Fully Man and Fully God
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Welcome tonight. I am glad you are here!
I’d like to begin with a question. Ready?
What is hypostatic union?
“Hypostatic union” sounds fancy in English, but it’s actually a simple term.
Hypostatic means personal. The hypostatic union is the personal union of Jesus’s two natures.
Jesus has two complete natures: one fully human and one fully divine.
What the doctrine of the hypostatic union teaches is that these two natures are united in one person in the God-man.
Jesus is not two persons. He is one person.
The hypostatic union is the joining (mysterious though it be) of the divine and the human in the one person of Jesus.
One of the most memorable uses of this greek term is found in
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
With this in mind, we are going to study three weeks of Catechisms tonight.
Leading up to this study, we answered questions like:
Question 18
Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished?
No, God is righteously angry with our sins and will punish them both in this life, and in the life to come.
Question 19
Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor?
Yes, God reconciles us to himself by a Redeemer.
Question 20
Who is the Redeemer?
The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ.
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The only redeemer is Jesus!
But, would any redeemer have worked? Could Mother Teresa, or Allah, or Budha do?
Question 21
What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God?
One who is truly human and also truly God.
Which breaks down in the NCC into two subsequent questions:
Question 22
Why must the Redeemer be truly human?
That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin.
The necessity of His humanity:
17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
The empathy from His humanity
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Isaiah gives a description of the attributes of a future King in Is 9:6
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The only feasible interpretation of this passage is messianic. This child will be given names that signify his character.
He will be a sage characterized by extraordinary wisdom (Wonderful Counselor).
He will have life that is never ending (Eternal Father).
He will bring peace (Prince of Peace).
But the most extraordinary thing of all that confirms he is simply not to be identified as a mere human is his title, Mighty God
In the NT, Jesus is identified as the Davidic descendant who fulfilled this great promise (Mt 1:1, 22–23).
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
He is not just the Son of David, but also the Son of God.
Question 23
Why must the Redeemer be truly God?
That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective.
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
spirit Refers to the spiritual source of a teaching or doctrine. According to John, every teaching about Christ originates from a spiritual source. A teaching is either true and from the Spirit of God, or false and from the spirit of deceit
Spirit of God Refers to the source of true teaching about Christ.
confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh A true spirit from God will confess Jesus’ true humanity.
The later heretical teaching known as Docetism held that Jesus appeared to be human, but that His humanity was nothing more than an illusion
The Bible never records Jesus saying the precise words, “I am God.” That does not mean, however, that He did not proclaim that He is God.
Take for example Jesus’ words in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” We need only to look at the Jews’ reaction to His statement to know He was claiming to be God. They tried to stone Him for this very reason: “You, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33). The Jews understood exactly what Jesus was claiming—deity.
When Jesus declared, “I and the Father are one,” He was saying that He and the Father are of one nature and essence.
John 8:58 is another example. Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth … before Abraham was born, I am!” Jews who heard this statement responded by taking up stones to kill Him for blasphemy, as the Mosaic Law commanded (Leviticus 24:16).
John reiterates the concept of Jesus’ deity:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
These verses clearly indicate that Jesus is God in the flesh.
28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
This same verse declares that God purchased His church with His own blood. Therefore, Jesus is God!
Thomas the disciple declared concerning Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus does not correct him.
Titus 2:13 encourages us to wait for the coming of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (see also
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
In Hebrews 1:8, the Father declares
8 But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
The Father refers to Jesus as “O God,” indicating that Jesus is indeed God.
The most important reason that Jesus has to be God is that, if He is not God, His death would not have been sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the world
2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
A created being, which Jesus would be if He were not God, could not pay the infinite penalty required for sin against an infinite God. Only God could pay such an infinite penalty. Only God could take on the sins of the world
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Only God could die, and be resurrected, proving His victory over sin and death.
so:
Question 21
What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God?
One who is truly human and also truly God.
Which breaks down in the NCC into two subsequent questions:
Question 22
Why must the Redeemer be truly human?
That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin.
Question 23
Why must the Redeemer be truly God?
That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective.