1 Timothy 2.5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.

Jesus Christ is both God and man. Moreover, He is both Lord and Christ, Spirit and flesh (later divinised or glorified), and He is both Father and Son. Through means of the incarnation, He did not make another Person from Himself (either divine or human), but rather He manifested Himself in the flesh, and became a partaker of flesh and blood, becoming, through means of the incarnation, the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8.29).

Jesus is a unique individual. As a human being, He is the only-begotten Son of God the Father (that is, the only virgin-born Son). God has many “sons”: Adam is called “the son of God” (Luke 3.38). The angels are called the “sons of God” (see

Job 38.7 and Gen. 6.2, e.g.). But there is only one “only-begotten” (Greek monogenes) Son of God.

As God, Jesus is God the Father. He is the only true God (“the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen”. -1 Timothy 6.15,16). As God, He is a Spirit (John 4.24), and is Invisible (Colossians 1.15). As the Son of God, He is the Image of the Invisible God (2 Cor. 4.4 and Heb. 1.3).

 

THE DEITY OF CHRIST

 

There are many scriptures identifying Jesus Christ as God. Just a few will suffice to demonstrate His deity. In this study, we wish to emphasize the genuine humanity of Christ.

In Matthew 1.23, the Son to be born of the virgin is to be called “Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us”. Jesus is identified as “God” (El). This means He is the God of the Old Testament (God the Father). There is only one “El”, who is God the Father. Jesus identified Himself as God the Father in John 14.7-9. He showed Philip and the other apostles that He was God the Father manifest in the flesh. There can be no doubt about his claim to divinity.

While the apostles did not at first receive the revelation of the mighty God in Christ, it did begin to dawn upon them after His resurrection. Thomas knelt before Him and said, “My Lord and my God” (John 20.28). There is no Jew who would ever acknowledge any other God than God the Father (Jehovah God). Yet Philip acknowledged Jesus as “my Lord and my God”. He recognized in Jesus that same Jehovah God that he had always worshipped.

The apostle John wrote that the glorified Jesus said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1.8). Again, Jesus identifies Himself as God the Father (the Almighty God).

And the apostle Paul also identifies Jesus as God the Father. In Titus 2.13, Paul calls Jesus “the Great God and our Savior”. And in Romans 9.5, He calls Christ, who “is over all, God blessed forever. Amen”. Can you imagine Paul, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, recognizing anyone other than Jehovah God as his God?

There can be little doubt that Paul considered Jesus to be both the Deity that he (Paul) had always worshipped and the man who died on the Cross (the Son of that Deity).

Yet there was a very carefully orchestrated effort by the apostles (particularly Paul) to make a distinction between the Deity and the humanity of Christ.

 

THE USE OF PAUL’S SALUTATORY PASSAGES

 

Notice how the apostle Paul continues to respect the humanity of Christ in the following scriptures:

Romans 1.3 “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 1.4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”.

Paul declares that Jesus was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh”. Jesus is a “card-carrying member of the Adamic race”. He is made of the “seed of David, according to the flesh”. The phrase “according to the flesh” rules out any spiritualization of the words “the seed of David”. Paul is talking about a biological descent from David.

Jesus asked the Pharisees, “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David” (Matthew 22.41). Jesus did not deny this biological descent, but stumped the Pharisees with the question, “If David then call him, Lord, how is he his son?” (Matthew 22.45). Through the mystery of the incarnation, David’s Lord became David’s Son.

Paul was careful, in Romans 1.4, to demonstrate that the resurrection did not destroy the humanity of Christ. He said that Jesus was declared “to be the Son of God with power...by the resurrection from the dead”.

 

JESUS DOES NOT DERIVE HIS DIVINITY FROM HIS SONSHIP

 

Jesus is divine because He is God Almighty. The Sonship pertains to His humanity. The title “Son of God” does not imply divinity. Neither Adam nor the angels received “divinity” derived from God. The unique divinity of God the Father cannot be passed on to anyone else. Isaiah 42.8 states, “I am the LORD (YHWH): that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another...”.

