Have you wondered?
Can one person be infinite and yet finite?
Can someone be born in a manger and still be the Creator of the stars?
This isn’t just a theological curiosity—it’s the heart of the Christian faith. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully man in one person, and He remains so forever. Let’s explore how Scripture affirms this, why it matters, and what it means for your life today.
A Prediction of a Supernatural King
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6, NIV)
Isaiah 9:6 is a familiar verse for us to hear during the Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and for good reason. This verse is rich in meaning and stirs excitement within God’s people, as it speaks of David’s descendant sitting on the throne and reigning with justice and righteousness for eternity. Included in this wonderful verse is the hint that this future king would somehow be both human and divine.
The prophet says that a child is born. Aside from Adam and Eve, every person who has existed has been born as a result of their earthly parents’ actions and God’s design for our reproductive systems. Yet, Isaiah says that this son will also be given to us and also be called Mighty God and Everlasting Father, among other titles. Honing in on these two titles teaches us that there is something unique about this future ruler – that he will be supernatural in some way.
This son that Isaiah speaks about will be called Mighty God. Isaiah will use this same title to refer to the LORD in 10:21.
A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob
will return to the Mighty God. (Isaiah 10:21, NIV)
God’s ancient spokesman also says that this future king will be called Everlasting Father. Although rare in the Old Testament, the LORD is referred to as Father by Himself and His covenant people (Deuteronomy 32:6; Jeremiah 3:4, 19; Isaiah 63:16, 64:7; Malachi 2:10). In line with these paternal references, only God is eternal (1 Timothy 1:17).
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom. (Isaiah 40:28, NIV)
About 700 years later, an angel’s conversation with a teenage girl in Nazareth would reveal how a descendant of David, who had become identified as the Jewish Messiah, could be both born and given, human and divine.
Jesus’ Birth
God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her that she would give birth to a son. Perplexed but not doubting, she asked the heavenly messenger how this would be possible since she was still a virgin (Luke 1:34). The angel replied,
“The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35, NIV)
The Gospel of Matthew also states that before Joseph and Mary came together, she was found to be with child, and the boy within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18, 24-25). The virgin birth made it possible for the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person. Jesus’ birth was how God gave His son to us (John 3:16; Galatians 4:4), fulfilling Isaiah’s words of a son being both born and given.
The Virgin birth is also a vital belief of biblical Christianity because it made it possible for Christ’s true humanity without inheriting a sin nature. Every human has inherited a legal guilt and a corrupt moral nature from Adam (Romans 5:12). Since Jesus did not have an earthly father, these were not passed on to Him, unlike they have been since Adam first sinned, being passed on to every other human being. The miraculous conception must have also prevented Jesus from receiving a sinful nature and legal guilt from Mary as well (Psalm 51:5).
Jesus’ Humanity
The gospels are clear that Jesus had a physical body like ours. During His life on earth, He was limited to being in one place (John 11:21), experienced hunger (Matthew 4:2), became tired (John 4:6), and eventually died (Luke 23:46). Jesus experienced the bodily limitations that we all do. Not only did Christ experience life in a physical body, but His body also developed like ours do (Luke 2:40). Our Savior had to learn how to eat, walk, talk, read, and write, among other things.
The Bible teaches us that He was like us in every way, even being tempted as we are, but He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15-16). We need to remember, concerning the sinlessness of Jesus, that to be human does not mean that we must be a sinner, for Adam and Eve were both fully human. The LORD had created them wholly free of sin, yet with the freedom to disobey, which they did and plunged every generation since into being born guilty before a Holy God and with a heart bent towards sin.
Jesus’ Divinity
Jesus as the Word of God
People sometimes struggle with believing that Jesus is God and not simply a mere man. Fortunately, the Bible provides ample evidence of Jesus’ divinity as well. In addition to the Isaiah passages above, there are at least seven clear passages in the New Testament that explicitly refer to Jesus as God, referring to Him as the Word of God, where the word theos (God) is usually reserved for God the Father in the New Testament.
- John 1:1
- John 1:18
- John 20:28
- Romans 9:5
- Titus 2:13
- Hebrews 1:8 (quotes Psalm 45:6)
- 2 Peter 1:1
Jesus as Lord
Kyrios (Lord) is sometimes used in the New Testament as a polite way to address a superior, roughly equivalent to our use of “sir” (Matthew 13:27, 21:30, 27:63; John 4:11). At other times, the word can describe the master of a servant or a slave (Matthew 6:24, 21:40). However, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) which was roughly used at the time of Christ, it was used as a translation for the Hebrew yhwh, “Yahweh,” or “the LORD” or “Jehovah” as frequently translated. The word kyrios is used to translate the name of the Lord 6,814 times in the Greek Old Testament. Those with a knowledge of the Greek Old Testament would have seen, in contexts where it was appropriate, the word ‘Lord’ referring to the omnipotent Creator God of the universe.
