It is extremely important that we understand the uniqueness of Our Lord. He is Our Savior. Who could ask for anything more? But God, without asking anything more, gave us so much more in the unique person of His Son even we were not alive to earn it or to ask for it.
The Grace of God is freely offered to every human being who ever lived. All we have to do is appropriate God’s wonderful gift of Grace. How do we do this? Through faith. Belief.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).
What is the Grace of God? By definition, Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the Cross. Grace is God in action toward humanity through Jesus Christ. This action is the expression of God’s Character or Essence towards creation.
God is an initiator, an aggressor; Mankind is the responder. This is why God is referred to as ‘He,’ and us, the Church, are called the ‘bride of Christ.’ God initiates from His grace; man responds through faith! Faith is non-meritorious response (as in we don’t earn it).
No one can be occupied with Christ or appreciate His Character until one understands that Jesus Christ is both Deity and humanity in one Person forever.
We need to examine Christ’s Unique God-Man Characteristics, beginning with His Deity:
DOCTRINE OF THE DEITY OF CHRIST
OUTLINE SUMMARY
1) Christ is a member of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2)
2) Syllogism based on Trinity (Micah 5:2; John 1:1-3; 8:58; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8-10; 1 John 5:20).
Definition: A syllogism is a logical argument that uses deductive reasoning to reach a conclusion based on two premises:
Major premise: A general statement.
Minor premise: A specific statement.
Conclusion: A logical result that follows from the two premises.
Example of syllogism: The Trinity is Eternal, Christ is a member of the Trinity. Therefore, Christ is Eternal.
3) The preincarnate (before coming in the flesh) work of Christ necessitates His Eternal pre-existence and Deity. Christ created the universe (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:10).
4) Jesus Christ is decreed to be God by God the Father (Psalm 2:7-91; 22:1-6) See The Doctrine of Divine Decrees.
5) The Theophanies of Christ indicate His preexistence, therefore
His Eternal Life.
- Angel of Jehovah, identified as Jehovah (Genesis 16:7-13; 22:11-18; 31:11-13; 48:15,16; Exodus 3 compared with Acts 7:30-35; Exodus 13:21; 14:19; Judges 6:11-23; 13:9-20).
- Angel of Jehovah distinguished from Jehovah (Genesis 24:7,40; Exodus 23:20; 32:34; 1 Chronicles 21:15-18; Isaiah 63:9; Zechariah 1:12,13)
- Angel of Jehovah is the Second Person of the Trinity, the visible God. However, after the Incarnation, ‘The Angel of Jehovah’ no longer appears (John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Timothy 6:15,16; 1 John 4:12).
6) Jesus Christ is called Jehovah (Isaiah 9:6,7; 40:3; Jeremiah 23:5,6; Zechariah 12:10).
7) All the Divine Attributes are ascribed to Christ: Eternal Life, Sovereignty, Justice, Righteousness, Love, Immutability, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Veracity.
These Attributes incorporate the Character or Essence of God which describe His Holiness, all are part and whole of His Being (See Doctrine of the Trinity and Doctrine of Divine Essence ).
THE HUMANITY OF THE INCARNATE CHRIST
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who being in the FORM of God, thought it not robbery to be EQUAL with God. But made Himself of no reputation (sacrificed his Deity), and took upon Him the FORM of a servant, and was made (born) in the LIKENESS of men” (Philippians 2:5-7).
‘Likeness’ means He was true humanity, but He had no sin nature because He had no human father (virgin birth). Also, He did have a human spirit because of the virgin birth. Christ was born Trichotomous – body soul and spirit. Man on the other hand is born Dichotomous – body and soul only. When the first man Adam was created, he was created trichotomous – body, soul and spirit. But when Adam took of the forbidden fruit he immediately died spiritually, and began dying physically. “… you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The word used here for ‘die’ in the original Hebrew text is in the plural. Therefore, it should have been translated – “Dying, you shall die.” Two deaths! “Dying (spiritual death) you shall die (physical death)”. Eventually Adam died physically.
