Jesus is the God Man Pt. 2

Who is Jesus?

Last week we began by looking at the names of Jesus and what they say about Him.

Today we are going to begin looking at Who He is.

We must begin a basic understanding of Who He is.

Brandon Crowe in his book, “The Lord Jesus Christ” looked at various heresies concerning Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ: The Biblical Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ Extreme Christological Responses to the Reformation

The Socinians provide a stark example of how the person and work of Christ are related: to misunderstand the person of Christ means one will likely also misunderstand the work of Christ

The Socinians were 16-17th century heretics.

They rejected the Trinity and thought Jesus was a man, chosen by God to be the Son

What Brandon Crowe is getting at is that if you get the person of Christ wrong, you’re going to get His work wrong.

Jesus is the second member of the Trinity

What does that mean?

What is the Trinity?

One of the best resources to understanding the Trinity comes from the old Creeds.

The Nicene Creed

Athanasian Creed

Nicene Creed says, “the only begotten Son of God begotten of the Father before all the worlds God of God, light of light, very God of very God; begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by home all things were made.”

Eternally begotten

This does not mean created.

If Jesus is created then:

He is not eternal.

He would be mutable since He went from nothing to something.

Very God

What does it mean that He is God?

John 1:1–3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

He has no beginning.

He has always existed.

The theological term is eternal generation.

He existed in eternity past.

He is of the same essence and substance of the Father.

Essentially, what the Father is, He is.

He is fully God.

He is completely God.

Jesus was not created.

The incarnation, Christmas, is not the beginning of Jesus.

Who believe that Jesus was created?

JW’s

Mormons

Muslims

Arians

They reduce Jesus to a part of Creation, rather than Creator

Jesus is very God

When we speak of Jesus we must say that He is very God.

Another way to say this is that He is fully God.

What proof do we have that Jesus is God?

Creation

Creation was not the start of Jesus.

John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Notice that in the beginning the Word, Jesus was already present.

This was not the start of Him, but the start of creation.

Eternal

In addition to John 1 there are many other passages that teach us that Jesus is eternal.

John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.””

Colossians 1:17 “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Revelation 1:8 ““I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.””

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Immutable

This means that something cannot change.

Any part of creation is mutable.

You and I - mutable.

The angels - mutable.

Anything that went from not existing - to existing is mutable.

We must be clear here, the divine nature of Jesus is immutable.

His divine nature never changes.

Hebrews 13:8, which we already read affirms that - “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Sustainer

Colossians 1:17 “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

While sin is actively trying to destroy all life, Jesus is the sustainer.

He holds the universe together.

The world is falling apart.

Entropy is real.

Things are going from organized to disorganized.

But Jesus sustains life.

He holds everything together.

He is sovereign.

You could go through the attributes of God and if Jesus is divine, then He has all the same attributes.

We’ll talk more about this next week, but when you go through the Gospels and you read of Jesus doing something miraculous, this is an example of His divine nature.

What happens when someone thinks Jesus is not divine?

What happens to ones theology about Jesus when He is not understood to be very God?

Can you provide examples of cults and their bad theology of Jesus?

Muslim theology

Jesus was not the creator.

He was an example of submission to Allah.

He was ultimately a part of Allah’s creation.

Mormon theology

God is not Triune.

Jesus is the first spirit-child of God and the heavenly mother.

He is like who we can be like.

Jesus is a part of creation.

This means that all things did not come through Jesus as explained in Colossians 1.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

They are basically modern day Arians.

These are the opponents of Athanasius and the First Council of Nicea.

They believe that Jesus was the first created being by God.

He was the beginning of God’s earthly creation.

He was not the creator of the world, but a part of creation itself.

The Old Testament and the Son

Jesus was present in the Old Testament.

Maybe a better way to say it is the Second Member of the Trinity was present in the Old Testament.

He was always divine.

Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””

This doesn’t not mention the members of the Trinity.

What do we see though?

A plurality within the Godhead - Let Us make man in Our image. …”

The Angel of the Lord

Fun fact:

When you see The Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament this is the Son.

It is not the Father.

We cannot see God because He is Spirit.

John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

So if God is present and seen, it must be the second member of the Trinity.

This is something that Calvin taught.

Examples:

Genesis 18:1-33

Before the birth of Isaac, God appeared to Abraham.

This would have been the Son, preincarnate.