The incarnation did not transfer divinity to the Son of God, nor did Jesus possess divinity, and exist as a separate divine Person before the incarnation. Jesus has always had divinity only as God the Father. That divinity was incarnated in the flesh that we know as the Son of God. God Himself was manifest in the flesh.

In 1 Corinthians 1.3, Paul wrote, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ”. In this passage, Paul is not putting forth two divine Persons, but rather he is continuing to acknowledge the incarnation. In another place (2 Corinthians 5.19) Paul wrote that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself”. This concept of God (the Spirit) manifest in the flesh (the Son) Paul keeps uppermost in the minds of believers. Paul never attempts to make another divine Person out of Christ, but rather he constantly reminds us of the incarnation, without which we could not have salvation.

There is no way to God except through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14.6). One cannot come to God except through what God has done in the flesh for us as the Son of God.

In 2 Corinthians 1.2 Paul wrote, “Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ”. By using this form of salutation, he is not affirming that two divine Persons exist, but rather he is upholding the incarnation, without which we could not be saved. We cannot reach one divine Person through another divine Person. There is only one divine Person. It is what He did for us in the flesh that allows us to come to Him through Jesus Christ. Thus, we dare not impeach the humanity of Christ, nor ever forget who He really is.

That this explanation of the form of salutation used by Paul is correct, we need only look at Galatians 1.1, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)”.

We have here: (1) God the Father (the Spirit), and (2) the man Jesus, who was raised from the dead. Notice that whenever Jesus Christ is listed “alongside” of God the Father it is the humanity of Christ that is intended. Of course, the man Jesus is the Word made flesh, and so we see that God was not without His Word before the incarnation (just as we human beings, created in His image, are not without our own word). But the Word of God is not a separate divine Person from God the Father.

 

THOSE PASSAGES WHICH SPEAK OF THE WORLDS BEING CREATED BY JESUS CHRIST ARE SPEAKING OF THE WORD BEFORE IT WAS MADE FLESH

 

Hebrews 1.2 is a good example: “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds”.

When we carefully examine this passage we see that the writer is speaking first of the Word made flesh (that is, the man Jesus). He says, “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son”, obviously speaking of the “days of his flesh”, when the man Jesus walked the shores of Galilee and preached and taught. That is the Word made flesh.

Then he says, “whom he hath appointed heir of all things”. Surely, this is also speaking of the glorified Man Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high (vs. 3). Again, the writer of is speaking of the humanity of the Son (remember, that God is in Christ, but that God wishes to have fellowship with His creature man as “the firstborn among many brethern”).

But the last clause of this scripture in Hebrews 1.2 is not speaking of the Word made flesh , but is rather speaking of the Word spoken in creation before the Word was made flesh.

The Son is the Word made flesh (John 1.14). The Word was made flesh at a point in time (John 1.14). This last clause of Hebrews 1.2, however, says of the Son, “by whom also he made the worlds”. We cannot understand that in the sense of a second divine Person being used as a “creative agent”, since we are well aware of how God made the worlds by His Word. He spoke His Word.

In Genesis 1.3 we see God actually speaking creation into existence: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light”. We do not see any other divine Person involved in this activity. It is God speaking the Word in creative power.

The Word in creation is not related to a second divine Person, but is rather compared in the scriptures to our own word (being, however, much more majestic and creatively powerful):

Psalms 33.6 states, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth”. Verse 9 adds, “For he spake and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast”.

Therefore, in order to rightly divide the word of truth, we must understand that Hebrews 1.2, when it speaks of the Son and says “by whom also he made the worlds”, it is understood that it was not the Word made flesh (Jesus Christ) by which God the Father made the worlds, but rather by the spoken Word (not another divine Person) that everything came into being.

This is also the proper scriptural understanding of Colossians 1.15,16, which states:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.

We know that Paul is speaking of Jesus as the Son of God in Colossians 1.14, because he writes “we have redemption through his blood”. But, in verse 15, he calls Jesus “the image of the invisible God”. If this were just speaking of a second divine Person, Paul would not use the phrase “the image of the invisible God”, since God is a Spirit (John 4.24), and is indeed invisible. A “second divine Person”, being in the Godhead, would be “invisible” also. The image of God, however, is the man Christ Jesus-not some invisible second divine Person.

