Chapter 1
A. Points of interest
1. N.B.
Every single miracle the Lord ever did, whether it was turning the water
into wine, (John 2) or raising the dead, an important fact to remember is that
He did none of these acts as God. He
was always God, always is God, always shall be God, but He did not use His Deity
to perform one single miracle. He did
these as a man empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was not the first to raise the dead –
Elisha also did it. Jesus did it as
a man. No wonder He said in John
2. He will always be in human form for all
eternity. When all our tears have
dried, when all our sorrows cease, when all have been healed, He (Jesus) will
have scars in His human hands and feet forever – as a testimony of the great
work He did at
3. The term “
B The
Incarnation
John 1:1,14,18
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Verse 14 “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of Grace and Truth.”
Verse 18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the
only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.”
The three statements of verse 1 and those
of verse 14 are closely related. This
can be seen when we read them alternately, i.e. read one statement from verse 1
and then one from verse 14. Verse 18 gives us tow declarations: the first
belongs to verse 1 of John 1 and the second to verse 14 of John 1.
§
“In
the beginning was the Word” (v 1)
§
“And
the Word became flesh” (v 14)
§
“And
the Word dwelt among us” (v 14)
§
“And
the Word was God” (v 1)
§
“Full
of Grace and Truth” (v 14)
Now, let us add the two declarations of
verse 18. “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was God … No man hath seen God at any time…And the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us…full of grace and truth…the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him”
John
That is the
INCARNATION – God becoming flesh.
Verse 18 says “No
man hath seen God at any time”
Verse 14 says “The Word became flesh” and
that becoming flesh was the method of declaring God to man. This is the mystery. Paul talks about it in 1 Tim 3:16 “Without controversy,
great is the mystery of Godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh”.
The Eternal Word was made flesh, partook
of flesh and blood. Jesus Christ had a
true human body.
Note:
The denial of the reality of Christ’s body is the mark of the Spirit of
Anti-Christ – 1 John 4:2,3 N.B. Although He became man in every
sense of the word, He never once lost His Death (Divine Nature) – nor did He
inherit Original Sin.
C. How
do we know that Jesus was really Human?
a) He
had human parentage
He
was born of a woman.
Matt: 1:18, 2:1, Luke 2:7, John 2:1, Acts
2:30, 13:23, Rom. 1:3, Gal. 4:4, Heb 7:14
Jesus Christ had human parentage, and
human ancestry. He was Mary’s son and
David’s seed. (Though He had a
miraculous birth and was not the son of Joseph but was conceived by the Holy
Spirit.
b) He
had the appearance of a man
John 4:9, Luke
24:13, John 20:15, 21:4,3, Mark 7:34,
c) He
was possessed of a human nature – body, soul and spirit
John 1:14, Heb.2: 14, Matt 26:12(body), Matt
26:38 (Soul), Luke 23:46 (Spirit) Luke 24:39
d) Human
Names are given to Him
Luke
e) Note
His Human Limitations
i) Physical limitations:
a) John
4:6 – was weary, Compare Isa.40: 28. If He were only God He would never have
wearied.
b) Matt. 8:24 – slept. Compare Ps. 121:4,5
c) Matt.21:18 – hungered
d) John 19:28 – thirsted
e) Luke 22:44 – physical agony
f) 1 Cor.15:3 - death
ii) Intellectual
and Moral Limitations
a) Lk 2:52,
(R.V) “And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and stature, and in favour with God and
b) Mark
c) Mark
iii) Temptations
Heb:
Compare with
James
How was Jesus
tempted?
Answer: As a man
Heb. 2:14, Phil. 2:5-8
His limitations in all areas were
self-limited and placed. He voluntarily placed Himself underneath the essential
moral limitations that man is under in order to redeem man. What love?
HE WAS TEMPTED
BUT WITHOUT SIN
iv) Limitations of Power
Mark
Jesus prayed (mentioned 25 times). He obtained power for moral victory as other
men do, by prayer. He was subject of human conditions for obtaining what He
desired.
Acts
f) Human
relation to God
John
Heb.2:14 (R.V) “Wherefore it behoved Him in
all things to be made like unto His
brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things
pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
g) He
was human in all things
He
partook of human nature so that we might become partakers of the Divine Nature
2
Cor.8:9, 2 Pet. 1:4
h) Additional
Scriptures relating to His Humanity
New Testament Old
Testament
Matt.16:27,28 Gen.
3:15
Matt.20:28, 30-31 Gen.49:10
(N.B)
Matt.21:9 Deut.18:15-19
(N.B)
Matt.26:2 1
Chron.5:2
Mark 9:9,12 Ps.2:7
compare
Mark
Acts
Mark
Luke
Luke
Luke
Luke
John
John
Acts
Acts
2 John 7 Mica
5:2,3 compare
Matt.2:5,6
Phil.2:7
Rev.1:13
Heb.2:9,10
Rev.14:14
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