The Humanity & Sinlessness of Christ

Well, we are trying to tell the story of Jesus in our Wednesday night studies. As we talk about what the Bible teaches about Christ, this is more of a doctrinal study than it is a life of Christ type of study where you just move through the gospels and look at his life. But this goes all the way back to his pre-existence and his deity and then we've been looking recently at his incarnation, the fact that he became man and that he came to humanity through means of the virgin birth. We ended with that last week and so tonight we're going to talk more about his humanity, his real humanity. And if we have time, we'll get into the fact that he was also sinless. We spent a lot of time on the deity of Christ and rightly so, that's the doctrine that is most under attack today when you come to study the doctrine of Christ so that the fact that he is God is very important for us to have a good handle on, a good grasp of that doctrine. And we've been looking also at the fact that he became man without losing his deity. When he became man, he did not lose his deity, he did not give up his deity, he was fully God and fully man. Now, once we finish talking about his humanity and sinlessness, we'll talk about his person, which basically is a study of how those two function together in the person of Christ. It's one of the great mysteries of the New Testament and one of the difficult things to put together how the humanity and deity of Christ functioned in the same person. But we'll attempt to look at what the scriptures say about that. But it's important to understand that Jesus was just as fully man as he was God. In fact, the doctrine of his humanity is just as important as the doctrine of his deity. And we're not spending as much time on it because it's not as much of an issue today. But I think it's important to remember that the first attack on the person of Christ in the church in this age was actually on the humanity of Christ, not his deity. The first attack in the early history of the church was on whether or not Jesus was really a man. Give you a couple of verses for that. First John chapter 4, as we introduced the humanity of Christ, John begins chapter 4 by saying, dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. In other words, not every spirit is the Holy Spirit. There are some false spirits. So you've got to test them and you test them by the word of God. But he says the reason is because many false prophets have gone out into the world. It goes on to say, this is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges, now watch this, every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. So back that up one slide for Gene. And let's get that expression again. Here's the important thing that was being attacked in John's day, which is right at the end of the New Testament writing period, end of the first century, on 95 AD is when John wrote his epistles. But the problem he was facing was every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. It's not that he's God, but that he's really man. That was the problem in the first century. He also refers to it in his second epistle. Let's go forward a couple slides to get this one. Second John 7, I say this because many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. And we saw that that's really the definition of his incarnation, the definition of his becoming man. Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. Christ who was in heaven throughout eternity past was God now becomes man. And this was the problem in John's day. People who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. A lot of those people who say as have gone out into the world, any such person as the deceiver and the Antichrist, not the personal Antichrist, the end of the Agiannichrist, but as someone who is an Antichrist that opposed to the true person of Christ. Now the reason why this was the first attack, not the deity of Christ, but the humanity of Christ, had to do with the world in which John and the other apostles lived. It was dominated by Greek philosophy. And Greek philosophy, ever since 400 years before the time of Christ from Plato on down, Greek philosophy had maintained a real strong distinction between matter and spirit. Flesh or body, anything that was material matter, and that which was spirit. And if you've done a reading in Plato lately, which I'm sure all of you have, he dealt a lot with that concept and it became a bedrock teaching in Greek philosophy that came all the way down through the time of Christ. And into the first two or three centuries of this since the birth of Christ. Well, basically what the Greeks taught, what Plato thought and what was held by most of the Greek philosophers, was that anything material was tainted with evil. But that which was spirit was good and divine. And so those who were influenced by Greek philosophy had trouble seeing the divine taking on any semblance or any reality of human flesh because human flesh material substance was evil. And so you wanted to get away from that. And so many of the early New Testament cults that did not believe properly about Christ were attacking his humanity. The fact that God could take on a human body, oh, perish the thought. The fact that God could align himself with material substance, no, no, they cried. And so that was the first attack on the, on the first of Christ. And that's why John talks about that toward the end of the first century. It was already beginning to, to attack the church. And so John's writing against people who deny the true humanity of Christ. Okay, so that's why it's so important that we also stress that, although we won't spend as much time on it as we did, obviously, the deity. Comment your questions about that before we look at the scriptural case for the humanity of Christ. Okay, you're tracking with me then, all right? Let's look at Christ's humanity as far as what the Bible says. The Bible speaks of him as truly human, truly human, not some apparition, not some maybe human or just looks like a human, but really a human being. Okay, just a few verses, first of all, John 5, verse 27. Verse 26 says, as the Father has life in Himself, so he has granted the Son that also have life in Himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Now, that title, the Son of Man, as we've seen, is a title that has overtones of deity from the Old Testament, from Daniel chapter 7, where one like the Son of Man or a Son of Man appears in heaven and takes the throne given to him by the ancient of days, the Father. Okay, so there's overtones of deity there, but this expression is a very common expression in the Gospels, and it most often refers to as humanity. And probably that is the case here. In fact, in the original language, there's no definite article. So really, with more accurately read, he has given him authority to judge because he is a Son of Man. A Son of Man, not the title necessarily, but he is a Son of Man. He is truly human. And that makes sense. Why would God give all judging of people to Christ because He shared in our humanity? We've looked at this before, the fact that no one would ever be able to point their finger at Jesus in the judgment, and it is Jesus who will judge all of us. No one will be able to point their finger at Him and say, well, you're up here in heaven and you're ivory tower. You don't know what it's like to live human life. You don't understand the challenges. Nobody will be able to say that because He is a Son of Man. He did live human life. And so it makes sense that the reason why all authority to judge is given to Christ is because of His humanity, because He did come to this earth and live human life. Questions there before we look at 1 Corinthians. Yes sir. Very similar. Whenever the interpreters, whenever the translators capitalize Son of Man, they're using it as a divine title. Again, I'll mention in the original language, it probably is referring to his humanity because it really reads, he is a Son of Man. But the term Son of Man is a divine title. And so quite often you will see it once referred to Christ with Capital S, Capital M. To stress the fact that it is a title. It is a title of divinity of the A. So yes, pretty much the same type of idea that we saw with Lord. Okay. Anything else? All right, 1 Corinthians 15, this is an interesting passage. Paul is speaking about the resurrection here throughout this whole chapter. Verse 21 and 22. Let's pick up verse 20 to get the flow of thought. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who fall in a sleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. So death comes through a man that's Adam. Life also comes through a man and that's Christ. Okay, so the parallelism there indicates just as Adam was fully human, Christ was fully human too. Because death came through a man and life also comes through a man. In fact, Christ is actually called the last Adam at number 45. So it has written the first man Adam became a living being the last Adam, a life giving spirit. So Christ is actually called the last Adam, tying him to the first Adam and tying him to humanity. Adam, fully man, Christ, the last Adam, also fully man. He's also fully God, but these passages are stressing his humanity. Okay, comments there, questions before we go to 1st Timothy. 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 5, this will probably be a familiar verse to you, for there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. Now what is a mediator? What does a mediator do? A go between, yes. Settles of dispute. And that's typically what mediators do, but they in a sense try to bring two parties together. They share something between the two parties. They are a go between, between two parties. And that's what Jesus function is here. There's one God and one go between one who bridges the gap, one who brings together God and man. And it's appropriate that the one who would bring together God and man is both God and man. The man Christ Jesus, and Christ obviously the title for Messiah, Jesus is human name, which means Jehovah's Saves. And so he is both God and man, and he's a mediator. He's a go between, he brings the two together. But the emphasis here is on the fact that he Christ, that the assumption is throughout the New Testament, he's God, the emphasis here is that he's also man. And thus he serves as a legitimate mediator. Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews 2, we've looked at these verses before, they bear on this topic strongly. Hebrews 2, 14. Since the children, and you go back in the context, verse 13 and before, verse 10 talks about sons and daughters, children that talking about believers here, people. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too, speaking Christ, shared in their humanity. So that by his death, he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil. So since we are flesh and blood, in order to become our Savior, Christ shared in our humanity, he became man, shared in our humanity. In the number 17, for this reason, he had to be made like them, who's the them people back in verse 16, not angels, he helps, but Abraham's descendants, not angels, but people. So for this reason, he had to be made like them, like people, fully human in every way. In order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest and service to God, and that he might make a tonement for the sins of the people. So because he was going to come to help us, he had to be made like us, and I love that expression, fully human in every way. So he is made like us in every way, didn't just appear to be human, he was human. So those are some of the main passages that speak of Christ's humanity, we're going to look at a number that give evidence of it, and examples of it in the gospels. But any question about those foundational passages? Okay, the Bible speaks of him as truly human, and then the gospels display the humanity of Christ in this way, Christ displayed all the marks of a true human being. We're going to look at a number of those just to show his true humanity. First of all, Luke chapter 2, his growth and development, Luke