To believe that Jesus Christ had only a divine nature, would do great damage to his person. This would mean he is not really human but a mere manifestation of God. Not God in the flesh but God appearing as flesh. If this was true then how could God be a sacrifice for sin? God cannot die. To atone for sin, the Lamb of God, must truly experience death.
To believe that Jesus Christ had only a human nature, would equally do damage. This would mean he is not the eternal Son of God. If this was true, then the religionist of his day were correct to scoff at him. Christ could only make himself equal to God if he were truly the Second person of the God-head.
It is vitally important, that we as saved believers, have the right view of Jesus. This right view comes from the power of the indwelling Spirit, received in the New Birth, (John 3:2-13). This enables us today to say what Peter said, "You are the Christ (anointed one). The Son of the Living God.". Peter saw both his Divinity and his Humanity. In order that we have a saving knowledge of whom Christ is, we must understand Him as presented in Holy Scripture. The following would not be saving knowledge of Jesus Christ:
- To have simply heard the name spoken, so that one recognizes it but has no knowledge of who he is.
- To know of him from a historical perspective but have never studied who he is from Scripture.
- To have seen a movie about his life, (ex. King of Kings), but again have no true spiritual knowledge of him.
- To denounce his Divinity, for he is the Creator, (John 1:1-3).
- To denounce his humanity, for he was fully man, apart from sin. He possessed NO sin nature, therefore his nature could not be tempted. (I could go into this further but that is for another time).
- To denounce he is the eternal Son of God the Father. As again spoken of in John 1:1,2 - and again in John 8:56-58, where Jesus declared himself as being before the time of Abraham. ("......before Abraham was, I am." { in the greek, "egw eimi", translated in most Bibles: "I am" but could be translated: "I myself am"]). This is a statement of his eternal existence and should have caused the religionist of his day, to think back to the days of Moses, when the Lord said to Moses, "I am that I am....... I am has sent me unto you." (Ex. 3:14), but it did not. They were to blinded.
- To not love Christ more than anything in this world. More than your mother, father, wife, husband children or anything else this world has to offer.
I really don't believe in getting into discussions about what men believe, unless they can prove it from the Scriptures. We should always be wary of the teachings of men who are constantly quoting other men and not Holy Writ. I don't care if the man is a licensed Preacher or a man with a string of degrees as long as your arm. The Bible is the sole source of God's revelation to man. If I can't prove what I am saying from the Scriptures, you should not listen to me either. To often, I have already seen, people arguing over what men said on these threads. If that's your thing, go for it but as for me, give me the Scriptures.
Now as to Jesus Christ's divinity, I don't think much needs to be added. If you can't see he was Divine, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end and that Christ Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you still need God to do something for you. So let's concentrate on His human nature for a moment.
--- THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST ---
One Man - Two Natures
- Similarities to us -
- Born of a woman (Luke 1:35)
- Christ as a child grew (Luke 1:80, 2:40)
- Christ subjected himself to the laws of human development but in all things perfect.
- He increased in Wisdom as he increased in age (Luke 2:40, 52)
- Some things Christ did not know (Mark 13:32)
- He had a body, soul and spirit. On body (Heb. 5:7 and 10:5). On soul (Mat. 26:38, Is. 53:10). On spirit (Mark 8:12, John 11:33).
- He had weakness of the body: Hungered, Thirsted, needed sleep, became weary, was afflicted and was mortal.
- Had emotional responses: Fear, sorrow, anger, joy, wept and grief.
- Made in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh, not in sinful flesh, (Rom. 8:3)
- He died but was not a martyr.
- Dissimilarities to us -
- More than a man, the God-Man - through the mystery of the Hypostatic Union.
- Born of a virgin woman and not conceived in sin (Mat. 1:18-21, Luke 1:30-35)
- Born not from the seed of fallen man (Mat. 1:16)
- Christ given the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34)
- He was full of Grace and Truth (John 1:14)
- He was not subject to sin (John 8:46)
- He was Holy, undefiled, separate from sinners.
- He was untemptable (James 1:13)
- He was never sick.
- He never spoke any guile.
- He never lusted after anything or anyone.
- In him was hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- in him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 1:19)
- He was always in the will of his Father (John 4:34, 5:30)
- He always prayed in the will of his Father (John 11:42)
- Could not be knowingly deceived (John 6:70)
Now that I have attempted to show whom Jesus Christ is from the Bible, we need to ask ourselves... Is this the Jesus that I believe in? For sadly, many do not. They would attack him on one or more points. For some religions deny the trinity of God and thus know not God. Others would deny his sinless perfection and that he could not be tempted in any respects. (Please remember always, the greek word translated "tempted" in many Bibles, should be translated, "tried" or "tested" depending on the context. Others would attack his eternal Son-ship, the fact that the "Word" was God and not "a god", such as the Jehovah Witnesses. Therefore we must all be careful as to our approach to these great truths. For God is not worshiped out of good works, people trying to be the best they can be, because there are none that do good, according to Roman's chapter one. Even for us believers, we can do no good in the eyes of God, unless it is through the righteousness that Christ wrought on our behalf. Let us never forget, that our righteousness and our works are like a dung hill to God.
Finally, if you do not readily accept the whole council of God and are worshiping the wrong concept of Christ, you are risking the words of Matthew 7:21-23 in particular verse 23.
It is my hope, that these words will bring further honor and glory to God and the Lamb, as well as, a little joy into the hearts of the sheep.
