January 1, 2025

Gleanings

Why the God-Man?

Gerald R. Chester, Ph.D.

In reference to the relationship between humans and their Creator, it has been said:

Humans owe a price they cannot pay and Jesus paid a price he did not owe.

The Creator is the triune God of Scripture (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). And Scripture reveals that the Son is the Jesus of Scripture, who by nature is fully God and fully man (Luke 1:26–35). While godlike beings are commonly found in ancient mythology, they seem more superhuman than divine. But the biblical concept of the God-man is unique. But why the God-man? To understand history correctly, one must understand the divine purpose of the one and only God-man: Jesus.

After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the new covenant era began (Acts 2). There were many questions about the new covenant. One issue was ethnic inclusivity. A church council was convened in the first century to discuss this issue (Acts 15). The conclusion was that the new covenant people of God included all who were regenerated by the grace of God.

This was an important step in understanding the new covenant era. But there were other issues that needed to be addressed, such as, the nature of Jesus. But because of persecution, the next council did not occur until the fourth century. When it convened, one of the topics was the relationship between the humanity and deity of Jesus.

The question of Jesus’ nature was debated for more than one hundred years, during which time several councils occurred and wrestled with the issue. Following is the conclusion of the early church fathers: 

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial to the father. Through him all things were made.^[1]

Jesus was believed to be fully God and fully man. Though he was born of a woman, he was not conceived by human agency but directly by God. This is important because it appears that the fallen nature of humanity is passed generationally thorough the seed of males (1 Corinthians 15:22). But Jesus did not have a fallen nature (2 Corinthians 5:21) because he was not conceived by a man but by God himself. Nevertheless, Jesus was fully human and was even considered to be a descendent of Adam (Luke 3:38). Likewise, Jesus was fully God. He was the eternal Creator and sovereign sustainer of the universe (John 1:1; 8:58; Colossians 1:15–17), who voluntarily took on a human nature to serve the heavenly Father’s purpose in the metanarrative of redemption, first expressed by the Father in Scripture in Genesis 3:15: 

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (ESV)

These words were spoken as judgment against the serpent (Satan, Revelation 20:2) for his role in tempting Adam and Eve. This text is called the protevangelium, the first proclamation of the good news. The good news was expressed using the imagery of a war between the seed of the serpent (the kingdom of darkness) and the seed of the woman (the kingdom of light). The seed of the serpent will win some battles but, in the end, it will be defeated by the seed of the woman. This text is a summary of history in one verse. Therefore, everything in life is part of this battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.

The war between two seeds, as some call it, was revealed through Old Testament Scripture. For the first approximately fifteen hundred years after the fall of man, there was no written revelation from God, only oral tradition and general revelation from creation. This period ended in judgment (the Noahic flood) because of sin as was summarized in Genesis 6:5:

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (ESV)

The divine response was a worldwide flood that killed all humanity except for eight people. From these, the population of the earth began to grow again.

About four hundred years after the flood, there was the Tower of Babel episode. Mankind defied God and sought self-glory, revealing that the flood had not eradicated sin from mankind. This time, the divine judgment was confused languages, which led to ethnicities.

About one hundred years later, God called Abram and gave him the Abrahamic promise:

Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:1–3 ESV)

The promise was that one ethnicity (the Jewish people) would be used to bless all ethnicities (the Gentiles). This was fulfilled in Jesus through the new covenant (Luke 22:20). But there was a gap of approximately two thousand years between the promise and the advent of Jesus. One of the purposes of this gap was increasing revelation of the nature of fallen mankind through the Mosaic Law. Could the people of God live perfectly obedient to divine law (James 2:10)? The answer was no. The Mosaic Law unequivocally revealed mankind’s fallen condition.

Mankind’s nature does not include a moral bias to good or a neutral moral bias, but rather, a moral bias to evil. Furthermore, mankind is impotent to self-remedy this condition. This means that all humans are inherently evil from birth (Romans 3:10–26; John 3:19; Ephesians 2:1–3). This is the doctrine of total human depravity.

Over the four thousand years from the fall of man to the first advent of Jesus, the unequivocal reality of total depravity was revealed, which include human impotency to self-save. Therefore, fallen mankind was (and is) unable (impotent) to be reconciled to God. Consequently, mankind needs a savior who can provide a basis for reconciliation. Only God could provide the solution, which he did through Jesus.

Theologian John Frame spoke of the necessity of Jesus as the only God-man of history who could effect this reconciliation between God and man. He said:

It is important that the mediator of our salvation be God. Unless our savior is God, we are without hope. It is the deity of Christ that sustains his human nature through terrible suffering, that gives worth and power to his sufferings, that makes his salvation sure. As God said through Isaiah (43:11), only the Lord can save us from our worst predicament. Only the Lord can be the Savior. And as Jonah said, salvation is of the Lord (2:9).^[2]

Jesus facilitated mankind’s reconciliation with God through the new covenant (2 Corinthians 5:21). The basis of God’s plan was himself. Hence, Jesus (the God-man) was necessary as the basis for the unique solution to the problem of evil. Jesus had to be morally qualified—sinless—to be the substitute for humanity. Accordingly, Jesus alone satisfied the holy requirements of the Creator. As a sinless being, Jesus was not under judgment and required no reconciliation with the Father. In this sense, he owed no debt. But all humans are under judgment and need reconciliation with God. In this sense, every human owes a debt to God that he or she cannot pay. Through God’s love, Jesus served as the vicarious efficacious substitute to pay the debt for humans.

This was the divine way to fulfill the protevangelium. The seed of the woman (Jesus) crushed the head of the seed of Satan and reconciled man to God according to the will and ways of God, in the timing of God, and for the glory of God.

Humans should be overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift of life through Jesus, the only God-man. This is the only way for fallen mankind to be reconciled with the triune Creator of the universe. And this is why Jesus, the only God-man, was necessary. May this truth convict you, and lead you to repentance before him.

Happy New Year!

Teaching: First Advent of Jesus: Luke 2:1-20

Started (not too late to join): Strategic Life Alignment Seminar

Biblical Guidance for Finding Your Life Purpose

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