That Paul is speaking of the humanity of Christ at this point is evident when he says “the firstborn of every creature”. The resurrected man Jesus is the firstborn of the New Creation, and thus the “firstborn” of every (new) creature or the New Creation. Some try to explain away the phrase “firstborn of every creature” by saying that the man Jesus is the most “preeminent” of all creatures (in His humanity). Certainly, He is that. But the word “firstborn” is plain enough. We know that the Word was not made flesh before creation, and we know that the man Jesus did not come into being until Mary conceived in the womb. We also know that some second divine Person was not somehow “born” in eternity. Thus, Paul in verse 14 and verse 15 is not speaking of some pre-existent second divine Person, but rather of the man Christ Jesus.

But Jesus Christ is a unique individual. He is both God and man, Father and Son, Spirit and glorified flesh, divine and human.

In Colossians 1.16, Paul declares, “For by him were all things created”. Again, we remember that we must rightly divide the Word of truth.

God, before the Word was ever made flesh, created all things by His Word, speaking creation into existence. Moreover, the Word is not identified as a separate divine Person from God the Father, but the Word is identified as God the Father (“the Word was God”, John 1.1). At the time of the creation, the Word was not yet made flesh. The Son of God (the man Christ Jesus) did not yet exist. Jesus Christ existed as God the Father, who created all things by His Word (“the breath of His mouth”).

Paul, here in this passage in Colossians 1.15,16 (and context) is identifying Jesus Christ both as Father and as Son. 2 John 1.9 states, “He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son”.

In Colossians 1.17, he speaks of Jesus as God, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist”. In Colossians 1.18, He speaks of Jesus as God manifest in the flesh: “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence”. Verse 19 verifies that this is acknowledging the incarnation and the subsequent glorification of the man Christ Jesus, “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell”. And we know that Paul added, “For in him dwelleth (present tense) all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2.9).

But, can you see, that if we fail to acknowledge the humanity of Christ (which is to the glory of God the Father) that we fail to properly glorify God and we do not see the full purpose of the incarnation? We also miss the beautiful fellowship that God desires for us to have through Jesus Christ.

 

WHENEVER THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST IS DE-EMPHASIZED THE RISK OF ACCEPTING TWO DIVINE PERSONS LOOMS

 

God is a unique solitary Individual. His personality cannot be duplicated. He is the “high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” (Isaiah 57.15).

“To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One” (Isaiah 40.25). This lets us know that there could not be another divine Person who was equal to Him.

 

PHILIPPIANS 2 UNDERSTOOD WITHIN THE SPHERE OF THE INCARNATION

 

This explains Philippians 2.6 and excludes the theory that the “equality with God” could in any way refer to a second divine Person. The only equality meant in this passage must be an “equality” brought about by the unique situation of the incarnation.

We find that the only explanation of Philippians 2.6 in the scriptures is seen in a statement made by the apostle John in John 5.18. John says that the Jews sought to kill Jesus “because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (italics mine).

Thus, we can see that Jesus, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2.6). The “equality with God”, then, mentioned in Philippians 2.6, cannot be predicated of a “second divine Person”, but must rather be restricted to the unique incarnation. There is no other Individual who could ever be “equal” with God other than God Himself manifest in the flesh.

But John tells us that this claim to “equality” with God was not because that Jesus claimed to be God and a separate divine Person from God, but rather because He said that God was His Father.

We can only properly understand Philippians 2.6 by looking at the humanity of Christ.

Philippians 2.5-11 is a passage emphasizing the incarnation: (1) Paul is encouraging the Philippians to think as Jesus the man thought (“let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ”, vs. 5); (2) vss. 6-11 refers to the days of His flesh and not to some pre-incarnate state; (3) “the form of God”, morphe theou, refers to the incarnation, since God as a pre-incarnate Spirit has no form or shape; (4) “made himself of no reputation”, “took upon him the form of a servant”, “was made in the likeness of men”, are all occasions within the incarnational sphere; (5) “found in fashion as a man” stands in apposition to “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death”, and are again within the sphere of the incarnation (that is, within the “days of His flesh”).

