The Humanity of Jesus Christ

Transcription

1 The Humanity of Jesus Christ Introduction The incarnation of the eternal Son of God resulted in of course, our Lord becoming a human being. The Scriptures use the following titles when stressing our Lord s humanity: (1) The Son of Man (Matt. 24:30; Mark 26:64; Luke 5:24; 6:5; John 1:51; 3:14; 8:28). (2) The Son of David (Matt. 1:1; Mark 10:47; Luke 1:32; 18:39; Rev. 22:16). (3) The Man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). (4) Jesus (Acts 2:32; 8:35; Rom. 3:26; 1 Thess. 4:14; Heb. 2:9; 6:20). The Scriptures also teach that the Lord Jesus Christ has a human body like ours but without a sin nature (John 1:14; Heb. 10:5; 1 John 1:1; 1 John 4:2-3), that He has a human soul (Matt. 26:38a; Isa. 53:11a) and a human spirit (Luke 23:46; John 13:21; 19:30). He did not have an old sin nature like every human being born in Adam because of the virgin birth. He did not have a sin nature because He did not have a human father (Luke 1:35). The father passes along the sin nature in the human race. However, our Lord did not have a human father since the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary. Therefore, Jesus Christ was totally free from the sin nature, which means He was perfect or flawless. He remained free from all three categories of sin in the human race: (1) Old sin nature (2) Adam s original sin (3) Personal sins. Therefore our Lord was found to be without sin in His humanity (John 8:46a; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:5). He was tempted in all things as sinful humanity (Heb. 4:15). However, even though He was tempted to act and live independently from God the Father s plan for His life, He never once sinned (Luke 4:1-4; Matt. 16:21-23). He even was tempted not to go to the cross (Luke 22:39-44). The Word of God also testifies to the fact that our Lord performed the following human functions and suffered circumstances common to humanity. First of all He was said to have wept (John 11:35; Heb. 5:7). He slept (Mark 4:38) and became hungry (Luke 4:2). He was thirsty (John 19:28), ate and drank (Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30). The Scripture tells us He was weary (John 4:6) and was in agony (Luke 22:44). He had to grow physically and mentally (Luke 2:40) and had to learn the Scriptures (Luke 2:52). He also had to learn obedience (Heb. 5:7). Our Lord also prayed (Luke 21:41-42; Heb. 5:7). He also was tempted (Luke 4:2; Heb. 2:18; 4:15) and was a Man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3). He was despised and forsaken of men (Isaiah 53:3). He is also said to have rejoiced (Luke 10:21). He died physically (John 19:33) and died spiritually (Matt. 27:45-46) William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1

2 Now, it must be remembered that the Scriptures teach that in His human nature, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man was subordinate to the Father. However, in His deity, He is of course as we established in chapter two co-infinite, co-equal and co-eternal with both the Father and the Spirit William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2

3 John s Testimony Concerning the Humanity of Christ The apostle John in his gospel and first epistle refutes Docetic Gnosticism, which denied the humanity of Christ. John 1:14, And the Word (Jesus Christ) became flesh (a Man), and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only uniquely born One from the Father, full of grace and truth. Word is the noun logos, which is used here in John 1:1 and 14 with reference to the Son of God and is used in this manner in 1 John 1:1. It emphasizes the deity of Christ. This word designates a distinct personality in the Trinity, namely the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God. The Word reveals God to men, thus He is the perfect and complete revelation of God. He is the perfect manifestation of the Trinity. The Word is the personal manifestation of deity and the life of the Trinity, which is eternal. The noun logos, the Word expresses Jesus Christ s relationship to other members of the Trinity. Became is the verb ginomai, which means, to enter into a new condition or state, to become something you weren t before, thus the word is used of God the Son, the Word entering into the human condition through the virgin birth. This entrance into the human race as we noted in chapter three refers to the incarnation of the Son of God, which in the context of Christian theology refers to the fact that the eternal Son of God became a man permanently two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. Flesh is the noun sarx, flesh, which refers to the human nature of Jesus Christ, which is how the word is used in many other passages in the Greek New Testament. Romans 1:1-3, Paul, a slave owned by Christ who is Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel originating from God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son, who was born as a descendant of David with respect to His human nature. Romans 8:3, For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. Ephesians 2:11-16, Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by the so-called Circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands -- remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by 2010 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3

