The Incarnate God - III
Before I begin let me say that to limit the humanity of Christ to His body is not heresy. It may not be correct, but it surely isn’t the same as those who would deny His deity. That is major league heresy.
Let us examine some of the implications of what we have assumed to be true. If Jesus had a created spirit, a created person, then He was susceptible to sin just as Adam had been. And we know that God does not struggle with sin and neither does He feel temptation. So if Jesus struggled internally with sin, where did that struggle come from? It comes from imperfection, a potential for rebellion against God. Now do we really believe that Jesus had a potential for rebellion against the Father, or even Himself as it were? I know this is very thought provoking and not totally in accord with what we’ve always assumed, but I am not questioning the deity of Jesus, I’m putting forth the premise that He was ALL God inside a sinless, human body. I also am not claiming to have fasted for two years and finally came out of a cave with a solid revelation, no, I am drawn to study the Savior again in the light of what the Scriptures show us He is. That in and of itself is worth the price of admission. What precipitated this study was the emphasis that some emergent have placed of the humanity of Christ to become more identified with us.
I will begin now to quote New Testament Scriptures that I believe shed some light on this subject. I do not deny the deity of Christ, I exalt it. This particular discussion does not deal with heresy as would a discussion about whether Jesus was divine this discussion concerns the issue about the humanity of Jesus. Was it just his body or did Jesus have a human nature? I pray that this will drive us all to the Scriptures, and that will benefit all of us.
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”
- Colossians 2:9
This is a great Scripture that reveals that God, Elohim, was dwelling in the body that people recognized as Joshua (Jesus). Jesus said “Everyone who sees Me has seen the Father”. He never hinted at any human nature or person, He only identified Himself as the I AM.
I Tim. 1:17 - Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, [be] honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This description of Jesus again not only emphasizes His deity, it along with other Scriptures presents Him as God exclusively. The Word was invisible, only the body could be seen. “And we beheld Him…”.
Please be patient with me, this will be a long study in which I hope all of you who feel led will participate. Controversy is not my goal, truth is. Those of you who really know me will recognize my motives and I invite opinions that are different, I am not the Pope but just a servant seeking Him.
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2 comments:
I do believe that Jesus was fully God and fully human.
He was fully God and could not sin, it was not His nature to sin.
He was fully man so that He could live among man. He blended in because He was not special, not someone you would wonder about. He grew up from a baby to a man he cried, he laughed, he wept, He felt emotions like man does, He worked, He grew in knowledge. I think the only thing He could not do like man, was to sin.
I really think there are certain things we will not totally understand and this is one of them. I am not saying I'm right or wrong or your right or wrong. I will keep reading what you have to say on the subject. This is interesting.
For the past few weeks I have been dwelling on these blogs and there is one fact that allows me to believe Jesus was fully God in a human body. When I say fully God in a human body I mean just that...he was 100% God that dwelt in a human flesh body.In my opinion, He had no human nature and I base it on this. Jesus proclaimed himself as I AM and only God can do that. No human nature, which makes us sinners, can proclaim that without committing blasphemy. To say Jesus was fully human is to say he had a human heart...how crazy that sounds to me as the word says, "The human heart is desperately wicked!" Jesus couldn't have had a human nature without committing blasphemy on his human "Side" when he proclaimed himself as I AM. Think about what a human nature really is! What makes a human nature...SIN. Jesus who is God was God in a human flesh shell.
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