The Humanity of Christ

Through the years there have been those who have denied that Jesus had a human side of His life, yet Paul plainly wrote that He was “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). The Gnostics contended that all matter was evil, and therefore Jesus could not have come in the flesh; but the apostle John said that Jesus could be touched (cf. 1 John 1:1).

Among the other doctrines espoused was that Christ had no human nature except in body only; the contention that although He appeared as a man, He lacked the normal characteristics or traits that is common to man. But this runs contrary to

plain scripture, for Jesus faced hunger (Matt. 4:2), He perspired (Luke 22:44), He shed tears (John 11:35), He experienced anger and was able to be grieved (Mark 3:5),

He felt compassion (Matt. 9:36), He experienced distress (Matt. 27:46), He required sleep (Matt. 8:24), and most certainly He felt physical pain and anguish in His crucifixion (John 19).

If Jesus did not have a human nature, then He could not have been subject to temptation, and most certainly could not have been “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15, ASV). In truth, He was tempted with the same temptations that we face; as the same verse notes, He “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

There are at least five affirmations of the humanity of Christ:

1. He was born of a woman, the virgin Mary (Luke 2:7).

2. He grew like a man (Luke 2:40,52).

3. He looked like a man (Luke 24:13-35); like an ordinary Jew (John 4:9).

4. He had a body, soul, and spirit like a man (Luke 24:39, Matt. 26:38; Luke 23:46).

5. He called Himself a man (Luke 19:10).

There is no doubt as to the divinity of Christ (Col. 2:9), but neither is there any doubt to His humanity. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

Thank God for a Savior who humbled himself so that we may be uplifted.

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