chapter 2. This is amazing. The development of Christ and part of what raises such puzzling questions for us. But I want to trace just in this one chapter, the growth and development of Christ, we start with him in verse 5 as a baby in the room before he is born. Verse 5, talking about Joseph in verse 4 says, he, Joseph, went there, Bethlehem, to register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. This is a child. This is a real baby that Mary is expecting. Jesus is still preborn. This is prenatal stuff here. So he's not yet born, but he is developing normally as any baby would in his mother's womb. Okay, then we see him in verse 12 as a baby that has just been born. This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby. Think of it, a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. So think of it, Jesus who has existed forever in eternity past as God with his father and perfect fellowship with the father and the spirit. Now is in Mary's womb and now has been born and he is a baby. He's a little baby. Okay, he also is seen in this chapter as a boy in verse 40. Verse 39, Mary and Joseph have done everything required by the law of the Lord. They returned to Galilee for their own town of Nazareth and the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him. So he is a little boy. He's a baby and he turns one and he turns two and he turns by. He's a little boy growing up in a home in Nazareth and then in verse 52 after they had gone to the temple when he was 12 years old. Remember, he was so amazingly versed, well versed in the scriptures that he stumped. The Old Testament scholars there in the temple asking them questions and so forth. Verse 52, when they go back to Nazareth, this is the summary expression of Jesus' entire life up to age 30. We enter his ministry and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Notice this is a natural developmental process of growth. In all four areas, he grew intellectually in wisdom. He grew physically in stature at Seth. Thirdly, he grew spiritually. He grew developed, says he grew in favor with God. So he developed spiritually and fourthly, he developed socially in favor with man. Now please understand that growth implies no imperfection. Jesus would have developed and matured in accord with his age but would have been perfectly developing as he went along. But he was growing. He was learning. He said, wait a second, he's God. He knows everything, right? This is part of the mystery of the two natures in one. There's an expression that I've used many times, some of you probably memorized it by now, that helps us to understand Christ's humanity and what he gave up in his humanity. And it is that Jesus willingly laid aside the independent use of his divine attributes. He did not lay aside deity, but he did by becoming man willingly lay aside the independent use of his divine attributes. So that when he's a six-year-old boy, he's not performing miracles as some of the rogue, gospels claim where he's making little clay pigeons and breathing life into them and setting them off. Or getting mad at one of his little boys that he's playing with and strikes and blind. He's not doing that kind of thing. He's a normal six-year-old boy growing in his understanding of things. He has willingly laid aside the independent use, in other words, using outside the Father's plan and will of his divine attributes, including his perfect knowledge. He's growing in knowledge. Now, you have to think about that one for a while. How that all works out, but he was fully human in his growth and development. I'll stop there for a moment, see if you have any comments or questions that I can't answer, because I'm going to go out for a little bit again. Well, he did have the fullness of the spirit on him and the spirit's help in everything he did because he was not tainted by sin. And so he did, as any of us could avail ourselves of the Father's help, Jesus did that perfectly. And so he would have developed to the fullest extent. That's why when he's 12 years old and he's in the temple, these old testament scholars can't believe how much he knows as a 12-year-old, because he has fully learned what is capable for a 12-year-old. I think that's the best way to say it. I don't want to be guilty of any heresy here, but I think that's the best way to put it. He was developing normally, but he was learning. He was putting forth effort. He was studying the Old Testament, just like every Jewish young boy did in the synagogue schools. He would study the Old Testament. He was applying himself to the fullest of human ability, learning as much as you could possibly learn. That's the best way to say it. Let me think about that in a minute. Typically, when we think of age of accountability, we think of a child reaching a particular age where they can grasp and understand spiritual things, enough to understand their need of a savior. Obviously, he wouldn't have that, but right or wrong. Yes, not in the sense of realizing he's chosen wrong because he never did, but understanding the concept of right and wrong, I think, yes. I think he did grow in his knowledge of even his father's will. In the temple, when he's 12 years old, he knows that he's to be about his father's business. He knows he's been sent here by God as much as a 12-year-old can know that. That's difficult to grasp, isn't it? Not once is anything ever mentioned physically. There's no mention of anything like that. We're left to wonder. I think we have to think that through theologically. Not all illness is a result of personal sin. Illness in general is the result of sin coming into the world through Adam, but not every personal illness is a result of sin. If I get a cold or I get the flu, it doesn't necessarily mean I've sinned because I live in a fallen world. So I think we could say Jesus probably did have some illnesses. He had a normal physical body. We know he got tired. We know he got thirsty. We know he got hungry. I think we could safely say without infringing on his deity that he became ill because not all illnesses