Since we began this study with a look at a verse commonly seen during the Christmas season, we will now turn to a verse that would be nearly impossible for us to avoid during the beloved time of year.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. (Luke 2:11, NIV)
Again, the angels’ words are familiar to us. Still, due to our familiarity with them and our distance from ancient Israel, we overlook the weightiness of their message to the shepherds and the Jewish people in general. The first-century Jew would have been surprised to hear that a baby born was the Messiah (the Christ), and even more astounding, the Messiah was also the Lord—that is, the Lord God Himself. Yet, Luke is not the only one who uses ‘kyrios’ about Jesus in this way; John the Baptist and Jesus Himself use this word to explain that He is God as well (Matthew 3:3 – see Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 22:44 – see Psalm 110:1). The letters also use kyrios about Jesus, revealing that He is divine (1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Corinthians 12:3).
Jesus and divine attributes
Only God is eternal, all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing. These attributes are incommunicable, the things that God alone is and that we as His creation cannot be. If Jesus were human, He would not possess the qualities that belong to God alone; yet, the Bible shows us that Jesus is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.
Jesus demonstrated His omnipotence by calming a storm (Matthew 8:26-27) and multiplying a boy’s lunch to feed a multitude (Matthew 14:19). Jesus claimed to be eternal when He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” in John 8:58. The Apostle John also speaks of Jesus as being eternal (John 1:1-3; Revelation 22:13). Several times throughout the gospels we see Jesus knowing the thoughts of people and things about people proving His omnisience (Mark 2:6-8; John 4:16-19, 29; John 6:64; John 16:30). When it comes to Jesus being ever present, we cannot see it during His earthly ministry but looking forward, Jesus told His disciples that He would be with them always, even to the end of age (Matthew 18:20; Matthew 28:20).
Why does it matter that Jesus was fully God and fully man?
If Jesus wasn’t entirely man, He couldn’t have died in our place – the writer of Hebrews explains this.
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. 16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:14-17, NLT)
If Jesus wasn’t fully man, He could not have died in our place, as our representative. The blood of animals covered sin, but only the shed blood of a human being (that met God’s perfect standards perfectly) could take away our sins. A human being would have to die for human beings, but this human being would have to be perfect according to God’s standards.
But no finite human being could have borne the full penalty of God’s wrath on humanity’s sin; only an infinite holy God could absorb the wrong committed against Him and remove the guilt for it. Secondly, the deity of Jesus reminds us that salvation comes from the Lord (Jonah 2:9); we cannot make ourselves right with Him. It is by His grace that we are saved through faith apart from anything we have done (Ephesians 2:8-9); thus, if Jesus were simply a man like us, His efforts to restore fallen people with a holy God would have been useless.
Like two sides of a coin—distinct but inseparable—Jesus’ two natures coexist in perfect unity. Because the two natures, the divine and human, remained distinct, unchanged, in the one person of Jesus Christ, He is the one who can reconcile God and humanity. By being man, He could die in our place and model what it looks like to live in relationship with God as people. As God, Jesus met the absolute standard of holiness required for people to have for God to be in a relationship with Him.
For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. (1 Timothy 2:5-6, NLT)
Conclusion
Jesus, being both human and divine, makes our salvation possible and benefits us in the present. As human, He can relate to our sufferings and is our empathetic High Priest (Hebrews 4:15) who invites us to come to Him during our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
If you are ashamed of something, Jesus, as God, has paid for it in full with His life. Receive His payment for your sin by confessing it, turning from it, and trusting in Jesus’ completed work on your behalf (1 Peter 2:24).
Lonely? As God, Jesus is near! He has promised never to leave you or forsake you (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5). He is a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, and a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
Want to know how to begin a relationship with Jesus, the God-man? Watch the video below!
Reflection Questions
- Why is it important that Jesus did not inherit a sin nature?
- How does Christ’s humanity affect how you relate to Him?
- What’s one way Jesus’ deity brings you hope today?
Worship Jesus, the One in whom the fullness of deity and man dwell together!
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