4 abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. Colossians 1:19-22, For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. 1 Timothy 3:16, By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 1 Peter 3:18, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. 1 Peter 4:1-2, Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 1 John 4:1-3, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 2 John 7, For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Therefore, the apostle John makes it absolutely clear in John 1:14 that the Son of God who is the eternal Word of the Father became something that He was not before, namely a human being. He united with His deity a sinless human nature. The epistle of 1 John was written by the apostle John in the last decade of the first century and was addressed to believers located in the city of Ephesus, in the Roman province of Asia, which today, is the western border of Turkey. The purpose of 1 John was to protect believers from Gnostic teaching and to present to them principles that would help them to restore and maintain fellowship with God and confirm that they are experiencing fellowship with God William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 4

5 The Gnostic teachers had infiltrated Ephesus and the churches around the Roman Empire. Gnosticism was amalgamation of Greek philosophy and Christianity and denied the deity of Christ and taught that there was no such thing as a sin nature and that you do not have to confess your sins after salvation. Its central teaching was that spirit is entirely good and matter is entirely evil. Gnosticism denied Christ s true humanity in two ways: (a) Some taught that Christ only appeared to have a body, a view called Docetism, from the Greek dokeo, to seem, and (b) Others taught that the deity of Christ joined the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before He died, a view called Cerinthianism, after its most prominent spokesman, Cerinthus. This view is the background of much of 1 John (see 1:1; 2:22; 4:2-3). In contrast to these Gnostic claims, John demonstrates that he, the other apostles and disciples were eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the incarnate Son of God or in other words, that He was God in the flesh. John reveals that he and the other apostles knew the incarnate Word of life through experience. They heard Him speak, they saw Him and touched His human body. Thus their testimony concerning the historicity of the incarnate Word of God refutes the Gnostic heresy. 1 John 1:1-4, Who has always existed from eternity past, who we have heard, who we have witnessed with our eyes, who we observed, even our hands touched concerning the Word who is the life (of God). That is, this One who is the life (of God) was revealed (by the Holy Spirit) and we have witnessed and we testify and we are proclaiming (from God) at this particular time for the benefit of all of you this One who is the eternal life (of God), who indeed by virtue of His divine nature has always existed face to face with the Father and was revealed (by the Holy Spirit) for the benefit of all of us. Who, we have witnessed and we have heard, we also are proclaiming (from God) at this particular time for the benefit of all of you in order that all of you without exception might also continue to experience fellowship and this fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus who is the Christ. Also, we ourselves are providing information in writing at this particular time concerning these things in order that it might at this particular time cause our joy to overflow. The first important theme of 1 John 1:1-4 is that of the eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the fact that the Word of God became a human being (cf. 4:14, 5:6-12) and this testimony appeals to three senses: (1) Hearing (2) Sight (3) Touch. 1 John 1:1-4 mentions the first two stages of the Lord Jesus Christ s career: (1) Pre-incarnate: Eternity past as the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God. (2) Incarnate: Virgin birth through the First Advent to the resurrection. (3) Glorified Incarnate: Resurrection and on into eternity future William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 5

6 The second important theme of 1 John 1:1-4 is that the Son of God became a man as a part of God s revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ and this revelation concerns the manifestation of the eternal life of the Father (cf. 4:2, 5:6). 1 John 1:1-4 refutes the Gnostic teaching that stated that Jesus of Nazareth was not really a human being but a phantom. The Gnostics believed that Christ either temporarily inhabited a human body but left it before the crucifixion or merely assumed human appearance. Docetic Gnosticism contended that Christ s humanity was a mere appearance or aberration. By denying the unique Person of Christ, John s readers would be preventing themselves from having fellowship with God since eternal life as manifested in the unique Person of Christ is the basis for fellowship with God since God is eternal life. 1 John 1:1-3, What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life -- and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us -- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. NASU The word what should be translated who since the context clearly indicates that John is writing concerning a person who the apostles saw, heard and touched. The word in the original Greek text of 1 John 1:1-3 is the relative pronoun hos, which is employed here five times in the prologue. The context clearly indicates that each time that the relative pronoun appears in the prologue, it is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is made clear since John states that he heard, witnessed with his own eyes, observed and even touched! You don t touch a message or an apostolic testimony, but rather you touch a person. We have heard is the verb akouo, which refers to the act of hearing. The first sense that John appeals to in the prologue as a witness to the historicity of the incarnation and resultant hypostatic union is hearing. John is speaking here of the fact that he heard the incarnate Word of God speak the words of eternal life. What John and the other witnesses heard confirmed to them that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the incarnate Word of God. The content of our Lord s speech revealed to John and the other witnesses that He spoke the words of eternal life (cf. Jn. 6:63, 68; 7:46). We have seen with our eyes is the verb horao, which refers to physical sight and in context, it refers to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was seen by witnesses who could testify to the fact that He was indeed the incarnate Word of Life. To witness means to be formerly present when something was happening. It has the added idea of having observed with sufficient care to be able to give an account 2010 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 6

