She will bear a Son; and you shall call his name Jesus,
For he will save His people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21
Throughout my teen years, I was the king of procrastination. I thrived under the self-created pressure to perform at the last minute, or so I thought. I would put off beginning research for major term papers only to pump out an “A” paper the night before it was due to be submitted. This all went well until I was assigned to build a toothpick bridge as a significant part of my grade in a math class. True to form, I waited while my parents urged me to begin. The worst part is that my dad was my math teacher, so he saw my lack of progress and did not share my confidence. The project aimed to see which student could construct a bridge supporting the most weight before failing. I knew my mistake instantly as I sat down with boxes of toothpicks and various glues. As I stewed in my frustration, I hastily glued together triangular-shaped trusses in the hopes that I could skate by the test. When the test day finally came, and I examined my bridge against those of my classmates, I sensed trouble. My bridge was a spectacular disaster. Not only did it not support the most weight, but it failed when the weight holder was attached! My procrastination methodology had failed me, and the testing showed me my inability to solve the problem with my available time and resources; I had failed miserably.
The biblical narrative begins with the innocence and naiveté of a perfect creation but quickly devolves into trouble. When the first man and woman fell into sin and broke their covenant with God, mankind was plunged into a bottomless mire of sin and death. As God began to weave redemption and forgiveness through the fabric of the sin-cursed creation, He promised to defeat sin definitively (Gen. 3:15). He made this promise because He knew that Adam and Eve could not solve the problem. They had procrastinated in their confession, hid from God in their shame, and blamed one another and even God for their sin. There was no list of moral remedies to repair what had been broken; they were plunged into sin and separated from God. After that, this sinful nature would be transmitted through their genealogy, rendering all subsequent heirs equally unable to solve the problem. So God, in His mercy, promised to intervene.
This prophecy in the garden became known as the protoevangelium, the first gospel. It was a glimpse of hope within the devastation that the curse wrought as men developed trades and skills, built cities, and tried to establish the greatness of their names. God held to His promise even throughout the apocalyptic days of Noah as He continued to develop His redemptive plan, narrowing the focus of lineage to Abram, from which He would establish a nation through which to send His Messiah. The promise, however, needed to be more specific and developed; it required centuries and millennia to reach fulfillment. Jacob revealed that a ruler would be established from Judah’s lineage (Gen. 49:8-10). Balaam prophesied that the one who would come was a long way off (Num. 24:17). Moses assured the nation upon his departure that God would raise a great prophet again (Deut. 18:15). God promised David that one of his descendants would secure an eternal throne and rule forever (2 Sam. 7). In the despair of destruction and deportation, Isaiah prophesied the millennial hope of a righteous branch from the nation that would have a miraculous birth and rule in righteous judgment through the presence of God with His people (Is. 7:14, 9:6-7, 11:1-5). Even the minor prophet Micah, during the days after the exile, further revealed that the promised One would be pre-existent and emerge from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). The promise was worked out through centuries, clarified and expanded to give a clear picture of the One who was to come. It was forged into Israel’s national identity. It became a staunch symbol of hope during national oppression and rebellion, the dark days of God’s judgment for their continued sin as they prayed for relief and the promised rest from their enemies and spiritual condition.
Within the mysteries of God, which some surmise to be slowness or apathy (2 Pet. 3:9-10), Christ entered the world at the ordained time (Gal. 4:4-5) in the perfection of God’s redemptive plans to seek and save that which had been lost millennia before in the garden. While we can never exhaustively understand the fullness of God’s plans, we can fully understand all that He has revealed. But have you ever wondered why did Christ have to become human? Why could God not just extend an offer of salvation? Or perhaps, why could Christ have not just appeared to be human and put to death to atone for sins? The Bible teaches that Christ not only became a human but that He needed to become fully human while remaining fully God and retaining all attributes of both through a willful submission and laying down of His rights in service to God the Father’s plan. In a few weeks, we will dedicate a post to discussing the deity of Christ and how our doctrine relates to Christ’s humanity and divinity. Here, we want to explore why Christ’s humanity was necessary and what was accomplished through God’s plan of sending Christ to be a human born through natural means, live a life of shared human experience, and die a natural death.
Christ Had to be Human
In the decades and centuries after Christ’s ascension, great controversy arose regarding the nature of His humanity. In ancient Greek thought, it was absurd that God could become a man and experience death. Likewise, it was considered scandalous that God himself would become a man and endure a criminal’s death on the cross to Jewish theologians (1 Cor. 1:18-25). The doctrine of God as a man was the first source of doctrinal conflict within the apostolic church. It resulted in numerous councils, which sought to clarify the nature of the incarnation, culminating in Nicea in 325, from which proceeded the Nicene Creed. The reason for such controversy was the distinction the apostles and church fathers made between God in human form and God as a man. The Christian doctrine made very clear that not only was Christ, in fact, fully human, but that it was a divine necessity that He be so. The writer of Hebrews explains the necessity of Christ’s full humanity.
