Theology Series 1: Jesus
Welcome to a series of my Theology 1 archive! I wanted to ensure my past work had a place to be housed (and shared), as I continue to transition from a theology student to a mother.
Jesus Foreshadowed in the Old Testament
Though the textbook does not specifically explain how Jesus’ deity and humanity was foreshadowed in the Old Testament, there were different implications throughout Chapter 31 and 32. For example, speaking solely on the deity of Jesus, in Exodus 20:8-11 God established the sacredness of the Sabbath though the Ten Commandments. It was only God who could modify this commandment. Yet, we see Jesus modifying this commandment in mark 2:27-28 stating, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus was claiming the right to modify the status of the Sabbath when, in reality, the right only belongs to God. In addition, when Jesus proclaimed “I am” in John 5:58, it was very possible for Jesus to conclude himself as the “I Am” when God identified himself in Exodus 3:14-15. The reality in these examples is that, when one is seeking the deity of Jesus in the Old Testament, they must look to the Gospel narratives in order to find connections of when Jesus notates the foreshadows that were made (Erickson, 2013, p626-627).
Other implications of foreshadowing of Jesus’ deity was found in Hebrews and in Paul’s witness. Wherein, Hebrews quotes Psalm 45:6—addressing the “Son” as God. Paul confirmed Jesus’ deity by synthesizing that Jesus claimed he would judge the nations in Matthew 25:31-46 in his epistles (Romans 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Corinthians 5:10), in which Paul directly correlates Jesus statement to God stating that he would judge the world in the Old Testament (Genesis 18:25; Joel 3:12) (Erickson, 2013, p629).
Jesus’ humanity was foreshadowed in The Old Testament by way of becoming our Priest and our Sacrifice. Christ’s intercession as Priest and death depended on his humanity. Experiencing human temptation, trials, etc. means that he was able to understand us in our struggle as a human as he intercedes for us through the priestly sacrifice of himself. The textbook provided many New Testament proof of Jesus' humanity by displaying his physical limitations, as well as human needs and emotions. I believe the most human attribute of Jesus is the fact that he suffered physically and died just like every human (Erickson, 2013, p645). Jesus’ full humanity is foreshadowed in Psalm 22. In Psalm 22, we see how Christ has become our Priest and the Sacrificial lamb; we see his human physical limitations, raw emotions, suffering, and death. Though there are other passages that speak to Jesus’ humanity such as the prophesying of the virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14, there is no other passage that prophesied Christ’s humanity so passionately than Psalm 22 (Erickson, 2013, p278).
When a reader first reads the Old Testament prior to the New Testament, it seems a bit disconnected from the New Testament. However, if the reader reads the New Testament first, then returns to the Old Testament to study it, they will find that the shadow of Christ is written all over the Old Testament and that the whole Bible is the redeeming of God’s people through one person—that is Christ.
Basic Tenets of the Two Natures of Christ - Deity and Humanity
1) The incarnation of Christ was not a loss of divine attributes, but an addition of human attributes. Philippians 2:6-7 is often understood as Christ emptying himself of the divine nature of God; surrendering his divinity for humanity. This passage does not claim that Christ was removed from his divine nature. It becomes clear when looking into Colossians 2:9, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Erickson concludes that it is equality with God that Jesus emptied himself of. He became functionally inferior to God the Father during his period on earth. By taking on human nature, Jesus took on limitations that—these limitations did not result in a loss of his divine attributes, but an addition of human attributes (Erickson, 2013, p670)
2) The union of Christ’s deity and humanity did not function independently. He did not exercise his deity separately from exercising his humanity. In the union of both natures, they were always exercised as divinity-humanity. This is crucial to understanding functional limitations that humanity brought upon Jesus’ divinity. As a result of the two natures functioning in conjunction together, he was limited in his divine power because of the human body he was in (Erickson, 2013, p670-671).
3) Our understanding of human nature has caused a rift in how we think of Christ’s incarnation. We see human nature is evil, spoiled, and corrupt. That is why there is a disconnect in why so many people cannot believe that a deity such as Christ would be able to unite with humanity. The reality is that God never intended humanity to be this way, instead he designed humanity to in his good image. When Jesus took on humanity, he did not take on our thinking of humanity, but God’s design for humanity. Jesus was more human than we could ever be—that is why his deity was compatible with the union. Jesus Christ is our only source to understand deity and humanity. It is through Jesus that we can know God. Erickson makes an intriguing note at the end of his third point that, “It is quite possible that part of God’s purpose in making humanity in his own image was to facilitate the incarnation that would someday take place.” This is intriguing because it illustrates that God is truly Sovereign. Jesus was never Plan B—He was always Plan A from the beginning of time (Erickson, 2013, p671-672).
4) God adding humanity to his deity is not impossible. He is an unlimited being, thus able to descend to the limited being. It is, however, impossible for the limited being to ascend to the unlimited being. It is important to think of Christ’s incarnation as coming from above rather than from below (Erickson, 2013, p672).
5) Christ is a very complex person. His personality is of two natures wherein it holds many facets as to who the person of Jesus is. His personality includes qualities that are human and deity. Within Jesus alone, there are dimensions of experiences, knowledge, and love that cannot be discovered in a human; and yet, dimensions of a perfect and sinless human (Erickson, 2013, p672-673).
CY
Erickson, M.J. (2013) Christian Theology, Third Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.