The Humanity Of Christ

The babe that Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes and lay in the manger was Christ, the Messiah, similar to all other babes in Bethlehem, with one exception, He was the "Holy Thing," born without sin. Thus in Bethlehem human eyes first gazed upon and human hands handled, the human nature of the Everlasting God.

Christ's human nature was only different from ours in that it knew no sin. He was just as dependent upon the love, care, and attention of Mary as any other babe is dependent upon its mother. Simeon, "who waited for the consolation of Israel," by revelation of the Holy Ghost, recognised the babe, as Mary and Joseph brought Him into the temple; as the "Lord's Christ," and the aged Anna, coming into the temple at that moment, also recognised the child, and gave thanks unto the Lord.

Mary did not fully understand who it was that she carried in her arms. "Such knowledge would have broken the bond of His humanity to ours, by severing that which bound Him as a child to His mother. We would not have become His brethren had He not been truly the Virgin's Son. The mystery of the incarnation would have been needless and fruitless had His humanity not been subject to all its rights and ordinary conditions. Applying the same principle more widely, we can then, in some measure, understand why the majesty of His Divinity had to be kept while He was on earth. Had it been otherwise, the thought of His Divinity would have proved so all-absorbing, as to render impossible that of His humanity, with all its lessons." (Edersheim: "Life and Times of the Messiah, p. 192.)

Mary knew something of the beginning. Gabriel had said unto her: "That Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." She also knew something of the end, for Simeon told her: "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. (Luke 2:35 to 51.) Therefore, her duties for, and the care of the child in her arms, were performed as they would be by any young mother in Israel with her first-born son. The answer to Question 37, in the Larger Catechism, is: "Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance, and born of her, yet without sin."

When the Second Person in the Godhead assumed our nature, He took human nature into indissoluble union with His Person, "a true body." The reality of the "true body" is proved by exactly the same things that prove the reality of our own bodies. It was born, it grew and waxed strong. (Luke 2:20.) He hungered. (Matt. 21:18.) He slept. (Matt. 8:24.) He was weary. (John 4:6.) He wept. (John 11:35.) He thirsted. (John 19:38.) He sweated. (Luke 22:44.) He suffered. (Isa. 53:5.) He bled. (Luke 29:41.) He died. (Luke 23:46.) He was buried. (Luke 23:53.) His body in substance was in no way different from our own bodies; its reaction to circumstances identical and its experiences common to all human nature; as the Catechism puts it, "a true body."

Christ also look unto Himself a "reasonable soul." "He advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." (Luke 2:52.) He loved. (Mark 10:21.) He experienced joy. (John 15:11.) He was compassionate. (Matt. 9:36.) He experienced sorrow and anxiety. (Matt. 26:37.) He experienced amazement. (Mark 14:33.) He was sympathetic. (Heb. 4:15.) He was tempted. (Matt. 4:1.) He was angry and grieved. (Mark 9:36.) He experienced agony. (Luke 23:44.) He was moved with indignation. (Mark 10:41.) He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. (Heb. 6:7.) He learned obedience. (Heb.5:8.)

The Lord Jesus Christ, having taken human nature, "a true body and a reasonable soul," into indissoluble union with His Deity, human nature could never be separated from His Deity - that is, Christ's humanity never for one moment had a personality independent of that of the Son of God. Christ's death was not the separation of his human nature from His Divine nature, but the separation of His "reasonable soul" from His "true body"; not for a moment were they separated from His Divinity. His human nature was not fused with His Divine nature, but ever remaineth two distinct natures. Christs humanity can never become omnipotent, omniscient,, omnipresent, simply because He took unto Himself a "true body" and a "reasonable soul." In other words, the human nature of Christ can never attain to the infinite wisdom of His Divine nature. Dr. J. Ritchie Smith said: "His ignorance (Mark 18:32) pertained to His human nature, and He recognised the limits of His knowledge because they were self-imposed. He is the only man that ever lived who could describe the boundaries of His knowledge with absolute precision." (Boettner's Works, p. 84.)

There is a misconception that is unfortunately commonly held that omniscience and omnipotence flowed unceasingly into the mind of Christ; such a conception destroys the distinction of the two natures, Divine and human. Christ's human nature consisted of a "true body" and a "reasonable soul." Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield says: "Jesus Himself has told us that He was ignorant of the time of the day of judgment. He repeatedly is represented as seeking through questions, which undoubtedly were not asked only to give appearance of a dependence upon information from without that was not real within Him; He is made to express surprise; and make trial of new circumstances; and the like. There are no human traits lacking to the picture that is drawn of Him; He was open to temptation; He was conscious of His dependence on God; He was a man of prayer; He knew a 'will' within Him that might conceivably be opposed to the will of God; He exercised faith; He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. It was not merely the mind of a man that was in Him, but the heart of a man - a man without error or sin - and must be conceived to have grown, as it is proper for a man to grow, not only during His youth, but continually through life, not alone in knowledge, but in wisdom, and not alone in wisdom, but in reverence and charity - in moral strength and in beauty of holiness alike." For Christ, just because He is the risen Christ, is man and true man - all that man is, with all that is involved in being man - through all ages and unto eternity of eternities.