The Person of Jesus Christ

The very heart of Christianity is the Person of Christ. If we are not right in our view of Him, we are wrong on everything else. “What do you think about the Christ…?” (Matt. 22:42).

The two natures of Christ have the same support—one Person with two natures. The nearly two thousand years’ debate over the hypostatic union of Christ’s two natures has reached a new intensity. The debate is over where one nature stops and the other begins. The two natures are united in one Person, but to what extent the Divine nature operated in Jesus Christ so as not to overshadow the human nature is impossible for us to explain. However, we do know the holy human nature (Luke 1:35) was never in conflict with His Divine nature. Furthermore, the perfect human nature grew, and Jesus progressed in wisdom and age (Luke 1:80; 2:52).

Growth does not imply imperfection. What about Ephesians 2:6-7? Are the ages to come those that are successively arriving until Christ’s second advent or the ages that follow the second advent or all “future” eternity?

Jesus Christ is not God in man. God is in each Christian (Col. 1:27; Eph. 3:17). He is not God and man; that would be two persons instead of two natures. He is the God-Man. The second Person in the Godhead took not the person of man but the nature of man into subsistence with Himself. We cannot properly state that the virgin bore, John baptized, Pilate condemned, or the Jews crucified Jesus Christ. However, we can accurately say that the Trinitarian Person was born of the virgin, baptized by John the Baptist, and condemned and crucified by the Jews. His human nature made His eternal Person capable of having those experiences.

Jesus Christ is a Theanthropic Person. (1) A trinitarian Person has only one nature. (2) A human person has two natures—a material body and an immaterial soul. (3) A Theanthropic Person (Jesus Christ) has three natures—the Divine essence (nature), a human body, and a human soul. The Trinity was not modified by the incarnation. Only the second Person of the Godhead was incarnated. The one God condescended to reveal Himself. The eternal Son is the revelation of God. The incarnation made no change in the Godhead. The Theanthropic Person is complex. Jesus Christ has three natures without mixture or confusion. Therefore, the Son of God assumed a real human body and a real human soul.

Consider some false views concerning Jesus Christ:

1. Docetism—This comes from a Greek word meaning “seems to be.” Christ’s body was only a phantom, which is an illusion without material substance (John 1:4; 20:27; Heb. 10:5; Luke 24:39).

2. Eutichus—A fifth century head of a monastery taught that the union of the Word (logos) with a human nature resulted in a single nature of a third species, which nature is neither human nor Divine, but Theanthropic.

3. Appollinaris—He was a bishop of Laodicea who denied the completeness of Christ’s human nature.

4. Arius—He denied the Deity of Christ.

5. Nestorius—He failed to distinguish between a nature and a person. He taught that Christ was two persons, God and man.

We should distinguish between “nature” and “person.” Nature denotes the sum- total of all the essentials of a thing. It is that which makes it what it is. Nature is a more impersonal term than person. Human nature is not actually personal, that is, a distinct person. However, nature is capable of becoming a separate, self-conscious individual. Nature cannot be distinguished from another nature, but a person can be distinguished from another person.

Person denotes a complete substance endowed with reason. It is a nature with something added, namely, independent subsistence. Christ assumed a nature that was not personalized. It did not exist by itself. This proves that life begins at conception. Therefore, Christ’s human nature was not impersonal, but it was in-personal. It has personal existence in the Person of Christ. The Divine nature of Christ is the foundation of His person—God-Man, not Man-God. The crucifixion caused no interruption in the unity of the Theanthropic Person.

Look at the unique Person of Jesus Christ. He is equal [not a good word without qualification] with the Father, but different. He possesses a human nature. He is more than man because He is God manifested in the flesh. He spoke as God absolutely considered when He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He spoke as man when He said, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). He spoke as the God-Man when He said, “Come to Me…I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

We should observe the similarities and the dissimilarities between Christ and men. The following are the similarities:

1. Jesus Christ was born of a woman after nine months of gestation (the state of carrying a child in the womb from conception to delivery). That is the extent of the similarity. (See Gen. 3:15; Gal. 4:4; Rom. 1:3-4; Heb. 2:14-18.)