Philippians 2.9 assures us that Paul is speaking of the man Jesus when he says “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him”. This entire passage is speaking of the humanity of Jesus Christ. While Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, this passage cannot be properly understood unless the humanity of Christ is recognized here. God could never make Himself of “no reputation”. His very power and glory signify His eternal reputation. He could never lay aside His divine prerogatives (since He always and forever remains God, seated on the throne).

But when He became incarnate as the Son of God (born of the virgin), then (that is, after He assumed flesh and blood) He could “make himself of no reputation”, then He could “take upon him the form of a servant”, “having become in the likeness of men”, and “having been found in fashion as a man”, he (the man Jesus) “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death”.

The great pathos of this passage to us is that we know that it was God that was manifest in the flesh. But we fall into a trinitarian trap when we buy into the kenosis theory that one divine Person left His divine prerogatives in Heaven and left the direction of Heaven to two other divine Persons, and came down here to live as a lowly human being.

God did, in the sense of the incarnation, enter into the lowly world of the human family on earth. However, the passage in Philippians 2 is not talking about what He left behind in Heaven, but rather this passage is addressing what He gave up here on earth as the Son of God.

As the Son of God, He had a right (it was not robbery) to claim equality with God the Father (He was indeed God manifest in the flesh). He could have ruled as a king, and lived in a fine palace with many servants. Instead, He made himself of no reputation (that took place in this life), and took upon himself the form of a servant (the lowly carpenter of Galilee and then the Rabbi, ministering to others).

He could have exalted His humanity here in this world. He had powers to do just that. But, since He desired to have nothing better than the human family and to become the perfect substitutionary sacrifice, He humbled Himself here on this earth and “became obedient to death” (the scourge of the human family), “even the death of the cross” (a most humiliating and degrading death as a public criminal).

That all of this hinges upon the genuine humanity of Christ becomes clear when we read the conclusion of Paul: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him” (Philippians 2.9). This lets us know that Paul is speaking of Christ as a human being (all the while knowing, of course, that He is God manifest in the flesh). But it is Christ’s humanity that is “exalted”. It is the man Jesus that is “exalted”. A second divine Person (who is supposedly God Himself also) could not be exalted. Are we going to say that the first divine Person “exalted” the second divine Person? Do you notice this leaves out the so-called “third divine Person”?

In Philippians 2.11 Paul reminds us that this is all “to the glory of God the Father”. What do we have, then, in this passage? Two divine Persons? No, we rather have: (1) God the Father, and (2) the man Christ Jesus, who is God the Father manifest in the flesh.

 

A FRESH LOOK AT THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST

 

Jesus Christ is both God and man. As God, Jesus is everything that God is. He has the right to every title that belongs to God, even the title “God the Father”. Isaiah 9.6 gives Jesus the title of “the everlasting Father”. This is very disconcerting to those who wish to rob Jesus of the title “God the Father”. They have attempted to tear the translation of “everlasting Father” to pieces. Anything to keep from admitting that Jesus is indeed God the Father.

It is wrong to deny Jesus’ full deity. It is wrong to deny that He is the Almighty God (the Father). Peter said that there would be those who would even “deny the Lord that bought them” by “damnable heresies” (2 Peter 2.1).

On the other hand, it is incorrect to deny His genuine humanity. If Jesus is not genuinely human, then He cannot be the proper sacrifice for our sins. Conversely, if He is not God, then He cannot truly save us, since He would not be the pre-eminent power over the universe and all things.

 

HIS HUMAN CREDENTIALS

 

God promised that a prophesied seed of the woman would “bruise” the head of the serpent (the enemy of mankind) (Gen. 3.15). It is the “seed of the woman”-in other words a member of the human family.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that God “took on him the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews 2.16). Thus we see the humanity of Christ: (1) the seed of the woman; (2) the seed of Abraham, and (3) made of the seed of David.

Furthermore, the writer of Hebrews states, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2.14). He therefore became a “partaker” of “flesh and blood”.

In order to stand in for Adam as a sacrifice for all of the race of Adam, He had to be a genuine descendant of Adam. He became the “last Adam” (the Lord from heaven) (1 Corinthians 15.47). He identifies Himself as a “man” (anthropos) in John 8.40. He also reveals Himself as God in John 2.19 when He told the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”, speaking of His ability to raise Himself from the dead.

Two genealogical “bloodlines” are given in the Gospels. In Matthew 1.1-16 we see His legal descent from David and Abraham. His right to the throne of Israel is maintained through Solomon, the son of David, by virtue of His being a legal son of Joseph.

In Luke 3.23-38, we see His mother’s “bloodline”, giving Jesus descent from David through David’s son, Nathan. Thus, while Jesus has a legal claim to the throne of Israel through His step-father Joseph, He is descended also by blood descent from David through His mother, Mary. Also, in this genealogy the descent of Jesus from Adam (“the son of God”) is recorded.

His human credentials can scarcely be doubted.

 

THE ATTACK ON JESUS’ HUMANITY OFTEN COMES BY THOSE TRYING TO SUPPORT HIS DEITY

 

Jesus is not “half-man and half-god”. He is not a “demi-god”. This is one of the downsides of the using the term “the God-man”. It is a “hybrid”. Jesus is not a “hybrid”. Jesus is not a mixture of God and man. Jesus is fully God and genuinely human. He is unique.

If Jesus is genuinely human, then He has to possess: (1) a human spirit (pneuma), (2) a human soul (psyche), and (3) a human body (soma). We see in the scriptures that He indeed possessed all three of these.

But in Jesus, nevertheless, there is unique, mysterious marriage or union (henosis) of divinity and humanity, without a mixing in or denigration of His glorious divinity. His humanity is not compromised by His divinity, and His divinity is not lessened by His humanity.

In Luke 23.46, as He died, the man Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit(pneuma): and having said thus, he gave up the ghost”. This also is the typical description of a human death. In Eccleisiastes 12.7 we read, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”.

In Mark 14.34 his soul is mentioned. He tells His disciples, “My soul (psyche) is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch”.

And we know that He had a human body. Peter said, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body (soma) on the tree” (1 Peter 2.24).

Furthermore, Jesus had a human will (thelema). Jesus, in the Garden, praying, says, “not my will (thelema), but thine, be done”. He surrendered His human will to the divine will. It is fair to say, however, that His human will belonged intimately to the divine will since He was indeed God manifest in the flesh. It is fair to say that the divine will overshadowed the human will, but it is not fair to say that the human will was not free and independent in the fullest human sense.

This is also related to His “sinlessness”. Some have questioned his genuine humanity because of His “sinlessness”. Some have denied His capability of sinning (in other words, questioning His human will, His human spirit and human emotions, His flesh and blood body).

The fact is, Jesus lived a sinless life, never once yielding to any temptation (Hebrews 4.15). To take away from God’s glory by implying that God was not able to do this solely through His humanity (that is, as a human being) is to infringe upon the idea of His genuine humanity.

The writer of Hebrews lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that Jesus’ humanity was real and was not compromised by His divinity. He writes:

“Who, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5.7-9).

Surely, there is no one who can read this passage and say that Jesus was not a genuine human being. The idea of our Lord offering up “prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” should be enough to let us know that He was one of us. Moreover, while this passage is not quoted much by those who wish to have an Apollinarian view of Christ (in other words, they are uncomfortable with His genuine humanity because they feel like that is an affront to His deity), it is a blessing to those who acknowledge the terrible price that He paid on Calvary when He died for our sins. The writer of Hebrews says that “(He) was heard in that he feared”. He cried out in His humanity and He heard in the depths of His deity. Deep calleth unto deep!

There are those who would say that Jesus did not have a “human” spirit, but rather that His human spirit was actually the “Holy Spirit”. But the Holy Spirit is God Himself.

In the incarnation, we are told that the man Jesus had been given the Holy Spirit without “measure” (John 3.34). So we should not confuse the Holy Spirit with the human spirit of Christ.

As God, Christ is the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Truth (John 14.6). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (John 14.17). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8.9), but the Holy Spirit (God) should not be mixed up with the human spirit of Christ. He did not commend His Holy Spirit into the hands of the Father at His death! That is confusing!

We know that the human body of Jesus was mortal and real. He increased in stature and wisdom (Luke 2.52). We know that the scriptures teach that He grew weary and suffered hunger and thirst as any other human being.

