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Who is Jesus? (Luke 1:26-38)
With Easter approaching our attention is
naturally focussed on Jesus. But at Reachout we know that not everyone
will have that focus or share our understanding of who Jesus is.
For these three weeks I want to focus on who he is, what the events
of Easter mean to us and why it is so important that we remember
and live in light of the Easter story.
a) His full and perfect humanity
We need to beware of the theology of popular carols! "Little
Lord Jesus no crying he makes"? Luke
tells us that he was born just like us (Lk.2:6-7). As a man he got
tired, hungry and thirsty. Could Jesus catch a cold or cut himself?
Yes! He wasn't armour plated. He was born to a human mother and
his ancestry is clear (1:3; 3:23-38) - yet he was also eternal (32b-33).
b) His full and perfect deity
Although his was a human birth to a human mother nevertheless he
had no Father but God; he was uniquely God's Son (1:32a, 35). But
Jesus didn't become God's son in the same way (or at the same time)
as he became Mary's son. Scripture makes it clear that "He
was in the beginning with God" John 1:1-2f, 14, 18.
God's Son - who was no-one less than God from the beginning and
always in relationship of Son to the Father -became Mary's son,
fully a human child.
c) His holiness
His birth was not the result of an improper sexual relationship
with a god (1:35); Mary was still a virgin when she gave birth (Matt
1:25). The purpose behind this was that, while fully associating
with our humanity, God was making a fresh start:
"As it is written: 'The first man
Adam became a living being', the last a life-giving spirit...The
first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven"
(1 Cor.15:45,47)
Rather than the unbeliever dragging down the relationship, the believer
raises it and sanctifies it (1 Cor.7:14). This means that in Jesus
there was:
1. No original/inherited sin (Heb 7:9-10)
2. No personal sin (2
Cor.5:21; Heb.7:26-27)
Scripture tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way and able
to sympathise with our weaknesses (Heb.4:15) … But James tells us
that "God cannot be tempted...nor
does he tempt anyone" (Jas.1:13).If Jesus was God, how could
he be tempted? Was Jesus not able to sin - or able not
to sin?
It seems obvious that he could not sympathise if he found it easy
to cope with temptation, if he had special powers. We do not have
special powers. It is important to understand that He was like us.
(Matt.26:39,41; Luke 22:44)
1. As God he was not able to sin
2. As man he was able not to sin
3. As himself (the Person he was) he did not sin (Heb.4:14-16)
In himself Jesus had both human and divine natures - yet he was
one person - fully God yet fully man.
"Remaining what he was, he became what he was not."
This is that thing that many are troubled by, a mystery, something
beyond our experience. Yet God graciously makes it known if not
fully understood and it is important that we accept what God has
revealed and not reject what God has revealed on the basis of our
limited understanding. Historic heresies tend either to jump one
way or the other, declaring that Jesus was not fully God or not
fully man … or not fully either! We should beware of any teaching
that resolves the tension in this way - it is (literally) a wonderful
tension; the mystery of God's suffering and God's sovereignty.
1. If Jesus is less than God is he able to save?
2. If Jesus is
not a man is he able to save us? (Heb.2:14-18; 1 Tim.2:15)
This mystery may be beyond our understanding - but by God's grace
not beyond our knowing.
It is vitally important that we know what we believe and what we
don't believe. But we mustn't stop there. We need to keep refining
our understanding of what we believe by reading the Scripture. This
is the message we take into the world and, no matter how challenging
the task, we are charged with it, equipped for it and, because of
Easter, have a living Saviour to be with us in it.
(I gratefully
acknowledge my debt to Pastor Alistair Hornal of Mission Projects
for the notes that formed the substance of this study)