result of personal sin. I think we could say that. We're walking on ice here. We're walking on ice. Okay, no more questions, right? If you've got more, that's fine. If you have anything you want to add, please do. I think you as a child, I think you had a fully developed six-year-old mind. Now, how much of the father's purpose for him, he understood it six years old, I don't know. But I don't think he was functioning as a 30-year-old in his mind at age six. I think his awareness of that would have grown and developed as he grew mentally. Certainly, the only thing we really know for sure is that when he's 12 years old, he is telling his parents, I must be about my father's business. So we know that he understood something about the father sending him to this earth on a mission at age 12. How much he understood how the growth that was at age six, I don't know. I don't know. That's really one of the most interesting facets of the humanity of Christ because he was perfect in his humanity and you do have to wonder how did his siblings feel about, you know, he's always perfect. He never does anything wrong. And they didn't understand, I'm sure, obviously, even in his ministry, they didn't believe anything. It wasn't until after the resurrection they believed in him. So they probably got quite put out with him that he never did anything wrong. There's so many interesting things to think through of Jesus growing up. And I think maybe the reason why the gospels don't include more information about his childhood is so that we don't get all hung up on that. You know, the real purpose of incoming was to die. And so the gospel pretty quickly moved to his ministry and his purpose for being here rather than just satisfying our curiosity about what his childhood was like. But still, there's a lot of itch that would like to be scratched there, right? What is childhood was like? And we'll learn more about that in eternity. We have an opportunity to study these things out. That's a great point, Kathy. I hope you heard the question. I haven't been repeating them. Did Mary certainly Kathy said she did understand who he was and why he had come because the angel gave her a way that clear to her. Did she nurture that and did she even teach that to him? I think yes, I think she probably done. There are two statements that are said, first of all, when the angel came to her in Luke 1 and then after the birth, when the shepherds came, both times it says she pondered these things in her heart. And so she did think this through. She thought through the ramifications of it. She thought through, how do I handle this? She thought through what does this mean? And we know from what's often called the annunciation of Mary, the worship announcement of Mary in Luke 1 that she was well versed in the Old Testament. When she speaks, it is chopped full of Old Testament scripture. And so we know that she was well aware of the Old Testament. It would not have been a stretch for her to take what the angel's told her and start connecting the dots with Old Testament prophecies and start really figuring out what the spirits helped, what always going on. And I'm confident she would have trained and communicated that information to Jesus as a young child. And whatever was communicated to him, he got. He was had a perfectly developed mind. So I think that's an important factor. I think Mary probably shared with him all that the angel had told her and continued to nurture that in him. Yes, and that is that is kind of scary to think of that. And that's where you then balance it with his perfection and his deity. The fact that he would never have had any pride. So that would have been checked. That would not have happened. Although he could have rightly done that. He didn't. It would be fascinating to see how Jesus interacted with his playmates, his brothers and sisters. It would be really fascinating to know that. But he did have real growth and development. Second thing that is important to understand about his humanity is he had real human emotions. And the fact that these are described in the New Testament indicate to us he was truly human. Look at Mark chapter three and verse five where he experiences anger and grief all in the same passage. We're going to point out a few passages here. A couple of them which have two different emotions in one passage. Jesus is in the synagogue. There's a man with a scribbled hand and the religious leaders who are critical of him are watching closely to see if he's going to hear them on the Sabbath. Jesus says to the man to stand up in verse three and verse four. Jesus asked them which is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil to save life or to kill because he knew what they were thinking. And notice it says that they remain silent. Now look at verse five. He looked around them, around at them in anger. And deeply distressed. So there are two emotions. Anger and deep distress, literally grief at their stubborn hearts said to the man, stretch out your hand. So Jesus experienced anger and he experienced distress. Not the frantic distress of panic of distrust of God and what he's doing but the distress, the grief of looking at their hardened hearts and realizing how hard they were against spiritual things. But he did experience anger and it was always righteous anger. It was not sinful. It was not sinful. He expressed. It was not sinful in its duration of developing into bitterness. So we would have to check that with all of the checks that sin has a tendency to take anger all the ways it takes anger. But Jesus did have righteous anger, anger at hardened hearts spiritually, anger at their sin. Okay, look at Luke chapter 10 where it is said that he had full joy. Luke chapter 10 verse 21, this is after the 70 have been out to minister in Galilee. And when they come back verse 21 at that time Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth because you've hidden these things from the wise and learned it and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Full of joy through the Holy Spirit. Notice even his