“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 angles, 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. For since He Himself was tested in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”
Hebrews 2:14-18
By becoming a man, Christ was able to defeat death, to “render it powerless,” and to assure its eventual defeat. Because Christ was truly human, He could die, a uniquely human experience. Christ had to enter the sin-cursed world and subject Himself to the reality of death so that He could remove the power that death holds over all humanity. While Christ defeated death through the incarnation and resurrection, it remains a reality. However, Paul reminds his readers in 1 Corinthians 15:25-27 that Christ’s present reign is the outworking of thoroughly subduing and defeating all enemies of God and that the final enemy that will be destroyed is death itself.
A second reason that Christ had to be fully human was to set free those who were under the slavery of fear and bondage to death itself. Through Christ’s triumphant defeat of death, those who are joined with Him in salvation inherit and possess the same defeat of death. Christians no longer need to fear death as an unknown but rather celebrate it as a doorway into eternity, the completion of the renewal in us that began when we were redeemed from sin in Christ. Christ has removed the fear of judgment through death and has enabled us to become children of God’s lavish love (1 Jn. 3:1, 4:16-18). This salvation from fear was accomplished only if Christ was indeed man.
The third reason the writer of Hebrews reveals for Christ’s humanity is that it enabled Him to become a “merciful and faithful high priest” so that He could “come to the aid of those who are tempted.” Stop and think about how amazing that truly is! So often, we think about Christ’s suffering in death – as well as we should – due to the connection to our redemption. But to focus on a single aspect of Christ’s ministry is to separate all He truly affected for us. Here, the writer of Hebrews teaches that Jesus did not just suffer through life and temptation so that He could die. He came to earth and lived, suffered, and died so that He could actively grant aid to those who are overburdened by the sorrows of life and temptations of their sinful nature.
These three incredible feats could only be accomplished by Christ being fully human. Christ was born of a real woman to become human at a definite point in space-time history. He lived a life of faithfulness to God, enduring all things that we endure so that He could defeat death, free His people from slavery to death, and qualify as a high priest who can truly sympathize with us in all things and give aid. Notice in this list that two of the three are enacted for us in our lives now, while Christ’s defeat of death will have a glorious reveal to us after we close our eyes for the final time on this earth. Your salvation will result in eternal intimacy with God and freedom from all of the effects of the curse, a final removal of sinful nature, and joy forever. However, the most powerful truth of Christ’s incarnation for those in Him today is that there is nothing in this life that you can endure, suffer, or be tempted with that Christ cannot understand because He truly experienced the full force and effect of all those things. He was betrayed, hated, spoken against, maligned, excluded, discriminated against, physically hurt, spiritually drained, lonely, isolated, abandoned, sick, tired, angry, tempted with such force as we cannot imagine, tortured, and murdered. He endured these things for you and me for our blessing from the moment of belief until time eternal. These blessings are here and now; we can rest in them and find help when needed.
Think about the experiences of your life. Some have been truly devastating while others are the highest expression of joy and happiness that you feel life can bring. Yet in all of these things, Christ is uniquely qualified to aid you because He experienced life and understands your pain, sorrow, and happiness. We often discount our need for Christ’s mediation in our lives when things are great. After all, things are great! But our temptation to sin is just as strong, or often stronger during times that we have no trouble. Christ experienced temptation at the grand onset of His ministry as well as during the despair of the garden prior to His arrest. He lived a human life so that He could minister to you in everything and in every way.
The writer of Hebrews later discusses the implications of Christ’s humanity and role as high priest, highlighting that since Christ was tempted in the weakness of His humanity, we can confidently receive mercy and grace from Him when we are in need. Because of this, the writer encourages us to “hold fast our confession” (Heb. 4:14-16). We are meant to hold fast to our confession even when our spouse is inconsiderate of our needs, when our work supervisor is being unreasonable, when our children are obstinate, when our friends betray us, when our medical diagnosis is unbearable, when we pray and feel ignored and unanswered by God. We are to hold fast to our confession of faith in Christ and dedication to good works for the sake of the One who became fully human to suffer and be tempted just as we are. What pressure points are there in your life currently that would lead you away from your path with God? There is no aspect of your journey in life for which Christ is unable to be a merciful help to you, He stands ready for our humility and confession of our need for Him daily.
God’s calling to us is not unrealistic or coercive. He does not command righteousness without consideration for our weakness; he is familiar with my weakness and your weakness. It was at our moment of greatest weakness that the Creator of reality and time humbled Himself and became human so that he could suffer and die and become our high priest to minister to us in our time of weakness and need so that we could enter into eternal Sabbath rest and joy in God’s presence. This now grants us righteousness and reconciliation that is instantly attainable and available for us in any circumstance, culminating in eternal life in God’s presence.
“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 5:6-17 (my edit).
The birth of Christ and the truth of his full humanity is an incredible reality and unique doctrine of Christianity. In this doctrine, we find hope for our eternal rest and joy, but more significantly, for our present, we can have the aid of our great High Priest to find mercy and grace in the face of our suffering. We can find peace in the fact that no matter what we endure or how loud and tragic our circumstances may become, our Savior has genuinely suffered and endured in the flesh, fought the temptation, and remained faithful so that we can have help in our present struggle and joy for eternity evermore.
“I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; In your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Ps. 16:7-11
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