Genesis 32:22-32

Jacob wrestling with God.

Joshua 5:13-15

This was before Jericho

Joshua fell down and worshipped before the angel of the Lord.

Judges 13:1–17

The announcement of Samson

The Angel of the Lord appeared.

A sacrifice was made.

His name was too wonderful.

Questions?

Application - What does this matter?

Why do we need a fully divine, fully God Jesus?

What happens when you know that Christ is fully God?

How do you view Christ differently knowing this?

He is worthy of worship

Hebrews 1:6“And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”” ,

The angels worship Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

We think of the incarnation as Christmas time.

We just celebrated it.

I hope that you aren’t over Christmas, because today will be all about Christmas, all about the incarnation.

When did the plan of the incarnation begin?

It began far before the pregnancy of Mary.

We have to say that it began in eternity past.

Eternity past is the way we phrase time before there was time.

Before Genesis 1, there was just the persons of the Trinity.

They were there before there was anything.

And during this time of eternity past, there was an agreement within the Godhead.

This agreement was that Jesus would die for the elect.

Ephesians 1:3–6, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

Notice when election was done, before the foundation of the world.

The plan was always that Jesus would die for the elect, this was the eternal plan of God.

It was first announced in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.””

The plan was that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.

Eve would later think this was one of her sons.

Genesis 4:1, “Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.””

We get a glimpse of Old Testament faith by the way, always looking forward to the serpent crusher, the child to be born who would crush the serpent’s head.

And as you read through the Old Testament think this way as well.

Look for hope in the Messiah.

Now, we will focus on the humanity of Jesus.

This is how the ancient creeds explained it:

Nicene Creed

Jesus is: “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God”

Then concerning His humanity, “Who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man.

The Athanasian Creed said:

“… we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both God and man, equally. He is God from the essence of the Father, begotten before time; and he is man from the essence of his mother, born in time; completely God, completely man …”

Let’s explore this more.

The need for the humanity of Jesus

We start back in the Garden.

Adam was created.

Adam represented all of mankind in the Garden.

His success would mean success for all of mankind.

His failure would mean all of mankind would fail in Him.

What was the standard for Adam?

He was to work and keep the Garden.

He was to not sin.

There was a positive and a negative command.

Something he was to do.

Something he was not to do.

What ended up happening?

He failed.

He sinned.

He failed to guard the Garden.

The serpent was allowed to creep around in the Garden.

He failed to protect his wife.

He failed to be righteous.

He ate of the fruit.

What was the consequence?

Sin entered the world.

Death entered the world.

Look at Romans 5, this is the key passage to understand the consequences of Adam’s sin.

Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—”

Romans 5:17–19, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

Adam was our representative

This is not such a foreign concept.

We live in a constitutional republic.

We elect officials to represent us in Washington, DC.

We don’t write laws.

In fact we don’t even vote on laws.

We elect congressmen, who write laws on our behalf.

The Bible is filled with representatives.

Achan

Joshua 6 is the battle of Jericho.

The rules were to destroy everyone and everything, except for Rahab and her family.

After the victory at Jericho, Israel attacked Ai.

They were quickly defeated.

It was found out that a man named Achan had taken some of the spoil and hid it in his tent.

Achan’s secret sin resulted in:

Israel’s defeat.

His own families death.

At it’s core that’s what sacrifices for sin are.

The animal died so that the people would not die.

Back to Adam as our representative.

If Adam lived and failed for us, we need another representative Who will succeed.

We need someone Who will live for us and succeed.

Again, that’s what Romans 5 is about.

Romans 5:15, “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”

Romans 5:17–19 “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

1 Corinthians 15:45 “So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

Jesus came to do what Adam failed to do so that we would have life.

The humanity of Jesus

As a reminder, Jesus is eternal.

He’s always existed.

He has no beginning.

He is God.

He is fully God.

He has all the attributes of the Father and the Spirit.

At the incarnation, the person of Jesus Christ, took on a human nature.

Philippians 2:5–8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus did not become less God.

We must be careful here.

He did not give up any attributes.

He did not lose any of his godness.

There was an addition, the addition of a human nature, and the weaknesses that came with it.

The Nicene Creed said, “God of God, light of light, very God of very God; begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by home all things were made.”

Remember the divinity of Jesus.

If God can change or become less God, then he is not God.

