Truth of Humanity of Jesus Christ

Truth of Humanity of Jesus Christ

Introduction: Jesus is uniquely true Man and true God. It is a fundamental and theological teaching of orthodox Christianity, based on its understanding of the New Testament that. This expression had been a cause of endless controversy throughout the Church for first six century. The problem was about His nature whether He is God or Man or the both. It was also a problem in Christology. However, the council of Chalcedon (451A.D.) reaffirmed the orthodoxy described Nicene council (325A.D.).  Now we will discuss His Incarnation and how He is uniquely true man and true God and about His Incarnation. Jesus is the person of the Son. He is not two persons but one person. But this one person has two nature; one is divine nature and human nature. So Jesus is God-Man.

 Humanity of Jesus Christ: In ancient Israel, most people had only one name which one is the first name. Thus Jesus was also named and his Hebrew name was Yeshua wich one in the new Testament translated Iesous, from which we get Latin Iesus and English Jesus. In the Bible names have specific meaning Jesus simply means ‘God saves’ (Mtt. 1:21). Jesus was given different title as fully human. ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ (Mk.1:24;10;47) ‘Jesus the Galilean’ (Mtt. 26:69), ‘the carpenter’ Mk.6:3,  ‘Jesus the son of Joseph’ Lk 3;24; Jh. 1:45; 6;42; ‘the carpenter’s son’ Mt. 13:55; ‘the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon’ (Mk.6;3). ‘Jesus son Mary’ (Mk. 6:3 Mtt.13:55). So Jesus is the name given by his parents whereas Christ is the title meaning anointed or choisen one. Jesus Christ is perfect God-man. So Jesus is, according to the scripture, fully human and fully divine.  

How Jesus is uniquely Man:  Jesus is uniquely man. This expression raised controversy for many years because if He is God, He is eternal which is proved in our above discussion than how can He be man again. However, it is a revealed mystery that He is the incarnated Word. Then many would think that He turned into a man, in the sense that He stopped being God and started being man. Jesus did not give up any of His nature: divinity and humanity. The truth of Jesus' humanity is just as important to hold to as the truth of His divinity. There are many arguments that prove Jesus as uniquely Man. Some of these are as follows:

Birth and Upbringing: Jesus’ humanity is displayed in the fact that He was born as a baby from a human mother (Lk. 2:7; Gal. 4:4). The beginning of John’s gospel is the ‘Word’ (Logos) that “became flesh and lived among us” (Jn.1:14). This is the clear indication that God entered in human history. When it is human history, it includes a particular setting of language, culture, society religion etc. As perfect man, Jesus was involved in this particular setting. “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. And Jesus increased in wisdom and years and in divine and human favor” (Lk.2:51-52). He acted, behaved fully as man even though He is God. “ Who, though he was in form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness”(Phil.2:6-7).

Compassion: Jesus had very compassionate heart for the people. It is found many places in NT narrative which expresses the humanity of Jesus Christ. “Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest” (Mt.11:28). We also see that “He had compassion for them because they were like the sheep without shepherd” (Mk.6:34). Thus we see, Jesus had compassion for the people as usual like human being.

Hunger and Thirst:  Jesus felt hungry “afterwards he was hungry” (Mt.4:2) and thirsty “I am thirsty” (Jn.19:28) like other human being. It also shows us that Jesus was uniquely man.

Anger and Weeping: As a human being Jesus’ anger was expressed in the event at temple of Jerusalem, “making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple” (Jn. 2:15).  We also find Jesus wept seeing the temple of Jerusalem and his friend Lazarus death “where have you laid him? They said, ‘Lord come and see.’ Jesus began to weep” (Jn.11:34-35).

Annoyance and Sorrow: We also see Jesus got annoyed while Peter was saying against the plan of God, “But he turned Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan” (Jn.16:23). His extreme sorrow is disclosed while Jesus praying at Gethsemane, “And he said, I am deeply grieved, even to death”(Mk. 14:34).

Suffering on the Cross: Jesus suffered untold suffering on the cross. His suffering was so severe that He cried in such way that as if God were totally absent from this situation. We find it on the cross while Jesus cried out saying, “And about three o’clock Jesus cried with loud voice, E’ll, E’ll, le-ma`sa-bach`tha-ni? That is, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”(Mt.27:46).     

These are some in indication in NT through which we can clearly understand that Jesus was uniquely a man. He had the same experience that a man might have in this certain situation. Jesus does not just look like a man. So we can say that He does not just have some aspects of what is essential for true humanity but not others, but possess full humanity.

Incarnation: The Incarnation is a fundamental theological teaching of orthodox (Nicene) Christianity, based on its understanding of the New Testament. The Incarnation represents the belief that Jesus, who is the non-created second hypostasis of the triune God, took on a human body and nature and became both man and God. In the Bible its clearest teaching is in John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." It is considered the Incarnation to be one of the most important truths of our faith.

5. According to the Vatican ii : Saint John expressed at the beginning of his Gospel: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us", and elsewhere: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life".[1] In the Vatican two, the same tune is also expressed. God revealed Himself to save the sinners. The Father's eternal love has been manifested in the history of mankind through the Son whom the Father gave. So we have salvation through Jesus Christ. No Christ, no Salvation. In many and various ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets; but finally he has spoken to us by a Son, by the Son, his Word, became man and was born of the Virgin Mary. This act of redemption marked the high point of the history of man within God's loving plan. 

