expect nothing less from us — for if He, being fully human, could live in such union with God the Father, than we can too!
For me, this changes everything. Jesus lived in full dependence on God the Father through the Holy Spirit. (And this is most often seen practiced through His prayer life). Jesus really was in this regard just like me in that He understands the power of temptation, He understands weakness and being tired, and frail and how hard it can be sometimes to live your life completely dependent on an invisible God in a physical material world. It takes faith! And so Jesus is the perfecter of our faith, and the example to us — the crown in the long line of witnesses of what it’s like to live “by faith and not by sight”.
Suddenly Jesus becomes tangible to me.
Once I have one foot on the ground of Jesus’ humanity, I can now turn to more deeply appreciate His divinity. For here is a man that is not so unlike me that I can’t relate to Him, or see aspects of myself in Him. And yet this man is the “perfect representation of God” (Colossians 1:15). If I want to know who God is, all I have to do is look at the person of Christ Jesus.
But that we shall have to leave for next time…
Hi Cynthe, so glad to see this blog. It is beautiful to inquire of the Lord.
Reminds me of Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” We are a kingdom of priests in Christ. So it is fitting for us to truly understand whom we serve.
I myself have been seeking to know Christ more, through studying His Word. And his promise to find him as we seek him with all our heart is sure!
I have learned, not according to systematic theology or man’s teaching, but through the Word of God, that Jesus is not just a person of the man-made doctrine the Trinity. He is in fact, all in all, He is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Allow me to share some verses on this:
Isaiah 9:6 – Jesus is called the Counselor (whom we know is the Holy Spirit). Jesus is also called the Everlasting Father. –> here we see that rather than the Trinity being revealed, Jesus is revealed as the Father, Son, and the Spirit.
Revelation chapters 2 & 3 – It is clear that Jesus is speaking in these chapters. When he is warning the churches, he says “He who has an hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” Jesus is referring to Himself as the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17 says …”Now the Lord is the Spirit”.
**We have to first study who Jesus reveals himself to be before we can wrap our heads around scriptures like Matthew 3:16-17. The gospel of John is especially good for studying who Jesus is. He constantly mirrors himself and the Father. Consider these verses:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My Name (Jesus) HE will give you….(John 16:23)
“And whatever you ask in My name (Jesus), that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I (Jesus) WILL DO IT. (John 14:13-14).
To summarize, Jesus says “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:7)
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Is it really difficult to accept what Jesus is saying here? Yes and no. Yes – because church history has so indoctrinated people to believe God is three separate persons, and Satan loves this because it waters down who Christ is. No – because God promises we will find Him when we search with all our heart, and he is not a Man that he should lie.
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If we really consider the whole of the Bible, Jesus was from the beginning, and the end is all about the Revelation of Jesus. He truly is SIGNIFICANT.
Consider Isaiah 45: 21-22 Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. (see also Isaiah 43:10-11)
We see that LORD (YHWH, usually referred to as God the Father) is declaring Himself “Savior” – and He says there is no other God besides Me. If this is true, how can he AND a “second” person Jesus both be Savior?
VIDEO: Jesus is the Father, Son, Holy Spirit
VIDEO: The Lord is One
God’s Word is Truth, and it says:
– 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was MANIFEST in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Jesus said in John 14:17 that “…you know Him because He abides WITH YOU (meaning He was with the disciples in person) and will be IN YOU (referring to His Spirit). ..and John 14:18…”I will not leave you as orphans (referring to His ascension into heaven), I WILL COME TO YOU. (God/Father/Jesus) would return to them in Spirit to live in them…
Christ in us:
Test yourselves to see if you are IN the faith; examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize that JESUS CHRIST is IN YOU – unless you fail the test? 2 Cor. 13:5
John chapter 15 is all about abiding IN Christ (In the Spirit).
Colossians 1:27 – “For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: CHRIST LIVES IN YOU. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.” (See also Romans 8:11)
This is the power of God (Jesus)
– John 10:17-18): Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.
***********Comment: Jesus was servant to the Father, because God is Spirit, and the flesh must serve the spirit. Jesus was giving us the example. God robed Himself in flesh to be our sin sacrifice, and He raised Himself back up to life, so He could give us His Spirit. God is not 3 persons – He is One person, manifesting himself in spirit and flesh.**********
God is the Spirit (1 Timothy 1:17) and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). The Lord is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17 | Romans 8:9-10) and Jesus is Lord (Isaiah 43:10-11). Jesus has become our Father (Galatians 4:6), as those who have believed, repented and been baptized in Jesus name have been adopted in the his kingdom (Acts 2:36-38)….ahhh, yes, baptism…that is another discussion…let’s have it sometime =) What does the Bible and Jesus say about baptism? I know for sure there is no verse that says baptism is a public display of our decision to follow Christ. Furthermore, we are *commanded* by Jesus to be baptized. Here are some helpful video links:
VIDEO: Baptism in Jesus name (this is particularly important in understand who Jesus is)
VIDEO: Baptism in Jesus name (more Bible verses to study!)
Thanks for letting me share – let’s keep the dialogue going! God bless you. Love you in Yeshua / Yahweh / Messiah / Jesus!
Alicia Daberkow
[…] my last discussion on Jesus (Tell Me About Jesus), I talked about how trying to make sense of Jesus being both fully God and fully human is critical […]