Looking at the claim "Jesus was a man and as such could not also be God", the Bible can be used to confirm the first half and rebuke the second half. Jesus is both a man and God, simultaneously. If the second half were accurate, the gospel would be much less of the good news that it is.
There are several locations in scripture for the Biblical basis of Jesus′ humanity. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul states," God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4 NIV). This passage speaks of the incarnation and birth of Christ. This birth of a child was only different than every other birth because God sent the child. Jesus experienced the full range of human emotions. This emotional range went from weeping for the death of His friend Lazarus (John 11:35) to being troubled (Mark 14:33). These references confirm the first part of the claim, Jesus was a man.
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Jesus states that he "and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Paul seems to confirm this assertion by saying "for in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9). Passages of scripture exist that even say that Jesus existed in the "form of God" prior to His incarnation (Philippians 2:5-8). This statement leads credence to Jesus, as the word, being with God in the beginning, and through Him all things were made (John 1:1-5). The Council of Chalcedon defined this union of man and God. They stated that the union of the human nature and the divine nature occurred in the one person (physical, bodily form) known as Jesus Christ. The council went on to say that the two are distinct. These natures were not to be confused with having multiple personalities; it was simply so that the single person Jesus is truly both God and man (Elwell, 2001, p.
What was agreed upon at the Council of Chalcedon can supported in the Synoptic Gospels. It was reported that He was born of a woman, grew from infant to man, wept, experienced hunger, was tempted, and also experienced death, reavealing His human nature. "Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him", Matthew 8:26-27 (Bible np). Jesus also has power over nature, diseases, demons, sins, and death, revealing His divinity. "I and my Father are one", John 10:30 (Bible np). With each agreed statement, there are always some who think differently. The Chalcedon definition of Jesus had staying power, but there were still two sides and more questions. But it stays to say that the Jesus Christ is truly divine and truly man.
Jesus claimed to be the divine Son of God and settled His claims by living a sinless life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection. Jesus’ life was recorded in the four Gospels, and has been historically accurately proven and witnessed by first century writers. Since Jesus is God incarnate, anything opposing his teachings if false, because what He taught was true. The authority of both the Old and New Testaments have been declared. Jesus named the prophets and the canon of the Old Testament. Abel was named the first prophet in Genesis, and Zechariah the last prophet in 2 Chronicles. The Old Testament is referred to as the commands of God in Mark 7:8-9. Jesus made it clear throughout His ministry that His teachings corrections and actions were unchanging from the Old Testament. Jesus affirmed historical disputed stories of the Old Testament. He professes as true the accounts of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-5), Noah and the Ark (Matthew 24:39), and many more. Jesus proved the Old Testament and promised the Holy Spirit would inspire the apostles in the preservation of His teaching and writing of the New Testament (John 14:25-26). The apostles displayed the authority of God through the wonders they performed as Jesus and the Prophets did before them. The book of Acts, also proven to be historically accurate record written by first century eyewitness, records the miracles of the
Jesus is not a mere man. He is so much more than a man; we can see
In his second volume on Jewish apologetics, Michael Brown answers twenty eight Jewish theological objections. Brown summarizes this book in his preface:
“The word "Incarnation"comes from the Latin words "in" and "carnis" which means “flesh."" Flesh is the solid part of our being, the part that we can see and touch, in contrast to our mind, soul, and spirit” According to John 4:24, God in his natural form is a spirit. In God’s plan of salvation, “it was necessary for the Son of God to be revealed to humankind in ways that they could see and touch, and so the Incarnation was a part of the plan-- placing the eternal, immortal, invisible Son of God in a body of flesh”(Lehigh, David). According to the Catholic Church, “The Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human.
b) Biblical Foundation Many question if Jesus ever claimed to be God. First, Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God, resulting in the Jewish leaders stoning Him ‘because you,’ the leaders said, ‘a mere man, claim to be God’ (John 10:33). On another occasion, a High Priest asked him: ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ to which Jesus replied ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’ (Mark 14:61-62). Jesus also claimed to possess the same attributes of God. In the Bible, Jesus has never been recorded saying the exact words, “I am God.” However, Jesus’ original spectators seemed to think He said “I am the Father.” They were even ready to kill Him right there. The controversy is: Jesus didn’t have to say the specific words “I am God,” to claim this. Jesus did, however,...
The life of Jesus is told in the four gospels of the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They speak of His virgin birth, His ministry and miracles, His death, and His resurrection. Jesus was born into humanity through Mary but was conceived without a human father (Matthew 1:18) making Him fully man and fully God. He was called the Son of God, (1 John 5:20), the second person of the Holy Trinity. Jesus taught about the kingdom of God and how we are to love everyone, even our enemies (Merrick, 2015). Jesus was the only human to live a sinless life so He was able to fulfill His purpose on earth to provide a way for man’s relationship with God to be restored. “In Jesus’ life, one beholds not merely the lengths to which God will go to save humanity, but the nature of the wisdom, love, and the power of God who saves.” (Merrick, 2015) God provided a plan so man could be redeemed and
One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...
In Pierre De Berulle’s selected writings pages 134 through 147 we continue to learn about the “Discourse on the State and Grandeurs of Jesus. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth discourse is on the communication of God in this mystery.
A recurring title for Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is the Son of God, which is evident in the centurion quote seen in Mark 15:39 “…when the centurion…saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’.” This scripture reference is subtitled as the Death of Jesus, which portrays Him as the Suffering Messiah for He died and came back to life. Through his pain and suffering, it was the centrepiece of God’s loving plan to save all people. The Son of God relates to Mark’s Gospel as it frequently shows the divinity and Messianic Suffering Jesus went through for the followers of the Kingdom of God.
One of the most talked about myths in Christianity is the story of how Jesus Christ was crucified but came back to life. When he was crucified for human sins and when he resurrected he took mankind sins away with him. There are many functions and theories that try to explain this myth. Whether individuals believe in the myth is up to them. That being said, this myth is one that is followed by numerous people around the world.
The contents of the Bible have dealt with controversy in regards to its inerrancy since publication, and will surely continue to. Historians progress to learn more about biblical stories in order to provide evidence for the reliability of information. Many believers today understand that not everything in the Bible has been factually proven. An outstanding topic many scholars pay attention to lies within the four gospels. The three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, replay essentially the same story with minor inconsistencies, while John portrays Jesus in an entirely different way. The differences in each gospel are due to how each gospel entertains different portrayals of the life and understanding of Jesus himself, in order to persuade
The Trinity is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This concept is what many Catholics believe in, but other worldwide religions believe in other beliefs. Out of all the three Divine Persons, “Jesus is the most qualified to bring the renewal of creation because it was through him that creation came into being” (Pohle February 7th). We as humans will have to face the consequences for actions that we have done in the past, present and future. Jesus has come into the world as a human to show his dignity and save us from sin; he was the world and of all creation. As we come to read more about Jesus we get to know Jesus more, we learn about what he did, how he did it and why he had to do these saving actions.
Jesus had a human mother, Mary (see Luke 1:30-31 for example), but his father was God (see John 3:18 for example). Jesus was human, not God. Consider 1 Timothy 2:5:"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" There could not be a clearer statement that Christ was a man.
Jesus was a man who was rejected by everyone and despise. He was a man that brought light into the darkest parts and a man who could identify as perfect. Jesus is a man who serves Hos father with his whole heart and without hesitation. He is a man with bravery and compassion and loves without limit. Jesus is a man who took justice for the injustice and saves millions of people every single day. He is a humble man who