Just doing my part, to hopefully shed a little light into this confused and darkened world in which we are passing through. Even so come Lord Jesus.
To believe that Jesus Christ had only a human nature, would equally do damage. This would mean he is not the eternal Son of God. If this was true, then the religionist of his day were correct to scoff at him. Christ could only make himself equal to God if he were truly the Second person of the God-head.
It is vitally important, that we as saved believers, have the right view of Jesus. This right view comes from the power of the indwelling Spirit, received in the New Birth, (John 3:2-13). This enables us today to say what Peter said, "You are the Christ (anointed one). The Son of the Living God.". Peter saw both his Divinity and his Humanity. In order that we have a saving knowledge of whom Christ is, we must understand Him as presented in Holy Scripture. The following would not be saving knowledge of Jesus Christ:
- To have simply heard the name spoken, so that one recognizes it but has no knowledge of who he is.
- To know of him from a historical perspective but have never studied who he is from Scripture.
- To have seen a movie about his life, (ex. King of Kings), but again have no true spiritual knowledge of him.
- To denounce his Divinity, for he is the Creator, (John 1:1-3).
- To denounce his humanity, for he was fully man, apart from sin. He possessed NO sin nature, therefore his nature could not be tempted. (I could go into this further but that is for another time).
- To denounce he is the eternal Son of God the Father. As again spoken of in John 1:1,2 - and again in John 8:56-58, where Jesus declared himself as being before the time of Abraham. ("......before Abraham was, I am." { in the greek, "egw eimi", translated in most Bibles: "I am" but could be translated: "I myself am"]). This is a statement of his eternal existence and should have caused the religionist of his day, to think back to the days of Moses, when the Lord said to Moses, "I am that I am....... I am has sent me unto you." (Ex. 3:14), but it did not. They were to blinded.
- To not love Christ more than anything in this world. More than your mother, father, wife, husband children or anything else this world has to offer.
I really don't believe in getting into discussions about what men believe, unless they can prove it from the Scriptures. We should always be wary of the teachings of men who are constantly quoting other men and not Holy Writ. I don't care if the man is a licensed Preacher or a man with a string of degrees as long as your arm. The Bible is the sole source of God's revelation to man. If I can't prove what I am saying from the Scriptures, you should not listen to me either. To often, I have already seen, people arguing over what men said on these threads. If that's your thing, go for it but as for me, give me the Scriptures.
Now as to Jesus Christ's divinity, I don't think much needs to be added. If you can't see he was Divine, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end and that Christ Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you still need God to do something for you. So let's concentrate on His human nature for a moment.
--- THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST ---
One Man - Two Natures
- Similarities to us -
- Born of a woman (Luke 1:35)
- Christ as a child grew (Luke 1:80, 2:40)
- Christ subjected himself to the laws of human development but in all things perfect.
- He increased in Wisdom as he increased in age (Luke 2:40, 52)
- Some things Christ did not know (Mark 13:32)
- He had a body, soul and spirit. On body (Heb. 5:7 and 10:5). On soul (Mat. 26:38, Is. 53:10). On spirit (Mark 8:12, John 11:33).
- He had weakness of the body: Hungered, Thirsted, needed sleep, became weary, was afflicted and was mortal.
- Had emotional responses: Fear, sorrow, anger, joy, wept and grief.
- Made in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh, not in sinful flesh, (Rom. 8:3)
- He died but was not a martyr.
- Dissimilarities to us -
- More than a man, the God-Man - through the mystery of the Hypostatic Union.
- Born of a virgin woman and not conceived in sin (Mat. 1:18-21, Luke 1:30-35)
- Born not from the seed of fallen man (Mat. 1:16)
- Christ given the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34)
- He was full of Grace and Truth (John 1:14)
- He was not subject to sin (John 8:46)
- He was Holy, undefiled, separate from sinners.
- He was untemptable (James 1:13)
- He was never sick.
- He never spoke any guile.
- He never lusted after anything or anyone.
- In him was hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- in him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 1:19)
- He was always in the will of his Father (John 4:34, 5:30)
- He always prayed in the will of his Father (John 11:42)
- Could not be knowingly deceived (John 6:70)
Now that I have attempted to show whom Jesus Christ is from the Bible, we need to ask ourselves... Is this the Jesus that I believe in? For sadly, many do not. They would attack him on one or more points. For some religions deny the trinity of God and thus know not God. Others would deny his sinless perfection and that he could not be tempted in any respects. (Please remember always, the greek word translated "tempted" in many Bibles, should be translated, "tried" or "tested" depending on the context. Others would attack his eternal Son-ship, the fact that the "Word" was God and not "a god", such as the Jehovah Witnesses. Therefore we must all be careful as to our approach to these great truths. For God is not worshiped out of good works, people trying to be the best they can be, because there are none that do good, according to Roman's chapter one. Even for us believers, we can do no good in the eyes of God, unless it is through the righteousness that Christ wrought on our behalf. Let us never forget, that our righteousness and our works are like a dung hill to God.
Finally, if you do not readily accept the whole council of God and are worshiping the wrong concept of Christ, you are risking the words of Matthew 7:21-23 in particular verse 23.
It is my hope, that these words will bring further honor and glory to God and the Lamb, as well as, a little joy into the hearts of the sheep.
Just doing my part, to hopefully shed a little light into this confused and darkened world in which we are passing through. Even so come Lord Jesus.
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