7 as evidence. John, the other apostles and other disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were present during His First Advent and in particular during His three and a half year ministry. They observed with sufficient care as to be able to give an account as evidence. The apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were witnesses to the many demonstrations that the Lord presented, which testified to the fact that He was indeed God in the flesh. So the verb horao refers to seeing in the sense of being a witness to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is undiminished deity and true humanity in one Person forever. To witness something is to see or know by personal presence and perception, or it can mean to be present at (an occurrence) as a formal witness, spectator, and bystander. It refers here to the fact that John and the other witnesses were personally present during the First Advent of Christ. They personally saw Him demonstrate that He was the God-Man. This was demonstrated by His miracles and particularly by His physical death, which demonstrated that He was in fact human. Horao refers here to the fact that John and the other apostles and disciples of our Lord were eyewitnesses to the hypostatic union. John is saying here that he and the others saw with their own eyes that the Lord Jesus Christ was the God-Man; they were witnesses to this fact, which He demonstrated through His miracles and His physical death, which demonstrated that He was in fact human. They also saw Him after His resurrection, which was further incontrovertible evidence that He was in fact the incarnate Son of God. We have looked at is the verb theaomai, which means, to observe in the sense that it implies paying strict attention to what one sees or perceives. It is continuative in action. To observe is to mark or be attentive to something seen and heard. It refers to observing something carefully. This word conveys the idea of intense scrutiny. Therefore, theaomai here in 1 John 1:1 means that John, the other apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ observed or scrutinized carefully the fact that He was the incarnate Word of God in whom there was eternal life. They paid strict attention to what they saw during His First Advent and in particular during His three and a half year ministry, which included His miracles, death, resurrection and ascension. They marked or were attentive to what they saw Him do and what they heard Him say during His First Advent. They observed carefully all that the Lord Jesus Christ said and did during His First Advent and in particular during His three and a half year ministry. These witnesses were spectators, to the First Advent of Christ since they were continually observing carefully all that the Lord Jesus Christ said and did, which demonstrated that He was God incarnate. Touched is the verb pselaphao, which is used in relation to the eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the historicity of the incarnation, which produced 2010 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 7

8 the hypostatic union. By using this word here, John is refuting the Cerinthian and Docetic Gnostic teaching that denied the historicity of the incarnation and resulting hypostatic union of the eternal Word of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. John is saying here that he, the other apostles and disciples touched the physical human body of the eternal Word of God, thus confirming the incarnation and hypostatic union of the eternal Word of God and refuting Cerinthian and Docetic Gnostic teaching that stated that the Lord wasn t a human being. By denying the historicity of the incarnation and hypostatic union of the eternal Word of life, they were denying that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ or Messiah. In contrast to these Gnostic claims, John demonstrates that he, the other apostles and disciples knew the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union or in other words, they knew the incarnate Word of life through experience. They heard Him speak, they saw Him and touched His human body, thus their testimony concerning the historicity of the incarnate Word of God refutes the Gnostic heresy. 1 John 1:1, What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life. (NASU) As was the case in John 1:1 and 14, the Word is the noun logos, which is used here in 1 John 1:1 with reference to the Son of God and is used in this manner in John 1:1. It does not emphasize the doctrine or teaching of Christ but rather His deity. The expression the Word of life is one of the many titles for the eternal Son of God. It refers to the deity of Christ. Therefore, 1 John 1:1 clearly indicates that the eternal Word of God, i.e. the Son of God became a human being and John, the other apostles and disciples were eyewitnesses to this fact of history. Life is the noun zoe, which denotes the Son of God s attribute of eternal life. This word functions grammatically, as a genitive of apposition or epexegetical genitive where the substantive in the genitive case refers to the same thing as the substantive to which it is related. The genitive of apposition typically states a specific example that is a part of the larger category named by the head noun. It is frequently used when the head noun is ambiguous or metaphorical. Here the articular genitive form of the noun zoe, of life stands in apposition to another articular genitive noun logos, the Word. The latter is ambiguous and needs clarifying and can also be considered metaphorical as well whereas the former states a specific example that is part of the larger category named by the head noun logos. Therefore, instead of translating the genitive expression tou logou tes zoes, the Word of life, we can translate it the Word who is the life (of God) William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 8