In Constitution of Vatican two on Divine revelation it is said, “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.”[2] God has spoken to us in His Son. For He sent His Son, the eternal Word, who enlightens all men, so that He might dwell among men and tell them of the innermost being of God. Jesus Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh was sent as "a man to men.’’  He speaks the words of God and completes the work of salvation which His Father gave Him to do. To see Jesus is to see His Father. For this reason Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Moreover He confirmed with divine testimony what revelation proclaimed, that God is with us to free us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal.

HUMAN NATURE: The meaning of the doctrine of the Incarnation is that God became human. The Son of God became human nature. Human nature in Christ is that Christ had a real body of the same nature like ours and a true rational soul. Therefore St. Thomas showed this when he considered the human conditions of Christ’s human nature. It was that the body assumed by the Son of God should have been liable to human weakness and disabilities. Because the Son of God took flesh and came into the world to pay for the sins of the human race.  Thomas the Apostle in the Scripture, until he was able to feel the wounds of Christ is an affirmation of the existence of human nature of Christ. (Jn. 20:27).  Aquinas also taught that Christ came through the Virgin’s womb in such a way that He really took flesh from her that Christ felt hunger, He ate since humans need food to sustain. Christ suffered and had other experiences common to the nature of human flesh. Christ’s body was capable of experiencing everything that is common to human nature. Augustine writes, The Lord Himself, who was kind enough to live his life in the form of a slave, used these in a human way when he judged they needed to be used. The one who had the true body of a man and the true spirit of a man. Christ thought, breathed, slept, felt, spoke, listened, touched, and also walked with and in the midst of others.[3]

CHRIST THE PERFECT HUMAN: Jesus Christ is both truly God and truly human. The humanity of Christ revealed the fact that the human nature assumed by Christ was the same like ours except sin. Jesus is a Person in virtue of being God. He is of the same type of conscious being as humans. According to Aquinas Christ is the perfect human. Since ‘nature’ defined as substance. A human being is a personal substance that possesses essential properties of human nature and is embodied in its state of existence. By this analysis and in the teaching of Aquinas Jesus is fully human. There was no sin or spark of sin in Christ’s human nature that makes a difference between human. Christ is a perfect human because in the Incarnation. He becomes an example for the human race; ‘by sinning Christ could not give an example of virtue, because sin is the opposite of virtue.’ Because Christ is to be an example of virtue for the human race He became human in order to redeem therefore Christ had to be perfect human. Aquinas further said ‘Therefore in no sense did he (Christ) take on the disability of sin, neither original nor actual. This is what is said in 1 Peter, He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips.’ The perfect humanity of Christ extends to his possession of the beatific vision. The soul of Christ knew everything in knowing the Word. Aquinas makes a distinction by explaining the term ‘everything’.[4]  Perfection does not alienate Christ from us, rather makes him the source of the grace of faith. Christ possesses this knowing because it makes of him the appropriate source of our faith knowing- if he really knows, then our faith judgment that we can trust what he tells us about God is a true judgment. That the term ‘perfect human’ cannot be referred to any other human person that Christ remains the perfect human to salvage human race. Christ is the mediator of revelation. So according to the Sacred Scripture Jesus is both fully human and fully God.

Doctrine of Hypostatic Union: The Catholic Church hold the position that Jesus is truly human and truly divine. This is the doctrine of Hypostatic union. This was worked out in Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. These councils were induced several heresies that rose early. One Heresy was Docetism that claimed that Jesus only appeared to have a body.  Apollianarianism that said Christ Mind was sinless and divine though he has human body and soul. Monophysitism claimed that Jesus’ humanity and divinity person in one nature. So these were not accepted by  Catholic Church.  Ultimately Catholic Church developed its position through Councils in Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon and Constantinople t hat met to discuss biblical interpretation. Therefore the council established right doctrine for the Catholic Church. Jesus is fully human and fully God.

Conclusion: We come to the understanding that Jesus was fully God and at the same time He   was fully human. His humanity is not only fact of salvation, it is a mystery of faith. We believe that Christ is real and perfect man.  He was born a real man from a human mother, the Virgin Mary. The Scripture says of Christ’ life and death. Christ was presented as individual man, lived as human, hunger, thirst, loved and wept, prayed obeyed these show that Jesus is true man.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.     Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae. Latin Text & English Translation, Introduction, Notes, Appendices and Glossaries. Vol. 48, 49, 50, 52, 53: Blackfriars, New York, Cambridge University Press. 1974.

2.     ‘ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THEOLOGY’, ‘A Concise Sacramentum Mundi’ Edited By Karl Rahner,  Incarnation  p. 690-699.

3.     Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, (November 18, 1965).

4.     The Catechism of the Catholic Church: With modifications from the Editio Typica. New York, Doubleday, 1995.

5.     Robinson, John A T: The Human Face of God. SCM Press, London, 1973.

6.     Grondreau Paul. The Humanity of Christ, the Incarnate Word: In the Theology of Thomas Aquinas. Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2005.

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[1]  Jn. 1:14; Jn. 3:16.

[2]  Dei Verbum, Chapter 1,  ‘Revelation  itself’.

[3] Summa Theologiae, 3a, Q. 15, 4. 59

[4]  Summa Theologiae, 3a, Q. 15, 2. 37