The completeness of the humanity of Jesus Christ comes out in still
another matter, and that is, the relation that He bore to God as a man
was the relation of a man, so that God was His God. He himself says to
Mary in John 20:17, +"Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto
the father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto
my Father and your Father, and my God and your God."+ The evident
meaning of this is that Jesus Christ's relation to God, the Father,
was the relation of man. He speaks of God the Father as "My God."
Though possessed of all the attributes and exercising all the functions
of Deity, Jesus Christ the Son was subordinate to the Father. This
explains utterances of our Lord which have puzzled many who believe in
His Deity, such utterances, for example, as that in John 14:28, where
Jesus says, +"Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come
again unto you. If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I said, I go
unto the Father: For my Father is greater than I."+ The question is
often asked, "If Jesus Christ is God, how could the Father be greater
than He?" The very simple answer to which is; that He, _as the Son_,
was subordinate to the Father, equal to the Father in the possession of
all the distinctively Divine attributes and exercising all the Divine
offices, and as an object of our wholehearted worship, but subordinate
to the Father in His office. Jesus Christ's relation to the Father is
like the relation of the wife to the husband in this respect, that
the wife may be fully the equal of the husband, but nevertheless, the
"Head of the Woman is the Man," she is subordinate to the man, just as
we are told in the same verse (1 Cor. 11:12) +"The head of Christ is
God,"+ i.e., Jesus Christ the Son is subordinate to the Father.
It is evident from what we have read from God's Word, that Jesus Christ
in every respect was a true man, a real man, a complete man. He was
made +"In all things"+ +"like unto his brethren"+ (cf. Heb.
2:17). He was subject to all the physical, mental and moral conditions
of existence essential to human nature. He was in every respect a real
man. He became so voluntarily in order to redeem men. From all eternity
He had existed "in the form of God" and could have remained "in the
form of God," but if He had so remained, we would have been lost.
Therefore, out of love to us, the fallen race, as we are taught in one
of our texts (Phil. 2:5-8), He +"Counted not the being on an equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form
of a servant, being made in the likeness of man; and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto
death, yea, the death of the cross."+ Oh, wondrous love! that out of
love to us He should take our nature upon Him, turning His back upon
the glory that had been His from all eternity and taking upon Himself
all the shame and suffering that was involved in our redemption, and
becoming one of us that He might die for us and redeem us! Oh, how
wondrous the +"Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was
rich yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through his poverty
might become rich."+ (2 Cor. 8:9.) He partook of human nature
that we might become partakers of the Divine nature. The philosophy
of the divine and human natures of Christ, the philosophy of the
New Testament, is a most wonderful philosophy, the most wonderful
philosophy the world ever heard, and thank God it is a true philosophy.
But some one may ask, "How shall we reconcile the Bible doctrine of
the true Deity of Jesus Christ with the Bible doctrine of the real
human nature of Jesus Christ, the doctrine that He was real God with
the doctrine that He was equally truly man?" The answer to this is
very simple. Reconciling doctrines is not our main business. Our first
business is to find out what the various passages in the Bible mean,
taken in their natural, grammatical interpretation. Then, if we can
reconcile them, well and good; if not, we should still believe them
both and leave the reconciliation of the two apparently conflicting
doctrines to our increasing knowledge as we go on communing with God
and studying His Word. It is an utterly foolish and vicious principle
of Biblical interpretation that we must interpret every passage of the
Bible so that we can readily reconcile it with every other passage. It
is this principle of interpretation that gives rise to a one-sided, and
therefore untrue, theology. One man, for example, takes the Calvinistic
passages in the Bible and believes them and twists and distorts the
other passages; that teach the freedom of man, to make them fit with
those that teach the sovereignty of God, and he becomes a one-sided
Calvinist. Another man sees only those passages that clearly teach
man's power of self-determination and seeks to twist all that teach the
sovereignty of God and the foreordaining wisdom and will of God to fit
into his ideas, and he becomes a one-sided Arminian, and so on through
the whole gamut of doctrine. It is utter foolishness, to say nothing of
presumption, to thus handle the Word of God deceitfully. Our business
is to find out the plainly intended sense of a passage that we are
studying, as determined by the usage of words, grammatical construction
and context; and when we have found out the plainly intended meaning,
believe it whether we can reconcile it with something else that we have
found out and believe, or not. We should always remember that in many
cases two truths, both clearly true, that at one time seemed utterly
irreconcilable or flatly contradictory to one another, are now, with
our increased knowledge seen to beautifully harmonise. So we should
have no difficulty in recognising the fact that truths that still seem
to us to be contradictory, do now perfectly harmonise in the infinite
wisdom of God, and will some day perfectly harmonise to our minds
when we approach more nearly to God's omniscience. The Bible, in the
most fearless way, puts the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ in closest
juxtaposition with the real manhood of Jesus Christ. For example, we
read in Matt. 8:24, +"And behold, there arose a great tempest in the
sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves; but He+
(Jesus) +was asleep."+ Here we have a plain statement of the real
manhood of our Lord, but two verses later, in the 26th verse, we read,
+"And He saith unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?
Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great
calm."+ Here we have a clear shining forth of His Deity, even the
winds and the waves subject to His word. No wonder the disciples asked
one another, +"What manner of man is this that even the winds and the
sea obey him?"+ (Matt. 8:27). The answer is plain: a Divine Man.
Again we read in Luke 3:21, +"Now it came to pass, when all the
people were baptised, that Jesus also having been baptised, and
praying, . . ."+ Here we see Jesus in His humanity, _baptised_ and
_praying_. Surely this is a man. But in the remainder of the verse
and in the next verse we read, +"And the heaven was opened, and the
Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a
voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well
pleased."+ Here God with an audible voice declares Him to be Divine,
to be His Son. Again in John 11:38 we read, +"Jesus, therefore, again
groaning in himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone
laid against it."+ Here we see Jesus in His humanity, but four
verses further down, the 43rd and 44th verses, we read, +"And when He
had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And
he that was dead came forth."+ Here again his Deity shines forth.
In Luke 9:28 we read, +"And it came to pass about eight days after
these sayings, that he took with him Peter and John and James, and
went up into the mountain to pray."+ Here we very clearly see His
humanity, His limitation, His dependence upon God; but in the very
next verse, the 29th verse, we read, +"And as He was praying the
fashion of his countenance was altered and His raiment became white
and glistering."+ Here we see His Divinity shining forth, and then
again in the 35th verse, we read of the voice coming out of the cloud,
saying, +"This is my son, my chosen; hear ye him."+ Here His Deity
unmistakably is seen again.
In Matt. 16:16, 17, we read, +"And Simon Peter answered and said,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and
said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father who is in heaven."+
Here is a clear declaration by Jesus Himself of His Deity. But four
verses further down in the chapter, the 24th verse, we read, +"From
that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples that he must go up
unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and the third day rise from the dead."+
Here we have the clearest declaration of the reality and completeness
of His humanity.
In Heb. 1:6, we read of our Lord Jesus, +"And when He+ (i.e., God
the Father) +again bringeth in the first-begotten into the world he
saith, and let all the angels of God worship him."+ Here is a most
unmistakable and inescapable declaration that Jesus Christ is a Divine
Person, to be worshipped as God by angels as well as men, and two
verses further down we read this further declaration of His absolute
Deity, +"But of the son he saith, Thy throne O God, is for ever and
ever."+ Here again the Son is declared in so many words to be God,
He is called God. But in the very next chapter, Heb. 2:18, we read,
+"For in that He himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to
succor them that are tempted."+ Here we have the clearest possible
declaration of the reality of His human nature.
In Heb. 4:14 we read, +"Having then a great high priest, who hath
passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession."+ Here we have a plain declaration of His Deity; but in
the very next verse, we read, +"For we have not an high priest that
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that
hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."+
One of the plainest declarations of the fullness and completeness of
His humanity to be found in the Bible.
The doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ and the doctrine that Jesus
Christ was a real man, go hand in hand in the Bible. What kind of a
Saviour, what kind of a Lord Jesus, do you believe in? Do you believe
in a Saviour that is a man and man only? Then you do not believe in
the Saviour that is presented in the Bible. On the other hand, do you
believe in a Saviour that is God and God only? Then you do not believe
in the Saviour of the Bible. The Lord Jesus, our Lord and Saviour,
presented to us in the Bible, is very God of very God and at the same
time He is our brother, our fellowman, and is not ashamed to call us
brethren. Oh, I thank God that I have a Saviour that is God, possessed
of all the attributes and powers of Deity, all the perfections of
Deity, a Saviour for whom nothing is too hard. I thank God that my
Saviour is One who made the heavens and the earth, and who holds all
the powers of nature and of history in His control; but I equally
thank God that my Saviour is my brother man, One who was tempted in
all points like as I am, One who is in a position to bear my sins, on
the one hand because He is God, on the other hand because He is man.
A merely divine Saviour could not be a Saviour for me. A merely human
Saviour could not be a Saviour for me. But a Saviour in whom Deity
and humanity meet; a Saviour who is at once God and man, is just the
Saviour I need, and the Saviour that you need, a Saviour that is able
to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him.