We worship Jesus, fully God and fully Man, and find context for sorrow and trial.

Born of woman ...

Christmas Question 3: Why was it necessary for Jesus to be a true human being?

(Galatians 4:4 – Part 3, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 17, 2017)

What does the Bible say about Jesus Christ?

Jesus was the Son of Mary, but not of Joseph. Mary's firstborn is the Son of God. Looking at God's revelation to and through Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, what did God teach us about Jesus? Through Jesus, God would “visit” and “redeem” His people. He would be a powerful “horn of salvation” as the promised King from the “house of David.” This Messiah would “save us from our enemies,” particularly from our worst foes, sin and death. He would be the living embodiment of the “mercy” of God and the eternal sign that God had not neglected to “remember his holy covenant promises.” Because of this one Savior, we would be able to “serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”

Jesus would also be the “Most High” God, even the “Lord” Himself. By Him, God's people would have “forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God.” He would be the “sunrise” of a new resurrection era, who would “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,” and would thus “guide our feet into the way of peace.”

These are enormous claims, but in order to become a reality, everything would have to be done God's way. While Jesus was and is truly divine, He also needed to be perfectly human. And so He was. Paul says in Romans 1:3 that Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh. You do not get to fulfill that requirement unless you are born of woman. As Paul says in Philippians 2:7, the Son of God “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Or in the words of John 1:14, the Word who was in the beginning with God and who Himself was God, “became flesh.”

If Jesus is one person, how can He have two natures—a divine nature and a human nature?

This creates a problem for our understanding. We wonder how one person could have two natures and be simultaneously both God and man. But to be sure this is not the only troubling doctrine of our religion. How could God make all things of nothing? How could God uphold everything in the universe? How could He bring about a new heavens and a new earth in the twinkling of an eye? How could God make the life and death of one man count for His just requirements for untold millions? So we do not know how Jesus could be fully God and fully man. We only know that the one Jesus is clearly God and that He is clearly man.

Is this kind of theological affirmation something that the church made up, or is it really the truth?

The church did not make up this doctrine of Christ, they were forced into it, by heresy and the Scriptures. We see in the Bible the start of what becomes a more pronounced matter of concern in the centuries ahead, that there were some who wanted to say that Jesus was God, but that He only seemed to be man. In 1 John 4:2-3 we learn that some were unwilling to confess that Jesus Christ had “come in the flesh.” This would have made Him fully God, but not fully man.

People would never have made up the Scriptural doctrine of Christ. What people have made up are simplifying doctrines that are not in line with the Scriptures. By the year 325 AD the church had condemned the false theology of docetism which is an unsatisfactory theology.

What does it mean that Jesus was born of woman?

Consider the cost from Genesis 3:15-16. Jesus identified with us in this broken world. Think of what took place between the Lord and His disciples after the Transfiguration. We read in Matthew 17:14–17, “[14] And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, [15] said, 'Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. [16] And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.' [17] And Jesus answered, 'O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?...”

From the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus did the unimaginable: He took His place as the Substitute for sinners—as the Man who stood in the breach for sinful men and women. How else can we understand His willingness to be baptized by John? John was perplexed but was forced to accept the determination of His great Superior who put Himself in the position of an inferior in Matthew 3:13–15, “[13] Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. [14] John would have prevented him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' [15] But Jesus answered him, 'Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he consented.”

And that was only the beginning. At the end of His ministry in Gethsemane we read these words of Jesus in Matthew 26:38, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” This was no overstatement. Jesus had a real human soul and would soon truly die. His human body would be placed in a borrowed tomb. He has associated with us and we with Him. His death is our death; His burial our burial; but then also His resurrection our resurrection.

Why was it necessary for our Savior to be a true human being?

Jesus had to be a true man. Let me highlight three reasons. First, justice demanded it. The offense against the Lord was perpetrated by humans and the penalty needed to be paid by a man who could die, as God had said from the beginning. So we read in Hebrews 2:14–15, “[14] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” Or as we learn in Hebrews 10:4, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Second, Jesus' humanity is a great aid to our encouragement. There is a man in heaven, and we know where He is. Remember what Stephen saw in Acts 7:55—“the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” As Hebrews 7:24-25 tells us, “He always lives to make intercession” for us, and He will return on clouds of glory as God and man (Acts 1:11). Finally, we have a Friend in heaven who is more than sympathetic to us in our hour of distress, as we read in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus is just as entirely human as Adam and you—an absolutely necessity for our salvation. God is the only one who could decide what was required in order for us to have fellowship with Him forever. He determined that the blood of animals could not take away our guilt and shame. Only through Jesus of Nazareth, the second Adam, could we have what we desperately needed.

Application: Where do you find courage for living? Perhaps it will help you to know not only that heaven is real, but that there is just the right human being there, not just anyone anywhere, but the God/Man Jesus at the center of all power and authority. “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.” We worship, and our sorrows find a resting place and a context that brings peace.