positive emotions are under the control of the Holy Spirit. So we know all of his emotions were under control of the Spirit as was everything he did. So full of joy. Then John 11, this one very familiar, shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus went. Remember where it was? Graveside of Lazarus. And why does he weep? I mean, he knows he's going to turn right around and raise Lazarus from the dead. But it's clear in the passage Mary and Martha both have come out to meet him there at the grave side. Verse 32, when Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw and she fell at her feet said, Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved and spirit and troubled. So he was not weeping because of a sense of hopelessness. He knows he's going to turn around and raise Lazarus from the dead. He knows what the future holds. But he's weeping because of how much they are heard. And it's as though he is experiencing in his presence all the effects of a sin cursed world and he knows that's what he came to undo on the cross. But seeing the evidence of it right there in front of him, he weeps. He's deeply distressed. He's troubled in his spirit when he sees that. And literally enters into their sorrow and it's one of the most powerful passages in all the New Testament. When it says Jesus wept, you know, it just gets the moniker from being the shortest verse in the Bible and we don't really grasp all that it's communicating to us. But Jesus actually entered into their sorrows knowing in a few moments they would be jumping for joy when he came out of the tomb still. He is able to enter into their sorrows and that that passage gives us tremendous understanding and hope for how he feels with us even now. He enters into our sorrows and all of our difficulties in life. He feels with us. He enters into them. Yes. Yes. Perfect empathy. It really is. He's able to feel what we're feeling. And we have trouble doing that obviously as you mentioned, even the best examples of compassion and empathy would fall short of what Jesus was able to do. And really felt in his own spirit. It's a great example of it because he did not need to be troubled about what was happening. He was fully in control of what was happening. The only reason he's troubled is because of what he feels with the others who are struggling with this whole setting. Okay. One other in chapter 13, John 13 verses 21 and 23. This is in the upper room. Jesus has already washed the disciples' feet. And he says in verse 21, or this happens in verse 21, accurate said this Jesus was troubled and spirit and testified very truly. I tell you one of you is going to betray me. And the disciples are staring at each other at a loss. It says to know which of them he meant. Verse 23, one of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. He understands setting in that day they would recline at a very low table leaning on their left elbow, taking food from the table and eating. So they're reclining. They didn't sit in chairs. The bench he got it wrong in his painting. But they're reclining as typical Middle Easterners would have done in that day. And so the disciple that Jesus loved is John. Basically means there was a special connection between the two of those that John shared Jesus heart in a way that even went deeper than the other disciples. And Jesus reciprocated that understanding that connection that John's heart had with his own mission and purpose as the Savior. But in one verse, where 21, he's very disturbed. He's troubled and spirit in verse 23 is talking about one that he loved. And so two different emotions there in the same passage. Very troubled about one of his disciples who will betray him. So he had normal growth and development. He had normal emotions, human emotions, although under the control of the spirit and not in a sinful way. All of his emotions were kept within the proper bounds. All right, our time is up. We're going to have to leave the other emotions until next time. I will be away next Wednesday night and I want to encourage you to be here to hear Gene Gurgannis. Gene Gurgannis, one of our missionaries that we have supported for many, many years. I'm not even sure I didn't look up in our records how long. But Gene was in Bangladesh for 17 years and then came back and was a representative of the ABWE is well into his 80s now, has a wealth of experience. And what he's going to talk about next week is I know at least he's going to touch on this. I don't know if this would be the whole topic. But he spent most of his overseas ministry in a Muslim country. And he has done a lot of study on the scriptures and what the Bible teaches about the threat of Islam, the Christianity and even prophecy how Islam fits into that. I think he may be touching on that. So I know he's going to talk about the threat of Islam. And with the recent developments in Iraq, with ISIS and so forth, you're going to want to hear what Gene Gurgannis has to say. I've heard him do two lectures on the fact that and there are more and more people coming to this. We got to stop. But the Antichrist will actually come from Islam and not from a revived Roman Empire. And there is fascinating biblical evidence for that. And I know Gene believes that he's taught that. And so you're not going to miss next Wednesday night. It's going to be very interesting. I may come back from missies in Iowa just to hear that. Thank you for our Lord and Savior. Thank you that not only was he holy God, but he was fully man. And can identify with all the struggles and difficulties of living human life, even experience the full range range of emotions. Thank you father that he shared humanity with us and can understand what we go through. Our weaknesses are because we are tainted by sin. Our failings, even though he did not fail. We thank you that he understands the difficulty of human life. In process every day Lord with the fact that we have a Savior who truly is a mediator one that stands between you and us and brings us together. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen.