Jesus of
Nazareth was not only fully God, as it is written: “For it pleased the Father
that in him should all fulness dwell” (Colossians |
Even
though His conception was supernatural, for He was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
His birth was that of a normal child born of a human mother (Matthew |
Jesus, as
a normal child, grew physically and mentally, as it is written: “And the
Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom … and Jesus
increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke |
Jesus
referred to Himself as a man, as He said to the Jews: “But now you seek to
kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God” (John |
He had a
body, soul and spirit, and shared our physical and emotional experiences. He
got hungry (Matthew 4:2) and thirsty (John 4:7; |
Since
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was born without sin, that is,
free from hereditary depravity. Furthermore, during His earthly life He
committed no sin, even though He was in all points tempted as we are (Hebrews
4:15). The Scripture states that He “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians |
As we have
seen, Jesus was a real man, therefore as a man He was inferior to God, for He
was subject to human limitations. That’s why the Scripture says: “You made
him a little lower than God” (Psalm 8:5 – NIV ‘Than God’ is in a footnote.
The IBRV reads “Tu l’hai fatto poco minor di Dio,” that is, “You made him a
little lower than God,‘’ in the text, while in the footnotes we find ‘Tu l’hai
fatto poco minor degli angeli,” that is, “You made him a little lower than
the angels”. However, even if we accept ‘than the angels,’ as the KJV reads,
it is evident that since the angels of God are heavenly beings inferior to
God, Jesus also – as a man - was inferior to God). |
Now, by
comparing some Bible verses, referring to Jesus, with some others referring
to God, I will show you what the Scripture means when it states that Jesus
was made a little lower than God. |
●
John says: “Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with
his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour” (John
4:6). Therefore Jesus got weary. But we know that in Isaiah it is written
about God that He “fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isaiah 40:28. The NIV
reads: “He will not grow tired or weary”). However, this does not lead us to
say that Jesus was not God, because His tiredness was due to the fact that He
had a human body, which was subject to some limitations. |
●
Matthew says: “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed
him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the
ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep” (Matthew |
●
Jesus said: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels
which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark |
Therefore
we must not be surprised if Jesus, on the night He was arrested, said to His
disciples: “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto
you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father:
for my Father is greater than I” (John |
In
conclusion, I want to say this. Of course, when we speak about the two
natures of Christ – that is, the divine and the human nature of Christ – and
we explain the mystery of how they were united in Him (as to the union
between them we believe and teach that they were organically and indissolubly
united, yet so that no third nature was formed thereby), we acknowledge that
we are talking about something that we don’t understand fully and thus we
can’t offer a complete explanation as to how Christ’s humanity and deity were
united, for in this life the Incarnation will always contain areas of mystery
for us, but that does not prevent us from believing and proclaiming that He
was truly man and truly God. “Without controversy great is the mystery of
godliness” (1 Timothy |