The Human Jesus
Christian Faith
This You Can Believe
Faith Seeking Understanding
Object:
Who is Jesus? This is the most popular question in the church as well as in the world during the 1990s. In 1996 three top secular magazines in America, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report, carried feature articles on the subject of Jesus and had a portrait of him on the front cover. The three main television networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, featured the question on their news programs. Dozens of books have been written on the subject. Jesus is the primary discussion topic among New Testament scholars, theologians, and churchmen. The average church member is distressed and shocked at what is said and written about Jesus.
What is the cause of this turmoil? It is largely due to the Jesus Seminar, an association of 75 New Testament scholars led by John Dominic Crossan and Robert Funk. These scholars claim that the four Gospels are fiction resulting from the authors' creative imagination. Eighty-two percent of Jesus' words are held to be inauthentic. Accordingly, we cannot be sure of anything Jesus said. Rudolf Bultmann, top New Testament scholar of the twentieth century, wrote, "We can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus." The subject of Jesus is divided into the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Christ. The Jesus of history is not real. The Incarnation, Virgin Birth, Resurrection, and Ascension as well as the miracles are denied as historical facts.
Now, more than ever, we need to face the question, "Who is the real Jesus?" Is the Christ of faith the Jesus of history? What is the truth about Jesus? What can we believe? We turn to the Apostles' Creed which has given the church's answer for 2,000 years.
Different Positions
It is not strange that the most popular question of our time is, "Who is Jesus?" Was this question not answered in Matthew 16:16 when Peter said to Jesus at Caesarea Philippi: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God"? In Jesus' day, too, there were different opinions about Jesus. When on a retreat with his disciples, he asked them what people were saying about him. The public was divided: Jesus was considered to be John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. What more of an answer do we need than the answer of Peter? Jesus accepted his answer as the truth, for he said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). Yet, after twenty centuries, we do not believe what Peter said about the identity of Jesus. According to a Gallup poll, 42 percent of Americans agreed with the statement: "Jesus is the Son of God." A recent report from Germany indicated that only one out of every four believe in Jesus Christ. Throughout Christian history down to the present, there are different views of Jesus. Now let us look at some of them.
1. The All-Human Jesus
Human
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
According to this position, Jesus is 100 percent human. It was held as early as the first centuries of Christianity by the Ebionites. They denied that Jesus was divine. He was only a teacher, prophet, miracle-man, and one with an outstanding character. But he was not divine, the Son of God. Today this view is held by many, including atheists, agnostics, Unitarians, Jews, Moslems, and other non-Christian religions.
2. The All-Divine Jesus
Divine
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
Opposite the Ebionites, Docetists held that Jesus was entirely divine. He was not at all human. This view was originally taught by Eutychus, a monk in a monastery near Constantinople. In the fourth century, Appolonarius, bishop of Laodicea, popularized the teaching. It was known as Docetism, from the Latin word docere meaning "to seem." It just seemed that Jesus was human. It was based on the idea that the physical and material were inherently evil. The human body therefore was sinful. Jesus therefore was not human, for God could not be identified with sin. Docetists held that Jesus' human nature was swallowed up by the divine. This denied the Incarnation, the biblical teaching that "the Word became flesh."
3. The Half And Half Jesus
Human Divine
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
Nestorians took the view that Jesus was half human and half divine. It was taught by Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, in the fifth century. To this day it is a very popular understanding of Jesus. When we see Jesus hungry, thirsty, and tired, we say it was because he was human. When he struggles in prayer and on the cross cries out, "My God, why ...?" we see the human Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus is God when he walks on water, feeds 5,000, raises the dead, heals lepers, and rises from the grave. The problem with this view is that we have a divided Jesus -- two persons in one body.
4. The Adopted Jesus
Divine
Human
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
This is known as adoptionism. According to this position, Jesus came into the world as a human. Because of his moral excellence, his perfect obedience to God, his wisdom, his compassion for people, and his willing sacrifice of himself on the cross, the Father adopted him as his son at his baptism. This adoption was confirmed by the resurrection and the ascension. Jesus then became a deified man.
5. The Both/And Jesus
Human & Divine
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
The above different positions concerning Jesus caused great concern, for the gospel was at stake. If Jesus were only human, then he was just a martyr on the cross and not the Lamb that took away the sin of the world. If he were only human, the resurrection was a fairy tale. His promises of forgiveness and eternal life were meaningless. His claims to know God and to be one with God would then be the words of a religious fanatic who was deluded into thinking he was the Son of God.
On the other hand, if Jesus were only divine and not human, humanity would be the loser. Because he was human, he became one of us. As a human, he fulfilled the law for us. Through his humanity we could see the nature of God. Above all, he became sin for us so that sin, through him, could go out of the world. As a human Jesus knows our human condition. Like all of us he was tempted and he showed that by the power of God we can overcome temptation to sin.
Consequently, the church had to take a stand on the question of Jesus. Is he only human, only divine, or half and half? In 451 A.D. the church held a council at Chalcedon to decide the issue. The church decided that it was not a matter of Jesus being fully God or fully human, or half and half, but it was a matter of both, both fully human and fully divine. To this day the church holds to this truth stated at Chalcedon:
We confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, or a rational soul and a body, of one substance with the Father with respect to the Godhead, and of one substance with us in respect of the manhood, like us in everything but sin ...