Philippians 2:7 expresses Christ as True God and True Humanity in one person. It also contrasts between Christ’s Deity and the sacrifice of Deity’s function. The Greek word kenoo (pronounced ken-oh-oh) from which we get kenosis, means ‘to deprive oneself of a proper or normal function’ or ‘to debase oneself.’
In becoming humanity, Jesus Christ had to deprive Himself of the normal function of Deity; Deity cannot change or lose its quality. In the aorist active indicative here, kenoo describes a function in eternity past. This was when Christ made His decision to make the sacrifice. The actual event occurred at the virgin birth. Christ made a voluntary decision to become like man. We further know this because the emphatic position of the reflexive pronoun ‘Himself’ emphasizes a voluntary action.
As human beings we are subject to time. However, God is not subject to time, which simply means that Jesus Christ had you and me and all mankind personally in mind, billions of years ago. Christ was cognizant of our future existence, billions of years before He ever created us. He always knew that humanity would fall in the Garden of Eden and that He, Christ, would elect to die in His humanity to redeem us!
A good example of this would be when we pray now, Jesus Christ heard our prayer billions of years ago and answered it at that point in eternity past. Is that heavy or what?
You must come to the understanding that there is no time in eternity. There is no time involved with God. All tomorrows and all yesterdays and all todays are ongoing simultaneously in eternity (2 Peter 3:8).
CHRISTOPHANY means appearances of Christ after his death and resurrection.
THEOPHANY refers to appearances of Christ prior to His incarnation (birth).
A crucial part of our knowledge rests upon our understanding of the uniqueness of Christ. You will also need to understand why He is the revealed Member of the Godhead, why the Holy Spirit glorifies Him today, and why He is The Celebrity of All Creation. Therefore, you need to be familiar with the Doctrine of Kenosis, which is the addition of humanity to Deity. So, let’s look briefly at this doctrine.
DOCTRINE OF KENOSIS
Kenosis is derived from the verb kenoo, meaning ‘to deprive oneself of proper function’ – in this case the function of Deity.
This implies restraint of Deity, not loss of it. Deity cannot lose Deity; it’s an absolute impossibility. Deity cannot lose any characteristic of itself. Deity is Deity – never changing (see Immutability).
Christ, while on earth, was undiminished deity and true humanity in one Person. This is called the Hypostatic Union. Christ did not empty Himself of Deity, He restrained His Deity.
The humanity of Christ relied on the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit from the point of physical birth (Isaiah 11:2), also He relied on Bible Doctrine (Luke 2:40-52).
You must always differentiate in Scripture between the humanity of Christ and the Deity of Christ.
Christ did not call upon or independently use His Divine Attributes during His incarnation in order to provide salvation for mankind. He had to remain true humanity in order to be qualified to go to the cross. Proof of His perfect humanity lies in the fact that He did indeed go to the cross. Proof that God was perfectly propitiated (satisfied) with the substitutionary life and work of Christ (in His humanity) is demonstrated by the resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of the Father (Mark 12:36; 14:62; 16:19; Luke 20:42; 22:69; Acts 2:34; 7:55,56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3,13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22). It is worth looking at every single one of these Scripture verses.
One other point should be made here: The indwelling of Christ by the Holy Spirit and the soul-filling of Bible Doctrine (taking Doctrine into His Soul), SUSTAINED Him all through His earthly ministry. Believers have these same potentials! Potential because each believer must, by faith and choice, appropriate the filling of the Holy Spirit and intake of Bible Doctrine on a daily basis, just as Christ did from early childhood.
Everything you do in the filling of the Spirit is called Divine Good. When you are out of fellowship (through any habitual sin that may be an ongoing issue in your life), you are no longer controlled by the Holy Spirit, rather, you are controlled by the sin nature. The result of anything you do when out of fellowship is called human good, and human good does not match up to or with Divine Good.
Human good is good works (Hebrews 6:1; Psalm 18:2).
