One of the core protestant teachings about the person of Jesus is traditionally called the hypostatic union. This term is a way to express the false belief that Jesus had/has two natures concurrently — divine and human — they are somehow in complete unity without mixing, changing or separating. This is how the trinity has to be explained.
“Believing, then, that Jesus is fully God and fully man at the same time means he has everything that we have in our humanity except sin as well as everything that belongs to the nature of God.”
“Such statements may cause one to scratch his or her head in confusion, yet it is usually a sign that one is entering the mystery….
“The reason why the Church stops here in clarifying the relationship between the two natures of Jesus is to respect the mysteriousness of the union. No human mind can perfectly comprehend this mystery.”
This doctrine is often described using the following terms: fully, truly wholly / divine divinity / humanity
There also seems to be some confusion within the Church of God regarding the nature of Christ
Who Was Jesus Before He Became Known as Jesus
Jesus was God
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
These are very straightforward verses as compared to the amount of study that is needed with other scriptures such as those found in: Psalms 2, 16, 22, 45, 110 etc.
This is not so much in question, that Christ was God before becoming what He was on Earth
Son of God
Luke 4:41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.
1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
But the Word became flesh – how did that happen?
Emptied to Become a BondServant
Philippians 2:6 who, being in the form of God [God by nature], did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
Philippians 2:7 but made Himself of no reputation [better: emptied Himself (as most literal translations have it)], taking the form of a bondservant , and coming in the likeness of men [now a man by nature].
Example of Prince Harry steps down from his place in the royal family and becomes a commoner, is he not still man who he was before he removed himself?
Divested Himself of being Fully God
What He gave up included immortality and power and etc.
But He was who He was before but now His form had changed and He was “like” man. Knowing what He knew, how could He be completely like us, but nonetheless He was human and flesh and bones as we are.
Likeness of Humanity
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
in the likeness of sinful flesh… the Son of God came and was born with the same human nature that we all are born with and was obedient to God. He never broke the Law and He overcame sin while a human being. As a human, He had the same influences that we all have and He was tempted in all things.
Our nature is neither good nor bad when we are born until take on either Satan or God.
He condemned sin in the flesh… because [Jesus] was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
Yet still in the flesh:
2 Corinthians 5:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
and yet:
Matthew 1:23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which is translated, “God with us.”
VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND BEAR A SON:
Son of Man
John 5:22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,
John 5:23 that all should honor the Son [of God] just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
John 5:25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.
John 5:26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,
John 5:27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’
John 1:31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
John 1:32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.
John 1:33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
John 1:34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
They are not mutually exclusive – He can be both in the course of time.
Lineage of David
Romans 1:3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,
He is confirming prophecy, as do the genealogies of Mary and Joseph and also that that Jesus Christ was physical that He came according to the flesh and then he states:
Romans 1:4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
Find this phrase over and over. He was a descendant of King David as PROPHESIED:
Luke 1:32 “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
Jesus had to be a human being as he was a descendant of David and He testifies to it as well:
Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
Measure of the Spirit
Another main difference between us and Him
2 Corinthians 5:5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
A small downpayment
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
By this we put on Christ and have Him live and abide in us
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
So because we have this:
1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Now notice this:
John 3:34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
He had as much of the spirit of God; the power of God; the nature of God in Him as possible!
So in this sense He was not fully man just as we are not fully man due to the fact that we have God in us; God literally living in us. Upon receiving the spirit of God in us, our carnal nature is displaced in part by a Godly one.
How incredible is that? So Jesus was not fully man in nature or fully God in form.
Even with a full measure of God’s spirit, it was not enough to do all that He had to
Acts 10:36 The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—
Acts 10:37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Christ had to Die for our Sins
Jesus had come in a human form so that it would be possible for Him to be sacrificed for us.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This was to be accomplished by taking the iniquity or sin of us all and have it laid upon Jesus just before His death:
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
And He bore our sins and inquities:
Isaiah 53:11 ….For He shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:12 ….He bore the sin of many….
Sin was imputed to Christ and in this sense He became sin:
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us….
1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
There is no evidence that He was alive in the grave…just the opposite in fact
If Christ did not truly die, the penalty for sin has not been paid, and we have no Savior and we are dead in our sins
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
Christ Admits that He was Alive then Dead
Revelation 1:18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
Revelation 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life:
Can One Fully God Die?
Psalms 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
Hebrews 7:3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
Re-Glorified
John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
Obviously this was something He did not have as a human but did have when He was fully God.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit
1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, “THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.
1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels [not God], for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 1:2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image [charakter] of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Philippians 3:21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It is Tantamount To Denying Christ
To say that Christ did not come in the way that He truly or was what He was is to deny Christ.
1 John 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
1 John 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
1 John 2:24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
This includes the concept that Jesus was the Son of God
Almost all Christian religions (and Greek Orthodoxy) deny that Christ is the Son of God, but rather they are a Trinity and they can never be any thing but this, immutable and unchangeable. So in effect they are saying that when Jesus was on Earth He was in heaven; when He was dead in the grave He was alive in heaven. This denies Christ!
1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Conclusion
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
He was a man, as fully God-like as one can be and became fully God again shedding the flesh — having taken on the perspective of what it meant to be fully flesh and blood.
When we begin to understand the magnitude of what Jesus Christ gave up and what He did for us, it can not help but sober us up for the Spring festival season that we will be entering soon.