Colossians 1:15-23

This is that paradox I want to spend this morning considering. How can both be true? But it is emphatically clear here that it is true, AND IT BETTER BE TRUE, because if it isn’t true, you are still in your sins and have no hope of redemption.

1:22– How have you been reconciled? In Christ’s body of flesh

This doesn’t just mean physical body, there are 2 Greek words here. The first word is SOMA, which is translated body and just simply means physical body, then there is another word, the second word is the word SARX, which is the word used throughout the New Testament as the part of us that is opposed to God, opposed to the Holy Spirit.

Paul is emphasizing here that Christ really did become human, that he is fully identified with us, sinful humanity. He shared the difficulties of humanity. He was tempted in his flesh, experienced our suffering, experienced the battle with sarx, and was victorious over it because we never would be.

David Mathis divides this idea of God’s manhood into a few categories that I think are helpful. (OUTLINE LINK)

Christ’s Human Body

John 1:14– WHAT A THOUGHT! The Logos . . .

2 John 7– One of the early tests of false teachers . . .

Jesus was BORN – Lk 2:7, same as you and I were born

Jesus GREW – Lk 2:40, 52, same as you and I grew

Jesus got TIRED – Jn 4:6, same as you and I

Jesus got THIRSTY – Jn 19:28, same as you and I

Jesus got Hungry – Mt 4:2, same as you and I

Jesus became physically Weak – Matt 4:11, Lk 23:26, same as you and I

Jesus Died, same as you and I will die

God didn’t just create beings that would experience these things, HE EXPERIENCED IT HIMSELF. He knows what it felt like for your body to wear down, for your mouth to be dry, for your stomach to growl, to go through puberty, to be told by aunts “You’re getting so big.”

Christ’s Human Heart

We don’t often think about this aspect of Christ’s humanity, but Jesus clearly displays human emotions.

Matt 26:37-38a – these words aren’t here just to make a good story, HE ACTUALLY FELT immense sorrow (Jn 12:27, 13:21)

Matt 8:10 – When he heard the centurions faith, he marveled at it.

John 11:33 – Experienced Loss and Mourning and Weeping

Hebrews 5:7 – Prays with loud cries and tears

As one theologian memorably summed it up, “Christ has put on our feelings along with our flesh.”

Christ’s Human Mind

It gets even deeper and more difficult to comprehend. The orthodox belief is that Jesus was 1 person, with 2 natures. That’s hard for us to comprehend because we aren’t like that, we are 1 person 1 nature. One of the areas we see this clearly is in the area of Christ’s mind. We have only experienced one mind, and simply cannot fathom what it would be like for one person to have both a human mind and a divine mind.

We know Jesus didn’t only have a human mind, he saw Nathanael under the fig tree while they were still miles apart, He knew Judas would betray him before Judas knew it, He knew how many husbands the Samaritan woman had had, He read the minds of his enemies constantly à Jn 16:30, 21:17 – “You know all things”

And yet

Luke 2:52 – Increased in Wisdom (God cannot increase in wisdom – attributes series)

Mark 13:32 – Of that hour, the Son doesn’t know

What looks difficult at first glance is actually a glorious confirmation of Jesus’s full humanity.

In addition to being fully divine, Jesus is fully human. His one person has both an infinite, divine mind and a finite, human mind.

Paradoxical as it is, the Scriptures plainly affirm that Jesus both knows all things as God and doesn’t know all things as man. For the unique, two-natured, singular person of Christ, this is no contradiction, but a peculiar glory of the God-man.

He knows what it is to deal with a mind, just like you and I do. The elusive enemy, so difficult to control . . .

Christ’s Human Will

The difficulty of comprehending doesn’t get easier here. Jesus not only has a divine will, but also a human will.

“I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38)

Jesus prays to the Father, “Not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus has an infinite, divine will that is the will of his Father (one will in God). And as man, he has a finite, human will that, while being an authentic human will, is perfectly in sync with, and submissive to, the divine will.

It is a great mystery, beyond our experience and understanding, and beyond what we will ever know as mere humans. But where it leads for those who call him Lord is not ultimately to confusion, but to worship. Jesus is one truly spectacular person. He is fully God. And he is fully man. Would we want to fix our eternal honor and worship on one who was not utterly unique?

And yet, Jesus is like us in every respect — human body, heart, mind, and will — except for sin. How amazing that the divine Son of God would not just take on part of our humanity on that first Christmas, but all of it

Hebrews 2:14-18

Hebrews 4:15

1 Timothy 2:5 The One Mediator between God and man – why is He the only one possible Mediator? God and Man.

Jesus took a human body to save our bodies. And he took a human mind to save our minds. Without becoming man in his emotions, he could not have rescued our hearts. And without taking a human will, he could not save our broken and wandering wills. In the words of Gregory of Nazianzus, “That which he has not assumed he has not healed.”