REPORT OF GROUP 4

IN
CHRISTOLOGY
REPORT OF GROUP 4
IN
CHRISTOLOGY
The Humanity of Christ

DEFINITION

The humanity of Christ refers to the reality that in his incarnation, the Son of God assumed a complete human
nature with all its limitations (but without in any way surrendering his divinity), so that he might serve as
humanity’s representative, substitute, and example.

SUMMARY

In his incarnation, the Son of God assumed a complete human nature—body, soul, mind, and will—into
personal union with himself. He did not assume a distinct human person, since he is already a divine person,
but rather he gave personhood to the human nature that he assumed. As a human, Jesus experienced all the
ordinary, non-sinful limitations of humanity. He grew and developed. He experienced hunger, thirst,
weariness, and the full range of human emotions. His humanity was as integral to his saving work as his
divinity. As the true human, the last Adam, he lived out obedience to God through our common humanity as
our representative and substitute: through his life, death, and resurrection, he merits salvation for all who
are united to him by faith. As a human, he also serves as our example, providing a model for true human
obedience.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as
of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The astounding
claim at the heart of the Christian faith is that the eternal Son of God became a human.
To paraphrase a common refrain in the early church fathers—without ceasing to be
what he was, he became what he was not.1 Or, as the Nicene Creed puts it, “For us
and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy
Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human.”

If this is the central truth of Christianity, it is also a scandal to many. From the ancient
Gnostics to contemporary Muslims, many have maintained that it is incongruous with
the supreme dignity of the Deity that he should sully himself with human weakness.
Modern philosophy is also scandalized by the notion that only one human in a
particular time and place could somehow constitute the definitive revelation of the
eternal and immutable God. Even many in Christian history have sought to diminish or
attenuate the full force of the true humanity of Christ. But the truth of Christ’s
humanity is as significant for the gospel of salvation as the truth of his deity.
 New Testament Fulfillment

In the perspective of the New Testament, both strands of this prophetic hope—the return of the Lord
himself and the coming of Messiah—are woven together in a single person.3 In a variety of ways, the
New Testament presents Jesus as one with the God of Israel: he possesses the attributes of God; he
performs the actions of God; he bears the names of God; and he receives the worship of God. But with
equal force, the New Testament presents Jesus as truly human; his human limitations are not an illusion,
nor is his humanity swallowed up by his deity.

Given the consistency with which the New Testament attributes both divine and human properties to
Jesus, without dividing him into two persons, the two-natures doctrine that developed in the early
centuries of the church and was formalized at the Council of Chalcedon (451) should be seen as a
necessary entailment of the biblical witness. Christ is a single person with two natures: the divine
nature that he shares equally and eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the human nature
that he assumed in his incarnation. These two natures are united in his person without confusion or
change but also without division or separation. To emphasize the deity of Christ in no way diminishes
his humanity, and to highlight his humanity in no way detracts from his deity. The properties of each
nature retain their own integrity even in their union in the singular person of the Son.
The humanity that Christ assumed was complete: he took to himself all that it means to
be human—body, soul, mind, and —witwillh only sin excepted. Jesus’s humanity is
evident from the following considerations in the New Testament.

He was born. -The circumstances of Jesus’s conception were obviously miraculous; he was
conceived in Mary’s womb without the aid of a father’s genetic material. But the nature
that was created by God in the womb of the Virgin was undeniably human; he shares in
Mary’s humanity and is, in this way, truly the offspring of Abraham and David—indeed,
the offspring of the first woman, Eve, the mother of all the living. Although his conception
was miraculous, his birth was typically human: Mary “gave birth to her firstborn son and
wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for
them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).
He grew and developed.- In his humanity, Jesus experienced ordinary human growth and development. We read
that when the holy family returned to Nazareth, “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the
favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40). The New Testament only records one story of Jesus’s childhood: the
episode in the temple, when his parents left him in Jerusalem. After that incident, Luke tells us that Jesus
“increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). As mind-boggling as it may seem,
given the overwhelming New Testament evidence for Christ’s divinity, as a human, Jesus grew intellectually,
physically, spiritually, and relationally.

He experienced the limitations of finitude.-The human nature that Jesus assumed in his incarnation was free
from any stain of sin or corruption, but it nevertheless possessed all the marks of ordinary human finitude. And
living in a fallen world, Jesus voluntarily assumed the infirmities common to our fallen humanity. He hungered
(Matt 4:2), thirsted (John 4:7; 19:28), grew tired (John 4:6), and experienced the full range of ordinary, non-
sinful human emotions (Matt 26:37; John 2:15; 11:35). There are even a couple of indications in the Gospels
that Jesus did not possess omniscience in his human mind. He asks who had touched him when power went out
from him to heal the woman with an issue of blood (Mark 5:30). And he declared to his disciples that not even
the Son of Man knows the day or the hour of his return (Mark 13:32).
 He was tempted. -Another mark of Jesus’ humanity is evident when we consider his temptations. The New
Testament makes it clear that Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15; 9:14; 1Pet 1:19). And although theologians have
debated the question of Christ’s impeccability—whether or not he could have sinned—it seems that the answer
most consistent with the fullness of the New Testament revelation is that Christ, in fact, could not have sinned.
Because the person of Christ is divine, and a divine person, being necessarily good, cannot sin, it seems best to
argue for Christ’s impeccability. But this understanding of Christ’s inability to sin need not detract from the biblical
teaching that Christ, as a human, was indeed tempted (Matt 4:1–11) and even “suffered” in his temptations (Heb
2:18).

He suffered, died, and was buried. -The Gospel narratives of Christ’s passion, death, and burial also highlight his
humanity. In his divine essence, God cannot die; he is immortal. But because the God the Son assumed humanity,
he is capable of suffering and death as a part of his atoning work. He assumed the likeness of sinful flesh in order
to condemn sin in his own body through death (Rom 8:3–4). He was legally reckoned to be a sinner, though he
himself was without sin, so that he might pay the penalty for sin (2Cor 5:21).
He was raised in his humanity. -Jesus’s resurrection is also a human affair. He was raised in the same body in
which he died, only now in glorified, immortal life. In this way Christ is, as Paul puts it, the last Adam, the true
human who ushers in the age of the resurrection, the first fruits of all humanity, who will be raised on the last
day (1Cor 15:45).

He continues his kingly and priestly work. -The Son’s incarnation had a beginning in human history, but it has no
end. He continues to reign as the exalted Son of God from the Father’s right hand (Rom 1:4; Col 3:1). He also
continues his priestly work of intercession in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb 7:24–25).

He will return in his humanity. -When Jesus ascended to heaven, the angel announced to the apostles that Christ
would return just has he had been taken up into heaven (Acts 1:11). Again, Jesus did not shed his humanity like a
garment when he entered the clouds. He remains a glorified human being and will return personally and visibly
on the last day (Col 3:4).
 Implications of Christ’s Humanity

The New Testament plainly teaches that Jesus Christ is this divine-human redeemer. His humanity is apparent
throughout the “whole course” of his obedience. His conception, birth, development, limitations, suffering, death,
burial, resurrection, ascension, ongoing priestly work, and final return give powerful testimony to the genuine
humanity of Christ. It remains only to tease out briefly a few implications from this rich biblical teaching.

Christ’s humanity means that he is fallen humanity’s representative. Jesus is, thus, the last Adam, the true
human in whom fallen humanity can be reconciled to God. Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law, in
order to live out obedience on behalf of those oppressed by the law (Gal 4:4–5). Though he had no need for
repentance, he vicariously underwent a baptism of repentance in order to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15).
His perfect life of law-keeping obedience has been described by theologians as his “active obedience.” He not only
dies for sinners but lives for them as well, so that his righteousness becomes their own (2Cor 5:21).
Christ’s humanity means that he is fallen humanity’s substitute. Christ renders to God not only active obedience
but passive obedience as well. In other words, we are saved by Christ’s passion, his vicarious suffering and death
on our behalf. He dies as a substitute: in our place, on our behalf, and for our benefit. “He himself bore our sins in
his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed”
(1Pet 2:24). Only one who is truly human can die in place of sinful humans. The great work of atonement is only
possible because he is the true human.

Christ’s humanity means that he is redeemed humanity’s example. Christ constitutes the unconditional gift of
our salvation, but he also serves as our great exemplar. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1Pet 2:21). As the true man,
the one who exemplifies God-honoring, Spirit-filled human obedience without peer, Christ is the one whom
Christians are to imitate in our obedience of God. The words of Pilate at the crucifixion, “Behold the man,” are
ironically true: in Christ, and especially in his passion and death, we see true humanity, and in him we find our
calling, our purpose, and our destiny as his followers.