After writing the previous entry titled “Trinity 101“ I was inspired to write a follow-up regarding Jesus. Here I’ll focus on the issue of Jesus being 100% God and 100% man.
There are two rules when dealing with a biblical Christology (study of Christ.) They are:
- He is 100% God. (John 1:1; John 8:58; John 17:5; Mat. 28:20; Eph. 1:23; John 16:30; John 21:17; John 5:19; Heb. 1:12; Heb. 13:8; John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Col. 1:17; Mat. 9:2; Luke 7:47; John 5:25; John 11:25; John 5:22)
- He is 100% man. (Mat. 1:18; Mat. 2:11; Mat. 26:12; Mat. 26:38; Mat. 1:21; Mat. 8:20; Mat. 11:18; Mat. 1:1; Luke 1:30-38; Luke 2:50; Luke 2:52; Mark 2:8; John 4:6; John 19:28; Heb. 2:18; John 1:30; John 4:9; John 10:38)
These two natures are both eternal and inseparable. This is referred to as the “Hypostatic Union.” That is, two natures residing simultaneously within one person. This is a hard concept to grasp, perhaps this illustration will help:
In conclusion, we must keep in mind when thinking of the hypostatic union that to deny either the human nature of Christ or the Divine nature is to have an incomplete view of Jesus. Both natures are necessary for a proper doctrine of Christ. This post is meant to be cursory and purposefully glosses over rather “hairy” issues such as the peccability vs. impeccability of Christ. The main thing I wanted to accomplish here was to give a simple explanation of the “God-ness” and “man-ness” of Christ; I think I’ve accomplished that.