9 This is not an objective genitive meaning the word about life since the context is discussing a Person here, namely the Word of God, i.e. the Son of God who became a human being. This is not an attributive genitive meaning the living Word although this does have parallel expressions in the Gospel of John such as the bread of life (i.e. living bread). But this is not the case since the context indicates that John is emphasizing both the nouns zoe and logos since he employs an articular construction with each and in the very next parenthetical clause in verse 2 he uses the articular construction of zoe without logos. It makes more sense that this genitive is epexegetical indicating that it is simply defining the noun logos meaning the Word who is the life (of God). Here in 1 John 1:1, John is emphasizing the eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the historicity of the incarnation and resultant hypostatic union. Remember, the Cerinthian and Docetic Gnostic teaching prompted the prologue and which teaching denied the humanity of eternal Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. John states that he heard, witnessed with his own eyes, observed, even touched the human body of the incarnate Word of God and furthermore, this Jesus of Nazareth who we claim is the incarnate Word of God manifested the life of God, which is eternal. The claims by these eyewitnesses that Jesus of Nazareth was the incarnate Son of God were substantiated by the fact that He manifested the life of God in both His words and actions William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 9

10 Paul s Teaching Concerning The Humanity Of Christ In Romans 1:3-4, Paul identifies to his readers the subject of the epistle, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1-3, Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh. The phrase His (God s) Son emphasizes the deity of our Lord. Who was born is the verb ginomai, which means, to enter into a new condition or state, to become something you weren t before, thus the word is used of God the Son entering into the human condition through the virgin birth. This entrance into the human race as we noted in chapter three refers to the incarnation of the Son of God, which in the context of Christian theology refers to the fact that the eternal Son of God became a man two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. The phrase a descendant of David according to the flesh emphasizes the human nature of Jesus Christ, which descended from King David. Together, this phrase and His Son express the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the God-Man, which theologians define as the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ, which we will note in the next chapter. According to is the preposition kata, which in context denotes the relationship between the human nature of Christ to His unique Person and means, with respect to. Therefore, the expression a descendant of David according to the flesh could be translated a descendant of David with respect to his human nature. Jesus Christ Himself echoes this statement by Paul. Revelation 22:16, I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. This is why He is identified in the Gospels as the the Son of David (Matt. 1:1; 20:30; Mark 10:47-48; Luke 1:32; 2 Tim. 2:8; Rev. 3:7; 5:5; 22:16), which is a royal title referring to the fact that He is the Ruler of Israel (Matt. 1:1; 20:30; Mark 10:47-48; Luke 1:32; 2 Tim. 2:8; Rev. 3:7; 5:5; 22:16). The expression a descendant of David according to the flesh also is a reference to the Davidic covenant, which deals with the dynasty that will rule the nation of Israel and refers to God s promise to David that a descendant of his would sit on his throne forever, which will be literally fulfilled by Jesus Christ during His millennial reign. (See 2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 89:34-37). Christ is proper name Christos, which is a technical word designating the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind and signifies that He 2010 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 10

11 is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father. Jesus is the proper noun Iesou, which is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word Jehoshua meaning, Jehovah saves, and refers to the perfect human nature of our Lord. Lord is the noun kurios, which indicates the following: (1) Jesus of Nazareth s equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict. In His deity, Jesus Christ is Lord (See Luke 20:42), however in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father s will, which called for Him to suffer spiritual death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11). The apostle Paul s teaching in Romans 8:3 supports the doctrine of the humanity of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:3, For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. In the likeness of is composed of the preposition en, in and the dative neuter singular form of the noun homoioma, the likeness of. Homoioma is what is made similar, copy, like-shaped, likeness, image. The stress lies on correspondence and similarity with the reference to the concrete, individual form. The word appears six times in the Greek New Testament (Rom. 1:23; 5:14; 6:5; 8:3; Phil. 2:7; Rev. 9:7). The noun is used to indicate something that is similar, though not necessarily identical, with something else, but resembles in some important way that with which it is compared. In context, the word in Romans 8:3 is used of Jesus Christ s humanity, which was similar to the rest of the human race but not identical since He was first of all, God and also He did not have a sin nature and was sinless because He did not have a human father that passed the sin nature down. Therefore, the noun homoioma indicates that Jesus Christ did not have a sin nature and implies He did not have a human father since the sin nature is passed down through sex. Paul s thought here is that the Son of God united with His deity a sinless human nature. The noun homoioma maintains the sinless or impeccability of Jesus Christ in the sense that in His human nature Jesus Christ was similar but not identical in essence to the rest of humanity in that He was not only God but also did not possess a sin nature and was therefore sinless William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 11