If Jesus became less God, then He is no longer an equal member of the Trinity.

Berkhof said that if Jesus became less God “It means a virtual destruction of the Trinity, and therefore takes away our very God. The humanized Son, self-emptied of His divine attributes, could no longer be a divine subsistence in the trinitarian life.”

The incarnation was the addition of a second nature.

The divine person of Jesus Christ has:

A divine nature.

A human nature.

Key truths

1 person

2 natures

2 wills

This is the hypostatic union

There is no confusion or separation of his natures.

They don’t mix.

When you mix copper and zinc you get brass

When you mix oxygen and hydrogen you get water.

When this happens the elements lose their distinctives making a new substance.

Jesus is not a new breed or strange hybrid.

There is a human nature

There is a divine nature.

Keep these in your head and some of the questions you have will be answered.

Christmas time we celebrate the humility of Christ.

What does it mean that Jesus became human?

He was humble.

This is the humiliation of Jesus.

He didn’t come:

As a conqueror

In a blazing glory

Sit on a throne.

He came:

Born of a virgin

Born as a weak child.

Without a sinful nature.

As a baby.

Placed in a manger.

His human nature needed to learn

Luke 2:52 “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Potty training

Learning

Talking

Walking

He is fully man and fully God.

Jesus suffered

Most say that Jesus suffered His whole life, not just in His final day.

He suffered in temptation

Imagine the God-Man, He who is holy, holy, holy, being tempted.

That is humiliating.

The pure and spotless Jesus Christ being tempted by the Deceiver.

By the way His temptation was for our benefit.

Why?

Because Adam was tempted and he failed.

Jesus was tempted and He succeeded.

That success is credited to us.

There was physical suffering.

The pain and humiliation of the Cross.

Philippians 2:8 “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The pain of the Cross was the biggest example.

There was spiritual suffering.

He took on our sins.

Isaiah 53:5 “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”

He received the curse of the Law.

He was condemned as a sinner.

Ultimately dying on the Cross.

I don’t think that’s where it ends though.

He then was buried.

He faced the humiliation of going into the ground.

Ecclesiastes 3:20 “All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.”

Though the body didn’t rot in the grave, it went there.

Questions about Jesus’ human nature

Was His human nature a fallen nature?

No.

Jesus had to be perfect because we are not perfect.

He was the second Adam.

When Adam was created he did not have a fallen nature.

He was conceived by the Spirit

We must remember that He is divine.

God cannot sin.

Jesus is fully man and fully God.

For Jesus to sin would be contrary to the nature of God.

This is also the doctrine of impeccability.

Jesus not only did not sin, but He was not able to sin.

How do we handle passages that imply an inability or something lacking in Jesus?

Again, the key is remember the hypostatic union.

Remember the two natures of Jesus.

The divine nature never changes.

The divine will never changes.

Jesus divine will is the same as that of the Father.

John 10:30 ““I and the Father are one.””

I’ve been reading through John lately and this is emphasized over and over again.

The human nature is different.

It grows.

It is weak.

Each nature acts according to its nature.

There may be times Jesus seems to not know something.

This is in accordance with His human nature.

There are times Jesus does something supernatural.

Perhaps He knows people’s thoughts or works a miracle.

This is in accordance with His divine nature.

Was Jesus abandoned on the Cross?

“Gregory of Nazianzus explains that Jesus’s cry of dereliction on the cross (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Psalm 22:1]) does not refer to the divine Son’s being abandoned by his Father or by the Godhead in his suffering (for that is not possible), but it was Christ, in his person, representing us: “For we were the forsaken and despised before, but now by the Sufferings of Him Who could not suffer, we were taken up and saved.”

“This is an important point given how much popular misunderstanding there is about Christ’s abandonment on the cross: this emphatically cannot mean that the Trinity was somehow “ripped apart” at the cross, for God qua God cannot suffer, and the Trinity can never be severed. Instead, this must refer to the Son’s suffering as a man in the state of humiliation in the economy of redemption.” - Brandon Crowe in The Lord Jesus Christ: The Biblical Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ

Let’s remember the two natures of Christ.

The human nature suffered.

The divine nature did not nor can suffer.

For it to suffer would make Him less than God.

Also, the Father cannot hate the son - this divides the Trinity

Why did Jesus become human?

