The Gospel records of the New Testament make abundantly plain that their chief character, Jesus of Nazareth, was a real man, an actual figure of earthly history. This truth is not open to doubt or to serious question. From the standpoint of the ordinary reader who comes to these records with no preconceived ideas—no religious prejudices—the claim that is difficult to believe is not the claim that Jesus was a man, but rather the claim that this Man was God incarnate. For His appearance on the field of history is not just an abnormal passing theophany. He is not merely a man in superficial appearance only, nor is He some superhuman spirit temporarily possessing a man other than Himself in order thus to manifest His presence in human deeds and human words. He is clearly Himself completely and naturally Man.
So we read, and there is no reason to doubt, that He was conceived in the womb of a woman, who gave birth to Him as His human mother. He began His earthly life as a dependent infant, needing to be carried and cared for by others. He passed through the stages of normal human growth and development. So Luke records, “the child grew” (2:40); and “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature” (2:52). He knew what it was to be weary, to sleep, and to rise early. He experienced hunger, thirst and temptation. He felt pleasure, anger, and grief, even unto tears. He continually sought God in prayer. At the end He died and was buried.
For the mind that is eager to know how things work—an interest so dominant in the present age of great scientific discovery—the problem is not to understand how Jesus functioned as a man; for that seems normal enough. The problem is rather to understand how He could still be functioning as God. Surely to make such a genuine human experience possible, He must have completely abandoned His supernatural divine powers?
Here Christian reverence, humility and faith prefer to recognize a mystery, which the enquiring human mind cannot thus scientifically penetrate and analyze. Just because it is unique, it is beyond logical definition, it cannot be classified or compared with similar phenomena; for there are none. It is sui generis. Also, because it is from above, a supernatural divine achievement, it is beyond the grasp of man’s finite comprehension.
Before this mystery, the superior scientific investigator, looking down on evidence which he is determined to analyze and explain, is forced to become a submissive worshipper, looking up in awe and reverence to acknowledge a mystery far bigger than his mind can grasp—but an unmistakable fact nonetheless.
Here, at any rate, men must choose between submissive faith and self-confident conceit. Here men must confess a mystery beyond the grasp of the human mind, or still hold fast to the fancy that the human mind is bigger than this mystery and well able accurately to theorize about it. Here all who would thus bring Jesus under their criticism must ultimately find themselves brought under His judgment. We sometimes do well not to forget that Jesus Himself said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind” (see Jn. 9:39-41).
On this subject of the incarnation of God the Son the New Testament writers do offer some light to those who are minded thus to be taught of God. When God the Son became Man, it involved a new and special subordination of His Person to God the Father, with the result that He who could say eternally as God, “I and My Father are one” (Jn. 10:30) could now say on earth as Man, “My Father is greater than I” (Jn. 14:28, rv). He who, as God the Son, was equal with God the Father and one with Him in substance or Godhead, in order to become true Man like other men, took upon Himself the position of a slave or bond-servant in relation to God the Father. He humbled Himself in order to become as Man in all things—both dependent on His Father’s giving and obedient to His Father’s guiding. This is how, as Paul says, “He emptied Himself” (see Phil. 2:5-8). This is what His “kenosis” meant.
As Man, the things He had to give were still the things of God, for He Himself was God, the One from above. But He did not as Man use for Himself all that was still His as God. This complete dependence on His Father’s giving and guiding He personally recognized as Man, by continually seeking God the Father in prayer. This complete dependence on His Father’s giving and guiding He openly acknowledged in explicit testimony concerning His own speech and behavior.
Let us quote some of His statements, “I can of Mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge” (Jn. 5:30). “As My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things” (Jn. 8:28). “I speak that which I have seen with My Father” (Jn. 8:38). “The Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (Jn. 12:49). “Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak” (Jn. 12:50).
This means, therefore, that, on the one hand, He lived a genuine human life within divinely controlled limits. But it means also, on the other hand, that what He did and said as Man had the perfection, authority and infallibility of His own divine Person, and of the direct divine giving of His heavenly Father.
Finally, while Jesus was unquestionably a real Man, it is important to recognize His radical difference from other men just because other men are all sinners. For Jesus did not partake of the sinfulness of the human race. He “did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). Such is the testimony of an eyewitness of long and detailed experience. Consequently Jesus never repented of sin. While He taught all other men to pray for forgiveness, He never asked forgiveness for Himself. In Jesus, therefore, we see revealed not only full deity but also perfect humanity. This is man as the Creator originally made him and meant him to be.
Written by Alan M. Stibbs