This presents an important question: How can
“the Son of Man” be “the Son of God”?
How can someone who is God be truly Man at the same time? The wise men of Babylon said that the gods
don’t dwell with flesh (Dan. 2:11). In
typical mythology when gods come to
earth do have dealings with men they
never ceased to be gods; they never
truly became what we are. The wisdom of
this world cannot understand what Christians call the mystical union. It is
unquestionably deep, but it is an essential doctrine for on it rests the
salvation of sinful men. The passage before
us explains, yes, explains, this mystery.
We
are first going to briefly answer some of the explanations that have presented
throughout the centuries. In what sense
was Jesus the God-Man, the Word become Flesh (John 1:14), the Son of David and
Son of God (Luke 1:32; Rom. 1:3-4)? We
want to review the wrong answers
before we give the classic statement of orthodoxy. We need to consider answers that deny
Scripture because they can at times be tempting, easy answers to a hard
question. But the false answers must be
exposed because they deny essential truth about our Lord. Here are a few of these deceptions.
·
DOCETISTS: Jesus’ life in a physical body was a
mirage, a mere appearance. After all,
God cannot be contaminated with human flesh.
(But Jesus said, A spirit does not have flesh and bones as
you see I have, Luke 24:39).
·
APOLLINARIANS: Jesus’ body and soul were human,
but the spirit was divine. (Can it then
be said that Jesus was truly tempted in all things as we are, Heb. 4:15? Did He really become a brother to us, Heb. 2:11,14?)
·
SOCINIANS, UNITARIANS: Jesus, the best of men,
was adopted or promoted to divine status, perhaps at his baptism. (But John 1:1 says the Word was God.)
·
ARIANS, JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES: Jesus, the first
and highest created angel, began life as a mere man and after his death was
exalted to a higher creaturely status than before. (Besides John 1:1, our passage says Jesus was
in the form of God before He became a
man.)
·
SOME MODERNISTS: Jesus was fully human even with
a sinful nature. Though he sinned he is
the finest symbol of divine love ever.
(We ask then, what glory did Jesus have with the Father before He was
born, John 17:5?)
·
NEO-ORTHODOX: Jesus was fully human, even with a
sinful nature, but he did not sin. God
acts in the world through him. (If Jesus
was truly God as He claimed, the great I
AM, how could God exist in a sinful nature?)
(We will continue with
this in the next post.)
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