Short Essay Christology

God is not man and man is not God. How then can a man also be God? Maybe this truly is a

story which will take eternity to understand, yet we have been enlightened to some extent by this

God man called Christ Jesus Himself. "But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent

me." (John 7:29) Thus we have a basis from which to understand this person in human form

who is standing before us yet claims to not only know God, but is of Him and sent by Him.

A good place to start learning is from what we can see right in front of us, and what we have is

the birth of a child who "increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man."

Luke 2:52. Many texts in the Bible support the humanity of Jesus. John 4:6 and 7 tells us that

He grew weary with his journey and took rest at a well and requested a drink. He also felt

emotion and "wept" when he heard the news of his friend Lazarus' death. (John 11:35) This

man Jesus walked, talked, socialized, ate, had emotions, rested and slept while he was here on

earth.

Jesus' deity comes through on many occasions. The first public knowledge of this shines

through at His baptism as the glorious light of the Holy Spirit descends and God speaks; "This is

my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17) Scores of other verses reveal the

God character in Jesus. John 1:1-2, Romans 6:23, Luke 1:35 and Hebrews 2 9-18 are just a

few. Many names reserved only for deity are ascribed to Jesus Christ with "I AM that I AM"

from Exodus 3:14 being the most powerful and long recognized symbol of deity applied to

Himself.

Christ is the embodiment of two natures, "hypostatic union", into one Person. "He had one

intellect, one set of emotions and one volitional ability to make decisions." His nature was

constant and unchanging. Jesus was sent to us in human form but was God. "There is one God,

and one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ." (1 Tim 2:5)

The incarnation of Jesus is utterly amazing. The incarnation shows us how fallen man is and was

and why God needed to do this to save man. Paul in the book Romans asserts that man was so

totally lost when left to him self. Thus Jesus needed to reveal the nature of God to men. After

all aren't we all really