Indeed, at first it doesn’t seem to make sense, how Jesus could be both human and divine! This is how I look at it, and reconcile the two parts.
Jesus came to earth in human form. He was born of a woman, and grew up in a common family of carpenters. He had to undergo all the usual experiences of childhood, learning in the Temple and probably learning carpentry from His father. Luke records a young Jesus at the temple eagerly asking questions of the church leaders. As such, Jesus would have experienced all humanity had to offer – joy, sadness, pain, suffering, hope, despair, temptation and so forth. There was no escaping this; it was a part of His very humanity.
But Jesus was different too, as He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and thus came from God, not from man. He wasn’t just a human being conceived of human genes and blood, but more a case of God in human form, or God incarnate.
Now this is where it gets interesting. All four gospels record that Jesus did nothing miraculous in his childhood, and that both His ministry and His miracles began only after His baptism by John the Baptist. It’s at this point where Jesus becomes radically different, taking on the identity of the Son of God.
As far as I understand it, in His baptism, Jesus had the Holy Spirit bestowed on Him by God (see Matthew 3:16). Because Jesus was fully God and sinless, while in human form, He was able to commune completely with God, and receive the full measure of the Holy Spirit, or God’s divine presence on earth (see “Holy Spirit”). He was able to be one with the Spirit, and thus perform miracles and healings in completeness by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are often held back in our abilities, because we are separated from God, but Jesus was God, and thus didn’t have this problem. The prophet Isaiah wrote of how Jesus would be empowered by the Holy Spirit – “The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:2).
It’s far more difficult to draw an analogy of this topic, but I hope this makes sense. Think of it like citizenship – some people can obtain dual citizenship, and as citizens of two countries they can draw on rights and privileges of each country. But while this person resides in one of the countries, they are subject to the citizenship requirements of that country. Jesus holds ‘dual citizenship’ as both man and God, but while residing on earth, He was subject to the ‘citizenship requirements’, or experiences, of human life, and thus had to call on the Holy Spirit for the power He displayed. In coming down to earth, Jesus took on human ‘citizenship’, but this doesn’t mean He’s no longer God, but that while He’s here, He’s constrained to the ‘citizenship requirements’ of humanity.
The core of this idea is that Jesus was God on earth in human form, and was empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform miracles and so forth. I realise completely that this is only a human understanding of something so far beyond our comprehension. The interrelatedness of the Trinity (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit) is the subject of intense theological research and discussion, and I can’t do the topic justice here. But seeing how the Spirit is an essential part of Jesus’ life and ministry allows me to understand how Jesus could be both man and God, and how he could have suffered and lived just as we humans did. There’s no illusion for me about Jesus in that respect. I have no doubt that Jesus experienced real pain on the cross, real grief at the death of John the Baptist, real anger at the commercialisation of the Temple, and real love for all of humanity. This humanity He had in abundance. But because He was the true Son of God, He could be in complete communion with God, and was thus able to do anything through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Some Bible verses to check out on this topic: Isaiah 11:1-2; Matthew 3:16-17; John 1:32-34.
1 comment:
I really liked your analogy of citizenship! I think it most apt! It also made me think of how the true home of the believer is 'heaven' - aliens on earth.
I understand what you meant when Jesus was baptised and the Holy Spirit then empowered him to undertake his ministry, but I think he was always the Son of God, that did not start when he was baptised... :)
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