2. Jesus Christ as a child grew (Luke 1:80; 2:40). Christ subjected Himself to the laws of human development—perfection in every stage of development, infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood. A perfect bud unfolded into a perfect flower. God absolutely considered cannot grow—the child grew.

3. He increased in wisdom as He grew in age. How could Christ, who was eternally filled with wisdom, increase in wisdom? In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). How can that which is full be made to hold more? Does not development denote imperfection? (See Luke 2:40, 52.) The similarity can be carried just so far.

4. There were some things that Jesus Christ did not know (Mark 13:32). His human nature was not the residential subject of omniscience.

5. He possessed a body (Heb. 5:7; 10:5; John 2:21), a soul (Matt. 26:38), and a spirit (Mark 8:12; John 11:33). The soul is the connecting link between the spirit and the body.

6. He had weaknesses of the body: hunger (Matt. 4:2; Mark 11:12), thirst (John 19:28), weariness (John 4:6), sleepiness (Matt. 8:24), and mortality (I Cor. 15:3—He died, but God absolutely considered cannot die).

7. He expressed emotions: fear (Heb. 5:7), sorrow (Is. 53), grief (Is. 53), joy (John 15:11), and weeping (John 11:35).

8. He was made in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:7).

9. God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3).

The following are the dissimilarities between Christ and men:

1. Christ was born of a woman who was a virgin, unlike men who are conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5). Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:16-25; Luke 1:26-35). That “holy Child” (literally, the holy thing begotten—Luke 1:35) received its distinctive (unique) character in union with Christ.

2. Christ is referred to as the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15). All except Christ are said to be the seed of man.

3. Christ was given the spirit without measure (John 3:34).

4. Christ was full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

5. He was not subject to sin (John 8:46).

6. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners (Heb. 7:26).

7. He was undefiled because He was unable to be tempted (James 1:13).

8. He knew no sin (II Cor. 5:21).

9. He committed no sin (I Pet. 2:22).

10. In Him is no sin (I John 3:5).

11. He could not be convicted of sin (John 8:46).

12. No deceit was found in His mouth (I Pet. 2:22).

13. No disease of any kind ever entered His holy body.

14. In Him were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3).

15. In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt (Col. 2:9).

16. He always did the will of His Father (John 4:34). Christ’s human will was perfect (John 5:30).

17. His prayers were always heard (John 11:42; John 17; Heb. 5:7).

18. He was made a sin offering without being contaminated with sin (II Cor. 5:21).

19. He did not die as a martyr—(1) Christ was forsaken by the Father. The martyr had the comfort of the Father’s presence. (2) Christ experienced the wrath of sin for the elect. The martyr had the comfort of God’s love which had been shed abroad in his heart. (3) Christ was made to bear the sins of all the elect. The martyr had been released from the burden of his own sins.

20. He was more than man; He was the God-Man.

21. He was the surety of the elect (Heb. 7:25).

22. He had the authority to lay down His life and the authority to take it up again (John 10:17-18).

Temptation suggests to inward depravity the advantage of succumbing to outward attraction. Fallen angels were holy, but they were not impeccable. Adam was created upright, but he was not impeccable. Christ’s holiness is immutable. His holiness was not created; therefore, it is immutable. Christ could not possess a mutable holiness, because He is the Author of holiness. Christ’s holiness is more than sinlessness; it is a positive virtue. Temptation is finite; the finite cannot overcome the infinite. The infinite Savior could not be overcome by temptation. Satan thought he was tempting Christ; but Christ could not be tempted, because He is untemptable (James 1:13). Temptation relies on deception. Finite intelligence can be deceived, but infinite intelligence cannot be deceived. There is a difference between being knowingly deceived and being unknowingly deceived. Could Christ be unknowingly deceived?

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The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE—UPDATED EDITION is the source of all Scripture quotations in this message, unless otherwise noted.