THE DOCTRINE OF THE HYPOSTATIC UNION
Hypostatic Union by explanation means: In the Person of Christ are two natures (two beings) inseparably united, without mixture or loss of separate identity, without loss or transfer of properties or attributes. The union being, personal and eternal, in the only God-Man in the universe.
No one else will ever have this glorious distinction. Christ truly is the Unique Being in all of Creation, in all of Heaven, and in the GODHEAD. And so shall He ever eternally be.
Jesus Christ the God-Man is God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 1:1-3).
The union of Christ’s two natures, Divine and human, are to be considered therefore as hypostatic and personal.
Because Christ will live forever as true humanity indicates that humanity can live forever, but not in the original body of sin. We (believers) will receive a new resurrection body that will never be subject to death. We will have a body like Christ’s body (Philippians 3:21).
THE NECESSITY FOR THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
1) Deity cannot go to the Cross, nor can Deity die.
2) To be our Savior (Luke 2:11; Philippians 2:7,8; Hebrews 2:14,15).
3) To be the Mediator (Job 9:2,32,33; 1 Timothy 2:5,6).
Naturally there is a Gap between Deity and humanity, therefore only Someone who is equal with both parties can mediate the reconciliation.
4) To be our High Priest (Hebrews 7:4,5; 14-28; 10:5, 10:10-14). A priest must always be a human being, for he represents humans before God.
THE DOCTRINE OF IMPECCABILITY OF CHRIST
Christ did not have an sin nature, as we have already studied. He never committed personal sin in the incarnation (His lifetime). He was born with a human spirit (spiritually alive through the virgin birth).
Three very important distinctions that must be remembered (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 1:19: 1 John 3:5).
- The only way Christ could have acquired a sin nature was the same way Adam did (Christ was the second Adam).
- Adam thought first to disobey God, then did so, by eating the forbidden fruit.
- So negative volition was the first sin, followed by the action of negative volition. Adam ate, which in reality is the second sin.
Jesus Christ was perfect in His Humanity – Impeccable! However, this does not imply that Christ was not tempted. He was tempted far more than any human being was or ever will be, yet without sin (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15). His temptations in Matthew 4:1-10 were unique only to Christ.
As with Adam in innocence (before he sinned), all temptation to the humanity of Jesus Christ came from without. Neither Adam nor Christ had a sin nature: Adam was created without one, but Christ was born without one. Because we have a sin nature, our temptations come from within and without – we are tempted with mental attitude sins from within, and overt sins from without.
All temptations to Christ had to come through His human nature. The human nature of Christ was temptable, but the Divine Nature is not temptable (James 1:13).
Christ resisted the greatest of all temptations when He faced the Cross (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:35,36; Luke 22:42). The first Adam failed the volitional test; the Last Adam (Christ) passed it with flying colors.
ALL HONOR AND GLORY BELONG TO JESUS CHRIST, THE GOD-MAN AND UNIQUE PERSON OF THE UNIVERSE FOREVER AND EVER.
The Plan of God established billions of years ago in eternity past is expressed in the God-Man-Savior. A PERFECT PLAN FROM PERFECT GOD THROUGH HIS PERFECT SON. Therefore, believers who do not appreciate the celebrityship and uniqueness of Jesus Christ are completely missing the Plan of God for their lives. Furthermore they are losing out on the most fantastic experience in life – walking with the closest appreciation of the Unique God-Man-Savior, and the anticipation of seeing Him face-to-face.
Christ can only be fully appreciated through Bible Doctrine in the soul. Bible Doctrine on a daily basis in the filling of the Spirit changes our human viewpoint to Divine Viewpoint, thereby giving us a deeper understanding of the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Bible Doctrine alone gives us a new focus, a new understanding, a net concentration, a new motivation, a new happiness, resulting in a fantastic life in Christ.
Father, we thank you for your wonderful grace plan for our lives through your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that God the Holy Spirit will challenge us by this study. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Compiled, expanded, and clarified from studies published by RBT Bible Ministries.