12 In Romans 8:3, the noun homoioma functions as the object of the preposition en, which functions as a marker of a state or condition indicating that the Son of God was in the state or condition of being in the likeness of sinful humanity. In the flesh is composed of the preposition en, in and the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun sarx, the flesh. As was the case in John 1:14 and Romans 1:3, in Romans 8:3, the noun sarx, flesh refers to the human nature of Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:3, the preposition en functions as a marker of means or the instrument employed by the Father to execute the judgment against the sin nature. The noun sarx as a dative instrumental of means indicating that the physical death of the human nature of Jesus Christ was the means by which the Father executed the sin nature. This indicates that the physical death of the impeccable human nature of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union was the means by which God executed the sin nature whereas His spiritual death dealt with the issue of personal sins. In Romans 8:3, the apostle Paul is referring to the physical death of Jesus Christ, which the Christian was identified with through the baptism of the Spirit, which in turn delivers them or sets them free from the tyranny of the sin nature and real spiritual death. In Romans 8:3, the articular construction of the noun sarx functions as a possessive pronoun meaning His and denotes that this human nature belongs to Jesus Christ. This is further evidence that Jesus Christ has a human nature as well as a divine nature. The apostle Paul in Philippians 2:7-8 teaches that Jesus Christ is not only the Son of God but also a human being as well. Philippians 2:6-7, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. NASU Being made is the verb ginomai, which refers to the virgin birth when God the Son entered into a new condition, namely that of a human being. This word is used of acquiring or experiencing a new state, i.e., a human nature through physical birth. The verb means here to become something that you weren t before. It means to acquire and experience an existence that you did not possess or experience before. In the likeness of men is composed of the preposition en, in and the locative singular neuter noun homoioma, likeness, and the masculine plural genitive anthropos, men. The preposition en is used here to denote a state of being or condition which God the Son entered into at the virgin birth William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 12

13 We saw the noun homoioma in Romans 8:3 where it was used in the same way as here in Philippians 2:7. It is used of Jesus Christ s humanity, which was similar to the rest of the human race but not identical since He was first of all, God and also He did not have a sin nature and was sinless because He did not have a human father that passed the sin nature down. Therefore, the noun homoioma indicates that Jesus Christ did not have a sin nature and implies He did not have a human father since the sin nature is passed down through sex. Again Paul s thought here in Philippians 2:7 as it was in Romans 8:3 is that the Son of God united with His deity a sinless human nature. The noun homoioma maintains the sinlessness or impeccability of Jesus Christ in the sense that in His human nature Jesus Christ was similar but not identical in essence to the rest of humanity in that He was not only God but also did not possess a sin nature and was therefore sinless. We will note in detail the impeccability of our Lord in chapter six. Philippians 2:8, Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. NASU In appearance is the noun schema, which is used of Christ comprising everything in His human nature which strikes the senses, the figure, bearing, discourse, actions, manner of life, etc. The word refers to the appearance of His human nature. It signifies here His whole outward presentation to other men. Trench writes, Schema is His character, manner of life, dress, foot, posture, speech, and actions. In these there was no difference between Jesus and other men (Trench Synonyms of the New Testament, page 276). Vincent states that schema in our passage refers to that which is purely outward and appeals to the senses. The form of a servant is concerned with the fact that the manifestation as a servant corresponded with the real fact that Christ came as the servant of mankind. In the phrase in the likeness of men the thought is still linked with that of His essential nature which rendered possible a likeness to men, but not an absolute identity with men. In being found in fashion as a man the thought is confined to the outward guise as it appealed to the sense of mankind. Likeness states that the fact of real resemblance to men in mode of existence: fashion defines the outward mode and form. As a man. Not being found a man: not what He was recognized to be, but as a man, keeping up the idea of semblance expressed in likeness (Vincent Word Studies in the New Testament, volume 3, The Epistles of Paul pages ). So schema refers to the humanity of Christ that is to say His outward appearance, His behavior and conduct in the eyes of men, that which appealed to the senses of mankind William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 13

14 Man is the noun anthropos and denotes that the eternal Son of God was a human being. The statement He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross is a further indication that Jesus Christ was a human being since deity can not die, only humanity can. In 1 Timothy 3:16, Paul teaches that it was a common belief throughout the churches in the first century that the Son of God became a human being. 1 Timothy 3:16, By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. NASU The statement He who was revealed in the flesh teaches that the Son of God was manifested in a human being, Jesus Christ. The phrase was vindicated in the Spirit denotes that Jesus Christ was proven to be the Son of God by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit through His miracles and of course resurrection William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 14