The New Testament is very clear that Jesus
was a full human being. He had to grow in wisdom (Lk 2:52) and learn obedience
by going through trials, just like every other human being (Heb. 5:8). He grew
hungry and tired, like the rest of us. He experienced the same range of emotions
as the rest of us and was tempted in all the ways we are (Heb 4:15). He was, in
other words, made like us “in every way” (Heb 2:17). Jesus was a full human
being. In fact, all indications are that Jesus still is a full human being,
albeit in a resurrected and transformed state.
At the same time, the New Testament also clearly teaches us that Jesus is
God. John tells us that, while no one has ever seen God as he is in himself, the
Word (Jesus), who is himself God, has made him known (Jn. 1:18).
Similarly, in his epistle he refers to the Son of God as “the true God” (I Jn
5:20). Along the same lines, Paul refers to Jesus as “God over all” (Rom. 9:5)
and “our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13) while Thomas calls Jesus “Lord” and
“God,” and Jesus commends him for his faith (Jn. 20:28).
The New Testament repeatedly ascribes to Jesus titles and activities that are
elsewhere reserved for God alone. For example, the single most common title
given to Jesus in the New Testament is “Lord” (kurios) (e.g. Rom 10:9;
1 Cor 1:7). This is the Greek equivalent of Yahweh, the most sacred name for God
in the Old Testament. So too, the Bible teaches that God alone is judge and
creator, yet Jesus is depicted in these roles in the New Testament (Col 1:16).
Similarly, Yahweh alone is said to be “the alpha and the omega” and “the
beginning and the end” (Isa. 44:6), yet Jesus says this of himself in
the New Testament (Rev. 22:13).
One of the most interesting evidences of Jesus’ divinity occurs when Jesus
says to his audience, “Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn. 8:58, emphasis
added). The reason Jesus mixes the past and present tense is because by
referring to himself as the “I am,” he’s identifying himself with Yahweh who
spoke to Moses out of the burning bush saying, “ I am that I am” (Ex. 3:14). His
Jewish audience understood exactly what he was claiming for himself, for they
immediately picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy.
Finally, and perhaps most impressively, the Bible consistently stresses that
humans are to pray to and worship God alone. Whenever humans or even angels find
others bowing before them in the Bible, they immediately put a stop to it. Yet
we find people – monotheistic Jews no less – worshipping Jesus, and he not only
allows it, but encourages it (e.g. Jn 20:28-29). The practice of worshipping and
praying to Jesus as Lord is found throughout the New Testament.
The only conclusion we can draw from the New Testament evidence is the one
the early church drew at the council of Chalcedon (451 AD); namely, Jesus Christ
is fully God and fully human. He’s not (as some teach today)
simply a great teacher, an enlightened guru, an inspired prophet or an angel:
He’s rather “the Word made flesh” (Jn. 1:14), the very embodiment of God. (The
embodiment of God in Christ is known as “the Incarnation”). The Incarnation
reveals that God was so in love with humanity, despite our sin and rebellion,
that he decided to enter into our sin infested world and become one of us!
Of course, it’s very hard, if not impossible, to understand how a person can
be at one and the same time fully God and fully human. But it shouldn’t surprise
us that we confront mysteries when trying to comprehend God. After all, we
confront paradoxes when studying our own physical world. For example, physicists
tell us that light has the property of waves in some circumstances and of
particles in other circumstances – yet we have no way of understanding how this
is possible. If we confront paradoxes trying to understand the nature of our
physical world, it should hardly surprise us if we confront paradoxes trying to
understand God!
- Greg Boyd
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