Response to Questions asked about Theology
Student’s Name
University Affiliation
What is the biblical basis for Jesus' humanity?
The Bible provides various examples of how Jesus portrayed His human nature. The first proof of Jesus’ humanity is His very birth as Jesus came as a baby conceived by Mary who was a human mother according to Luke 2:7. When Jesus was a small boy, He used to obey His parents and grew up not only physically, but also spiritually just like humans. A typical human is always affected by emotions such as: happiness, sadness etc. Jesus demonstrated his human nature when he learnt of the death of Lazarus who was His friend according to John 11:35 which states, “Jesus wept”. According to the Bible, it has been mentioned in various books of the Gospel about Jesus feeling hungry, for example, before Jesus started His ministry He fasted for forty days and forty nights and by the end of that period Jesus was hungry just like a normal human.
Jesus also got tired just like humans and slept while He and His disciples were in the sea and were experiencing a storm. According to Mark 4:35-41, Jesus was sleeping on a cushion all this while and the disciples had to wake Him up before he calmed the storm down. This demonstrates that Jesus was human. Before Jesus was arrested, He demonstrated humanity when He prayed to God to have the cup before Him lifted. The main reason was, Jesus knew the act of crucifixion would be painful therefore He was praying to God to have it removed but He wished for God’s will to be done.
The fact that Jesus underwent pain and suffering in order for man to be freed of sin, demonstrates that Jesus was human. When He was whipped 39 times and also forced to carry His own cross to Golgotha demonstrates His humanity. Simon of Cyrene offered to carry Jesus’ cross at some point as Jesus would not be able to. Lastly, a human can be felt and touched. After Jesus died, His body was buried and anointed just like a normal human. After His resurrection, He Thomas had to verify that Jesus was indeed alive and felt his scars to ascertain that. What is the biblical basis for Jesus' deity?
Jesus’ deity is proven by utterances by God in the Bible which occurs on two occasions. The voice of God was first heard during the baptism of Jesus when a voice came from heaven claiming “This is my beloved Son with whom am well pleased” according to Mathew 3:17. In that occasion, the aspect of the Holy Trinity was proven with Jesus being God the Son, the dove (Holy Spirit) and the voice (God the Father). In the second occasion the voice from heaven was heard during Jesus’ transfiguration claiming “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him am well pleased. Listen to Him” (Luke 17:5). In this case, the recipients of that message were Peter, John and James.
Apart from that, Jesus; deity is proven by testimonies given by demons. In many occasions when Jesus exorcised demons from people, the demons always begged for mercy from Jesus by referring to Him as the Holy one of God. One such example is found in Luke 5:34 where demons that possessed a man known as Legion identified Jesus as the “Holy One of God”. The scriptures also prove Jesus deity when they claim Jesus holy and never sinned in the book of Hebrew Chapters 4 and 7.
Explain how Jesus can be both God and Man at the same time (Hypostatic Union).
Jesus can be both God and Man at the same time. This means, He can be fully man and fully God at the same time. During Jesus’ temptation He felt hungry after fasting for forty days and forty nights and the Devil tempted Him just like a human being. In the third temptation, Jesus tells the Devil not to test His God which proves Jesus was human and God at the same time. Apart from that, Jesus healed people of their sicknesses and demonic possessions while being in His human form