He also, in His humanity, was limited as to His own (as yet unglorified humanity) self, since He did not know the day and the hour of His future return to earth (Mark 13.32). He also declared Himself not able to assign certain positions to His followers (Matthew 20.23). The sphere of the incarnation held certain limitations which had been imposed.

We know also that He suffered the aging process as a human being, since the Jews in John 8.57 told Him, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”. We know that He was only in His early thirties and yet He appeared much older to these observers, showing the strain and stress of His work and ministry in this life. Yet he had “meat to eat” that his disciples did not seem to understand (John 4.32). And the angels “strengthened him” by ministering to Him (Matthew 4.11).

 

SUMMARY

 

The apostle Paul teaches us that we no longer are to know Christ “after the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5.16). But we cannot forget His humanity since by this He is linked to the human family as our Savior.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15.50). However, the man Jesus was resurrected in power. He told the disciples after His resurrection that He was not just a spirit, but rather He had “flesh and bones” (Luke 24.39).

With His resurrected glorious body He was able to walk through doors that were shut (John 20.19), and to change His visible form, as well as the ability to vanish from their midst (Luke 24.16, 31).

There are some who teach that the body of Jesus was just a spirit after His resurrection. But this does not seem to be the case.

Paul tells us that there are “terrestial bodies” and “celestial bodies”. He says the human body is “sown a natural body; (and) it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15.40-44).

Peter tells us this about the resurrection of Christ:

“Therefore (David) being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne” (Acts 2.30)

Notice that Jesus is called “the fruit of his (David’s) loins, according to the flesh”. His human credentials are not doubted by Peter. One of the purposes of the resurrection, according to Peter, was to “raise up Christ to sit on his (David’s) throne”.

If we think about this statement, we can see that Peter is continuing to recognize the humanity (albeit glorified and changed) of Christ even after the recognition. The throne of David is the throne of a man. We know, of course, that this man is God Himself manifest in the flesh. Nevertheless the humanity continues to play a role in His fellowship with us.

Furthermore, Peter confirms to us the human soul (psyche) of Christ, when he quotes from Psalms 16.10, “his (Christ’s) soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption” (Acts 2.31).

 

CHRIST TO BE EXALTED

 

But it is the humanity of Christ which is exalted by God the Father, as Peter tells us:

“Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this,
which ye now see and hear” (Acts 2.33).

John the Baptist had revealed to the disciples that Jesus would be the One who “baptizeth with the Holy Ghost” (John 1.33). But the question in Acts 2.33 is: whom did God the Father “exalt” by His right hand? (1) A second divine Person named Jesus?, or (2) A human being, who happens to be God Himself manifest in the flesh? The obvious answer is that we must continue to consider the incarnation. The incarnation did not end with the resurrection of Christ.

Peter said, “For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool” (Acts 2.34,35).

This passage, from Psalms 110.1, is the same scripture that Jesus used to stump the Pharisees (as we have seen). Since two divine Persons are not meant, then we must assume that the glorified humanity of Christ is indicated.

After His resurrection from the dead, the man Jesus told His disciples, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28.18). The incarnation requires such a clarifying statement by the Lord. We remember that the first Adam was given dominion, but that he lost his authority through sin.

 

AUTHORITY IS “DELEGATED” TO THE LAST ADAM (GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH)

 

Paul is speaking about this rule of God manifest in the flesh (the rule of the Son) in the famous passage of 1 Corinthians 15.24-28.

He makes the following points: (1) The glorified man (the Son of God, who is actually God manifest in the flesh) will “deliver up” the kingdom to God the Father (the Spirit); (2) The glorified man (the Son of God, who is God manifest in the flesh) will reign, “till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (vs. 25); (3) The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death (this cannot be completed until the end of the Millennium since we still find death in the Millennium period); (4) Paul makes it clear that the Spirit (God the Father) is “excepted” which “did put all things under him (the glorified man Christ Jesus). This makes sense only if we reject the trinitarian theory of three co-equal and co-eternal divine Persons. If we attempt to hold that particular theory then there are many problems: for example, if Paul means the “Father” is “excepted” (that is, the Father is not put under the Son), then what about the so-called “third divine Person” (the Holy Ghost)? He must not be “excepted” (according to this theory), and we have the unpleasant conclusion that the “third divine Person” is placed under the authority of “the second divine Person”. The first divine Person is “excepted”, but the third divine Person is not! This is utterly ridiculous and illogical. God is not the author of confusion.

