136 – The Doctrine of Jesus Christ – His Humanity

SEMESTER 3

136 – The Doctrine of Jesus Christ – His Humanity

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE: THEOLOGY III LESSON # 36
THE DOCTRINE OF JESUS CHRIST  (HIS HUMANITY)

INTRODUCTION:

1. It is amazing for many to learn that the babe of Bethlehem’s manger was God.
2. It should be, David was amazed at God’s visitation of man. (Ps. 8:4)
3. No less amazing than the deity of Christ, should be the humani­ty assumed by God.
4. He took upon Himself the position of a servant. (Jn. 13:4-11)
5. Isaiah 53:1 speaks of the amazing nature of the birth of Christ.
6. So, let us not approach the doctrine of Christ’s humanity presumptu­ously.

I. CONSIDER HIS CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

1. From a prophetic standpoint, it is miraculous. Gen. 3:15 (Seed of a woman?) Isa. 7:14 – A virgin shall conceive? (Why something so strange?)
2. From the account of the conception (Mat. 1:18) a virgin pregnant by the Holy Ghost?
3. Even Mary, whom God chose to bear the Savior, was amazed. (Luke 1:34)
4. The answer given was only receivable by faith, not by under­standing. (Luke 1:35)
5. But note, in all this, that the supernatural work of God upon Mary, resulted in a natural birth of a man child, who grew up as a normal man. (Isa. 53:1-3) Jesus was a man.
6. He constantly referred to Himself as the Son of man.

II. HIS HUMAN NATURE

Let us never imagine that He is God, merely posing and appearing as a man. He is genuinely man, with a real human nature.

1. He became hungry and weak. (Mat. 4:2, Mat. 4:11)
2. He became tired with His journey. (Jn. 4:6)
3. He had human nationality. (Jn. 4:9, Rom. 1:3)
4. He was sent, by God, through the channel of natural birth. (Gal. 4:4)
5. His office of mediation demands manhood. (I Tim. 2:5)
6. His body was as human as yours, or mine. (Heb. 2:14)
7. The Christian faith as certainly demands the humanity of Christ as it does His deity. (II Jn. 7-11)
8. It was as man (our kinsman) that He redeemed us. (Rev. 5:1-10)
9. It was the second Adam (Christ as a man) who made us alive, (I Cor. 15:22) and Who is the “Quickening Spirit,” Who is life to and in us. (I Cor. 15:44-45)

III. HIS HUMAN DEATH

If ever His humanity is denied our hope is forever shattered, for it is as a man that Christ died for us.

1. He felt the same reality and dread of death that any man would feel, if not more. (Ps. 22:1-8, Luke 22:39-44)
2. The smiting of the staves and the hands were no less dreadful, or painful to Him, than they would have been to you, or me.
3. The pain of the scourge and the thorns was real to Him as it would be to us.
4. The shame of the whole ordeal was as great as any human experi­ence possible. (Phil. 2:5-8)
5. The pain of death was as real to Him as to any person who ever died. (Mk. 15:24-37)
6. Never forget that we are redeemed by the “precious blood,” and only as a human being could Christ bleed, and only as God could He be the spotless lamb.