The Incarnate God
Before reading this first installment I urge you to put on your Biblical wading shoes. This post deals with the essence of Who Jesus was when He came to this world to complete His mission.
Never assume or believe that the humanity that God traveled in was exactly like our own, it was not. Jesus was human insomuch as was the body that was prepared for Him was human. That body was not connected to Adam since Jesus was born of a virgin, and His nature was eternally divine with no hint of Adamic humanity. Inside that human body was God the Son, and that nature affected that same body. His ability to walk through crowds unnoticed was certainly not reflective of our human body, and the Scriptures declare that only His own will would allow that body to die.
When God made Adam he was without sin, but capable of rebellion and disobedience. But God cannot be tempted, and God the Son and His power meshed with His chosen body and it was unlike Adam’s body, even before Adam sinned. Jesus was incapable of sin and incapable of being tempted from the inside, only the outside. Jesus was no super human, He was God dwelling temporarily in human likeness. His body was a necessary three dimensional conduit through which He would begin and finish His mission. To say the Jesus was all human and all divine is true on some level, but it creates the wrong impression that Jesus went in and out of humanity and that there was a separation in His humanity and His divinity. His humanity was His body, He had no human nature. His divinity was actually who He was.
There are movements afoot to bring Jesus down into being a human as we are, but without sin. They teach that Jesus had some form of struggle against the temptations of the flesh, which assumes that Jesus had human flesh which of course He did not. When Adam was created, the key word is created, he was made from the dust of the earth with his nature fully human. But Jesus was not created, He came through the portal of a virgin’s womb having been transported by the Holy Spirit. He never had a human nature, just a human body. Paul says that the first Adam was from the earth but the last Adam was from heaven. The human part of Christ was his body, not his nature. Inside that sinless body was Elohim, God Himself. There were not two natures coexisting together, no, He was God inside the flesh.
So Jesus was never internally tempted, He was God and therefore incapable of feeling temptation. He could be tempted by outside forces but never internally. God cannot be tempted and so Jesus never felt our temptations. The devil and the world could try and tempt Him, but to no avail. It was never possible.
When was the last time you meditated on the incarnation? How many times have you heard that ”Jesus was 100% human and 100% God? The Bible makes no such claim, that is an attempt to explain the incarnate mystery. Jesus was God moving in the “likeness of sinful flesh” but he was fully divine. His body experienced the normal functions given to Adam, but Jesus was never drawn to sin. Had Jesus had a human nature like Adam before he fell, then Jesus could have fallen.
I am going to stop here and let us digest some of this. To be honest, I am swimming myself in uncharted waters. I will post again on this subject and I welcome input.
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7 comments:
Hi Henry,
I have been pondering what you posted here the past few days and all I can say is that Jesus took on the form of man in every way except sin, He could not or would not sin,it is not his nature.
James
A good point, but as you said He "took on the form" of man, not His nature. He did not have a duel nature, one divine and one human, He was God IN the flesh, not man in the flesh. If He had a human nature, even without sin, that nature would go to heaven as a saint.
Interesting, though, no?
You know, I really do appreciate this post more than I can say. And this is very provocative but so helpful. See, I myself have said that Jesus was "100% man and 100% God." Yet without realizing it until I read this post, I would struggle and agonize with this thought: If Jesus was 100% man as well as 100% God, and if He was, indeed, "touched with the feelings of our infirmities" and faced things that we face, then how is it that He was able to resist sin, while we, who are born again of the Spirit, struggled daily against sin? I see now---it is because His nature was fully divine, not fleshly--not "of Adam"...
This is so enlightening. I mean, we read the Scriptures and we embrace them, but this is so neat that you posted this today. When we realize that His very nature was totally divine and that He couldn't be tempted to sin, then it helps us to understand the power of the Incarnation...and to appreciate why God tabernacled among us as He did.
Thank you!
I feel terribly wrong with this post. I remember a Bible quote that says:
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
And also, that:
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 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.
And to end with the quotes:
1Co 4:6 YLT: And these things, brethren, I did transfer to myself and to Apollos because of you, that in us ye may learn not to think above that which hath been written, that ye may not be puffed up one for one against the other (KJV is the only version I found even in several languages that inserts 'of men')
So, I am very uncomfortable with any text about Jesus that without using any Bible quote, tries to go against was is clearly stated in the Bible. Jesus is truly God, so eternal, perfect and sinless; but if the Bible says Jesus is human, what authorizes us to correct the Scriptures?
Orlando
Great post Henry, I too noticed these were your words. I do believe that through study you have come to this conviction. Set up the argument with Scripture. One thing for your thoughts is the blood line of our Lord. The Scripture says in Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."
We also must see things as God does. In Hebrews 7:9-10 "And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him."
This evaluation of us as far as sin is concerned is how God sees us correct? We are born in sin because as God saw Adam after sin, I was in his loins, right?
What sets Jesus apart (one of many things) is that the blood of sin was not passed on in Christ. It is known that a baby in it's mothers womb does not share it's mother's blood! The supernatural virgin birth of the Lord Jesus has more importance than we can give it.
Food for thought Mr Frueh.
Thank you for your comments. Jesus indeed came in the "likeness of sinful flesh", but He was not a created person. His manhood was his body, the man part, but inside that human body was God, not a created man. Jesus was the second person of the Godhead, He did not need to be another "created" person.
Jehovah "came IN the flesh, not with a created human nature. It may seem like semantics, however it is important in this present doctrinal morass. His body was the "man", inside the body was Elohim alone, not two natures. I will continue to amplify what I believe Scriptures teach.
Again, your participation is appreciated.
hello - interesting post
i came accross this while studying for and upcomintg sermon series on the Incarnation.
- i wonder how you would describe your beliefs as they relate to Nestorianism...it seems as if this is what you are promoting?
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