1. He became like those He represented

Hebrews 2:14–17 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

2. It also shows the extent of our sins.

We were so bad that normal sacrifices would not suffice.

The value of human is costly.

We are created in the image of God.

This means the blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin.

Hebrews 10:4 “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Even humans cannot take away sins.

Only God can remove sin.

Why does this matter?

Why is it so important for Jesus to be fully God?

Your sin is so great that only God could appease the wrath of God against sin.

Berkhof said, “He might bring a sacrifice of infinite value and render perfect obedience to the Law of God.”

Why does it matter that Jesus be fully man?

It was necessary for the Son of God to put on a human nature in order to save sinful human beings.

He needed to be like those He was rescuing.

Discussion questions

What happens if Jesus is only God?

What happens if Jesus is only man?

What happens if Jesus becomes less God?

Some Heresies for Your Consideration

Eutychianism

Said that there is only 1 nature.

The divine nature absorbed the human nature.

Nestorianism

Said Jesus was 2 persons

Apollinarianism

Jesus lacked a human soul

Arianism

Jesus was not eternally begotten

Reduced Him to a created being.

Reduced Jesus to less than God.

The presence of these heresies helped the church solidify their understanding of the Trinity.

Key texts:

Nicene Creed

Learn this.

Love this.

Apostles Creed

Athanasian Creed

The Mission of Jesus

What did Jesus accomplish when on earth?

Forgiveness

Righteousness

There are 2 sides to Christ’s work.

Jesus had a mission

Matthew 1:21 ““She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.””

In addition to forgiving sins, Jesus came to do all righteousness, to obey the Law.

Jesus came to do what Adam failed to do, which was to be righteous.

Matthew 3:15 “But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.”

We said this earlier in Matthew 4, but the Temptation of Jesus, the temptation was not a lesson on how to deal with temptation.

The temptation of Jesus was because you have failed, I have failed, we all have failed.

You see this throughout the Bible.

When did the mission start?

Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love” - in eternity past.

This mission is Who God is:

Exodus 34:6 is a passage spoken by God Himself, “Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;”

This is Who God is.

He is loving.

1 John 4:10“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Ephesians 1:4–5 “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,”

The mission is impossible for us to fulfill.

The Rich Young Ruler is a great passage.

Luke 18:18–27

Here was a man who was good by most people’s standards.

He was kind.

He was obedient.

He walked away said, and Jesus said this in verse 25 (Luke 18:25) ““For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.””

Some think that there was a tunnel that camels would get on their knees and crawl under.

But it’s not that at all, this was impossible.

You can see that by the disciples’ response in verse 26, “Then who can be saved.”

It is impossible for man to be good enough.

We are guilty because of inherited sin.

We are guilty because of actual sin.

Jesus would do what is impossible for man to do.

He would be perfect.

He would receive our punishment.

We have a problem … we are not good enough.

Throughout the Bible God would give commands for perfect obedience.

You see passages that say, “Do this and live.”

Leviticus 18:5 “‘So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 27:26 “‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

The biggest statement of this came from the end of Matthew 5:48 ““Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

You must be perfect.

And God has always demanded perfection.

It was 1 sin that kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden.

The Law serves to show where you have sinned and how you have sinned.

Romans 7 explains this

Galatians says that it is a schoolmaster or a tutor meant to instruct us.

The solution is found in what is called the Active Obedience of Jesus.

He observed all the law.

He was the perfection that you failed to do.

I like to think that works are necessary for salvation, but the real question is Who’s works are necessary?

Jesus!

There is another phrase called the Passive Obedience of Jesus.

Instead of actively working, this is Him being obedient and receiving something.

Verses that describe this are:

Isaiah 53:6 “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

Romans 4:25 “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

1 Peter 2:24“and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

1 Peter 3:18“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

1 John 2:2“and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

Passive obedience is seen in the endurance of Christ.

He enduring suffering.

He received the wrath of God.

He received eternal justice.

Jesus fulfilled the Active and Passive Obedience required of Him.

This was seen when He said His last words on the Cross

John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

Mission Accomplished.

This is our faith:

We trust in Jesus to died for us.

We trust in Jesus to have lived for us.

And now you have rest in Him.

Wrap Up

We learned about the humanity of Jesus

We learned about the hypostatic union

We learned about the mission of Jesus

What is most encouraging to you?

Why did you need Jesus?

What did He do for you?

Does today give you rest in any way?