SURVEY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
by Andrew Corbett

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST

The expression used to describe Christ's time on earth as a human is called incarnation. It involves more than His birth. The incarnation is simple, yet, extremely complex to understand, In the sense that God became man, it is easy, but the complexities arise when we try to fathom how this actually took place. For example, what happened to the Divine nature of Christ, and what are the eternal consequences for the Godhead? When Christ finished His mission here on earth, did He unincarnate Himself? Did He retain any of the attributes of deity when He became like us? We will endeavour to tackle some of these issues and hopefully provoke further private investigation about the Man.

BIRTH FORETOLD

When the Revised Standard Version of the English Bible translated the well known passage in Isaiah 7:14 "a young woman shall conceive", there was a public outcry from all who held to the virgin-birth of Christ. The Hebrew word used in the text is most frequently translated "young woman" throughout the Old Testament. It is also used to describe a virgin. After the R.S.V. was published, other translations also came on the scene. These included the New International Version, the New American Standard Bible and the New King James translation. All of these chose to translate the text using the word 'virgin' rather than 'young woman'.

1. From the context of the passage in Isaiah, why should 'virgin' be the obvious translation?

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The Greek language of the New Testament era had at least ten times as many words in its vocabulary as did the Hebrew. The word for "virgin" in the Greek language was very specific.

2. In the light of this, how does the account in Matthew 1:23 verify the virgin birth of Christ predicted in Isaiah 7:14?

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In Luke's account of the birth of Christ (Luke 1:26-35) he emphatically states twice that Mary was a virgin. His statement of what Gabriel told Mary was interpreted by her that she would conceive a child whilst still a virgin. Hence in verse 34 Mary asked "How can this be?"

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

Some, over recent years, have critically questioned the factualness of Christ's virgin birth. These doubts can be dispelled when we look at the overall message of God's word.

A. OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY:

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed: He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. "

Genesis 3:15

The first Old Testament prediction about the birth of the Messiah stated that He would be the seed of the woman, not the seed of the man. This is significant. In every other case of the use of the word 'seed ' in the Old Testament, it always refers to the seed being of the man. By predicting that the Messiah would come from the seed of a woman implies that a man would have nothing to do with it.

B. OLD TESTAMENT CONDITIONAL COVENANT:

"When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body and establish His kingdom... and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever..."
2 Samuel 7:12

David was promised that he would not lack a man from his descendants to sit on the royal throne. However, it was also made conditional that his sons must not forsake the LORD, or they would be cut off from the royal right to reign (1 Kings 2:3-4). Not many generations after David, his descendants committed terrible abominations (2 Kings 8:24ff). So there arose what appeared to be a glaring prophetic contradiction - the Messiah would come from the line of David, but could not be King because of all the sins of His forebears. Even the Pharisees acknowledged that the Messiah was to be a descendant of King David when confronted by Jesus, who baffled them with insight into this issue (Mtt. 22:42). The only logical way for the Messiah to be a descendant of David, but not a blood relative would be for Him to be born from a virgin. Sin is transmitted into a child by his father. To the Jew, nationality is transmitted to a child by its mother. Consequently, Luke tells of the genealogy of Christ from Mary's point of view (but starting with Joseph's name), and shows how He is both the rightful heir to David's throne- yet was born without that inherited corruption.

C. OLD TESTAMENT LAW:

"One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even of the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord."
Deuteronomy 23:2

3. How would this law have possibly disqualified Jesus from being the Messiah?

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CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST

The Scriptures tell us very little about the early years of Christ. From the passages we do have, we can tell that He had a normal childhood.

4. Complete the following facts on the childhood of Jesus based on these verses-

(a) Luke 2:21_________________________________________________

(b) Luke 2:40_________________________________________________

(c) Luke 2:52_________________________________________________

Christ's early childhood was marked by several prophetic words. Some were before His birth, and some were after it.

5. What was Mary's response to these prophecies? (Lk. 2:19, 51)

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JESUS THE MAN

The first church emphasised that Jesus was a human. With so much mystical and mythological philosophies of the Greek culture floating around, no Greek thinking person had a problem with the Divinity of Jesus. Central to this type of thinking was that all matter was basically evil. Therefore all flesh was contaminated with evil - so how could God become flesh? So the Gospel writers go out of their way to point out that Jesus was human - not some form of a spirit, hallucination or vision.

6. Based on 1 John 4:2-3, is believing that Jesus came in the flesh important?

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7. What is the single biggest incident for the Christian that demands that Jesus was a human?

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The following are observed in the life of Christ to support His humanity:

(a) Normal human birth - Mtt. 1:18; Gal. 4:4 (but not conception)

(b) Normal human development - Lk. 2:40, 52; Heb. 5:8; 4:15.

(c) Elements of human nature - Mtt. 26:12, 38; Lk. 23:46.

(d) Identified with human names and expressions - (NB. Col.4:11) Mtt. 1:1; 9:27.

(e) Normal human experiences - Mtt. 4:2; Jn. 19:28; Jn. 4:6; Mtt. 23:37

(f) Recognised as a man - Jn. 4:9; 8:57; 1:30 Acts 2:22; 1 Tim. 2:5.

The Chalcedon Creed affirmed that Christ was "very God, very Man".

8. According to Philippians 2:7-8, did Christ lose any of His deity when He became a human?

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9. What does this passage imply about Christ once He became a man?

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THE RESURRECTION

"Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
Luke 24:39

When Christ was crucified, it was His body on the cross, not some imaginary presentation of a ghost. When Christ rose from the dead, it was His restored, resurrected physical body that rose from the dead- not some manifestation of His spirit. If Christ did not rise bodily from the dead, then we have no hope beyond the grave and life now is one cruel joke. The Christ who ascended into heaven was the One with the nail-scarred hands and pierced side. He was resurrected a human and continues through eternity as the God-Man. Christ's resurrection was the firstfruits and guarantee of our resurrection (1Cor. 15).

The promise given to the believers by the angels at the ascension of Christ was that He would return just the way He left.

10. Because Christ ascended bodily, what does this mean about His return?

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11. If Christ was not human, how would this affect your confidence in Him?

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"For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus."
1 Tim. 2:5

Amen.

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