But if we understand that Paul is talking about the incarnation, and the fact that the Spirit has put all things under the feet of the Son (God manifest in the flesh), then it is perfectly clear why the Spirit is “excepted”. Moreover, it is not one divine Person putting all things under the feet of “another divine Person” at all. It is simply the outworking of the good pleasure and the will of God through the incarnation in His creation. We understand why He trusts the Son, since He Himself is the Son (God manfiest in the flesh).

Finally, (5) “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (vs. 28). What the Spirit (God the Father) began to do when He spoke the worlds into existence by His Word (and later His Word was made flesh) will someday be completed so that God “may be all in all”. The task of gathering together “in one all things in Christ” during “the dispensation of the fullness of times” (Ephesians 1.10) will someday be finished.

Paul touches upon this theme of the glorified Christ again in Ephesians when he speaks of “the working of his mighty power”:

“Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1.20-23).

Paul is not speaking of a second divine Person, but rather of the glorified Christ, who has been raised from the dead (as to His humanity), and set at the right hand of God “in the heavenly places”. God manifest in the flesh came out of the grave and ascended into the heavens (Acts 1.9-11). Psalms 47.5 says, “God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet”. God manifest in the flesh, that is.

Therefore, God continues to work through His glorious incarnation, even after the resurrection. He is working today.

1 Timothy 2.5 states, “For there is one God, and the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus”.

And Paul makes it clear that he continues to speak of the humanity of Christ, because in the next verse he writes, “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2.6).

The apostle John wrote, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4.2,3).

 

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF STRONG REASONS WHY WE SHOULD UPHOLD THE GENUINE HUMANITY OF CHRIST:

 

(1) IF CHRIST WAS NOT GENUINELY HUMAN THEN THE SACRIFICE AT CALVARY WAS NOT A TRUE SUBSTITUTE AND WE ARE STILL IN OUR SINS. HIS HUMANITY MUST BE GENUINE.

(2) THE TRUE HUMANITY OF CHRIST ASSURES MANKIND THAT HE DESIRES FELLOWSHIP WITH US. HE IS THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.

(3) THE NEW TESTAMENT CLEARLY TEACHES THE GENUINE HUMANITY OF CHRIST AND MAKES HIM A BIOLOGICAL DESCENDANT OF ADAM, ABRAHAM, AND DAVID.

(4) WHEN WE UPHOLD THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST WE CLEAR UP THE FALSE TEACHING OF ANOTHER DIVINE PERSON BESIDES GOD THE FATHER AND WE CAN IDENTIFY JESUS AS GOD HIMSELF MANIFEST IN THE FLESH.

(5) REALIZING THE GENUINE HUMANITY OF CHRIST MAKES US TO UNDERSTAND THE PRAYERS OF JESUS AS A MAN, MAKES US BETTER TO APPRECIATE HIS SUFFERING AND HIS TRAVAIL.

(6) GOD (THE SPIRIT) WAS IN CHRIST (THE MAN) RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF (2 CORINTHIANS 5.19). BY UNDERSTANDING THE INCARNATION WE REALIZE THAT GOD IS NOT SPEAKING OF TWO DIVINE PERSONS, BUT RATHER HE IS SPEAKING OF GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. CHRIST IS NOW GLORIFIED. PETER SAID, “GOD HATH MADE THAT SAME JESUS, WHOM YE HAVE CRUCIFIED, BOTH LORD AND CHRIST” (ACTS 2.36).

WHAT A GLORIOUS TRUTH THIS IS! BOTH LORD AND CHRIST, BOTH GOD AND MAN, BOTH SPIRIT AND FLESH (GLORIFIED), BOTH FATHER AND SON! JESUS IS ALL WE NEED! WE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM (Colossians 2.9,10).

-Bro. William Chalfant