Jesus is the man

In part 5 of my previous series on The Image of God, I wrote briefly about Jesus being human.

Philippians 2:6-8 tells us about Christ Jesus,

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Jesus is fully and completely human. It wasn’t that he just seemed human for awhile. He wasn’t a super-hero human with supernatural powers. He did not keep his equality with the Father for himself; he did not self-centeredly seize his place in the Godhead. “He made himself nothing” – literally translated “he emptied himself.” He did not stop being God, but being God was set aside. He lived from manger to cross as fully, completely human with all that entails. He was a unique human. Instead of reaching out for what’s rightfully his, instead of being all full of himself, instead of powering his way to success, Jesus’ “very nature” was “a servant.” His humanity consisted of humble, obedient servanthood.

Here I want to expand on that. Reading through the Gospel of John, I saw two streams of revelation flowing through most of the the book. (There is more revelation of course. I’m just pointing out these two that got my attention at the time.) The streams are about where Jesus came from and how he carried out his work (his ministry of teaching and preaching and miracles and sacrifice on the cross). Sometimes the streams combine.

Here are two lists of the chapters and verses that specifically mention these two things.

See how prevalent are these two streams in John. The fact that Jesus came from God is repeated over and over again. The fact that Jesus depended on the Father and the Spirit to do his work is repeated over and over again.

John made these part of his explanation of who Jesus is and what he did. For example, chapter 1:14: We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth; and 3:35: For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

Jesus himself spoke about these two streams. For example, chapter 8:42: If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own but he sent me; and 5:19: I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does also; and 8:28: I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

Let’s focus on stream 2: Jesus carried out his work by completely depending on the Father and the Spirit.

For most of my life I have believed that Jesus did what he did with his own divine power. He was the Son of God and therefore he knew what to say when he taught and preached, and he had the ability to heal, exorcise, still storms and other miraculous actions. He did stay in constant communication with his Father and the Spirit, but when it came time to act he exerted his own divine knowledge and might.

Looking at it that way seems to contradict the Bible’s message. “The Son can do nothing by himself…” “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” Jesus did not use his own divine knowledge and power in his earthly ministry.

This fits perfectly with the Philippians passage saying that the Son of God “did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing…” He “emptied himself” of his divine status and way of acting, so he depended on the Father and Spirit to carry out his work.

Jesus said, in John 5:19, “the Son…can do only what he sees his Father doing,” and in 8:28, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me,” and in 10:18, “I have authority to lay it [his life] down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

I don’t know specifically how they worked. I’m enormously simplifying by saying the Father said, “See that blind man; give him sight.” “See that fearful woman; tell her you don’t condemn her.” “See those soldiers with a cross; let them nail you to it.”

None of this means that Jesus was forced to say or do something he did not want. There is never any indication of that in the Bible. He lived in complete unity with the Father. He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30)

The Son did not stop being God – the Transfiguration shows that. He did take on completely the nature and status and functioning of a human. So, as I previously wrote, look at Jesus to see a real human. He is the human that we are intended to be. When we know Jesus, we know what we are to be like.  Jesus is the man.

Irenaeus was a Christian bishop who was born about 100 years after Jesus’ ascension. He was a student of bishop Polycarp, who was taught by John the apostle. Irenaeus taught the full humanity of Christ as an explanation of what he, Jesus, came to do. In his book Against Heresies, he wrote, “For the Lord, taking dust from the earth, molded man; and it was upon his behalf that all the dispensation of the Lord’s advent took place. He had Himself, therefore, flesh and blood, recapitulating in Himself not a certain other, but that original handiwork of the Father, seeking out that thing which had perished.”

“Dispensation of the Lord’s advent” means the time of Christ’s incarnation, his life and ministry. “That original handiwork of the Father” means Adam, the first humans. Christ recapitulated in himself the first humans created by God. In him there is kind of a do-over of man’s creation. It’s actually the beginning of a new creation. Jesus is the second Adam (Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45) – fully human and fully carrying out God’s work in his creation.

That Romans passage teaches us that because Jesus was fully human, the second Adam, he can provide us the gift of God’s righteousness by grace which brings eternal life.

The 1 Corinthians passage teaches us that because Jesus was fully human, the second Adam, who was raised from the dead, then we will be resurrected like him.

Hebrews 2 teaches us that because Jesus was fully human he can fulfill humanity’s task to rule over creation (verses 5-9), and he could make the sacrifice that brings humans back into God’s family (verses 10-13) and frees us from slavery to sin and death (verses 14-18).

Think about this. The eternal, transcendent God became fully human. The mighty Creator became one of his creations. The Lord of all took the very nature of a human servant. When we talk about the sacrifice of the Son of God, it really begins here. When we consider the love of God, it solidifies in this form – our God became one of us.

Back to the Gospel of John. Chapters 14-17 teaches that whoever has faith in Jesus, the Son of God and true human, will be able to know God and carry out our lives the same way that Jesus did. Please read these sections specifically: 14.12-14; 14.16-20, 25-26; 15.4-5, 26-27; 16.12-15; and 17.6-8,14-23. Jesus calls us to live out a faith relationship with him like branches growing on a vine. We can do nothing if we don’t do that. The Spirit will come into our hearts and teach us the realities of Christ and lead us into the world with our own lifestyles and ministries shaped like Jesus. We can live in loving unity with the Father, Son, and Spirit, and with each other.

To carry out the kind of life and service that Jesus did, we can’t just try to copy the things he did. We must believe in him, trust and surrender to him, draw life from him, live with him as our center. In that kind of life, we can have the same attitude that he did (Philippians 2:5…) and be like him – speaking the Father’s words, doing the Father’s work, and glorifying the Father. Then we will be the images of God and what was true of Jesus will be true of us: “When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me” (John 12:45).