This is to say that Jesus is fully God and fully man. These two natures are blended into one integrated personality. He is not a split personality, nor does he suffer from schizophrenia. It is like a blender in your kitchen. Suppose you put apples, peaches, and pears in it and pushed the "on" button for a minute. Now what do you have -- apples, peaches, and pears? Yes, you do, but can you tell which is which? They have become one fruit, one substance. Also, it is like homogenized milk. When the raw milk comes from the farm, a dairy runs it through a homogenizer. As the milk runs through the machine, pistons compact the milk so that the cream and skim milk are made one. As a result you cannot take cream off the milk. In the same way, the human and divine natures of Jesus are compacted into one integrated person.
This means that the Father and the Son are one. When Jesus prays, God also prays. When the human Jesus suffers and dies on a cross, God is in Jesus enduring the cross. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). When the human Jesus speaks, it is also God who speaks. When Jesus weeps, God weeps. This truth makes us realize the seriousness of the cross. It was not only a human on the cross, but God was there in Jesus. Good Friday is the day God died in Jesus. Indeed, the murderers did not know what they were doing; they did not know they were killing God! As the spiritual says, "Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble."
The Creed's Witness
Not only does the Chalcedon confession witness to the humanity of Jesus, but 350 years earlier the Apostles' Creed did also.
The Name: "I believe in Jesus ..."
When the archangel Gabriel came to Mary to announce that she was chosen by God to be the mother of God's Son, he instructed her to name the baby "Jesus." The Hebrew form of the name is "Joshua." It means, "He shall save."
The name expresses the humanness of Jesus. In Hebrew thought, a name is exceedingly important because it denotes the nature of a person. Therefore, the name of God is not to be used in vain, according to one of the Ten Commandments. The misuse or abuse of the name directly affects the person. A name tells who you are. The name, Jesus, indicates that Jesus was human, born like every human, and grew into manhood. Because of the relation of the name to the person, we pray in the name of Jesus and we hail the power of Jesus' name.
The name, Jesus, is used repeatedly in the monogram IHS, which can be seen on a cross, in stained-glass windows, on paraments, and carved on chancel furnishings. In spite of its wide use, many have no idea what it stands for. For some it means "In His Service," or In Hoc Signo, "in this sign." Others think it stands for "1 Hour Service." In a certain church a husband gave altar paraments in memory of his dead wife, Ida Helen Stouffer. After the dedication service, a member asked the pastor whether he did not think that the donor should not have put his wife's initials on the paraments: IHS. These three letters are the first three in the Greek word for Jesus: IHSOUS.
The Birth: "Born of the Virgin Mary"
Mary was the earthly mother of Jesus. She was the mother of no ordinary person. She was the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. In this sense we can say she is the "mother of God." As such we admire, respect, and honor her as the greatest mother that ever lived. Because she was human, Protestants do not pray to her or worship her. Also, Protestants do not accept the Roman Catholic teachings of the Immaculate Conception and the Blessed Assumption. In 1997 Time magazine reported the prediction that Pope John Paul II would in 1998 exercise his power of infallibility to declare Mary the Co-Redemptrix of humanity, making her a participant in salvation along with her son Jesus Christ. To Protestants this would mean that Christ was demeaned as the unique Savior.
Not only does the creed say that Mary was the mother of Jesus but that she was the Virgin Mary, referring to the virgin birth. Not all who say this in the creed believe it to be a historical fact. Many have difficulty accepting the virgin birth. The birth involves the doctrine of the Incarnation: God came to earth in the human Jesus. How did he come? The creed explains that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. "The Word became flesh" through Mary.
What the Virgin Birth does not mean: First, belief in the Virgin Birth is not necessary for salvation. One can be a true Christian and not believe in it. Why? Because our salvation does not depend on how Jesus was born, but on how he died. The chief symbol of our faith is not a cradle but a cross. The method of Jesus' coming to earth is really peripheral and nonessential for salvation. Our faith is based on his death and resurrection.
Second, the Virgin Birth does not mean that it made Jesus sinless. Some claim that because Jesus was born without a human father, he was free from original sin and consequently he was sinless. Sin is not a physical matter and is not passed down by physical birth. Sin is a spiritual matter involving the mind, heart, and will. Even if Jesus were born free from Joseph's sinful nature, Mary was a sinner and through her Jesus could have inherited original sin. To overcome this, Roman Catholics pronounced the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary was born free from original sin.
Third, we need to realize that the Virgin Birth does not imply that parenthood is inherently sinful. It is incorrect to think that sexual intercourse between married mates is dirty and ugly. Sex is God's creation for the continuation of the human race. In the creation of the universe, the Bible tells us that everything God created was good. Therefore, if Joseph and Mary had a loving sexual experience, the child would be pure and honorable.
On the other hand, many do accept the Virgin Birth as truth. Why do they? First, because scripture teaches it. We must admit, however, that Paul, Peter, John, and James do not mention it. Only Matthew and Luke tell the story of the Virgin Birth. Apparently, the Virgin Birth was not important enough to the New Testament writers to refer to it. Moreover, there is no prophecy that forecasts a virgin birth. Matthew 1:23 refers to Isaiah 7:14 as a prophecy of the Virgin Birth. In the Isaiah passage the Hebrew word Almah is used, meaning "a woman of marriageable age." When the Septuagint translated the Hebrew into Greek, the word parthenos, meaning "virgin," was used. When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he uses the Greek and not the original Hebrew word. Isaiah 7:14 should be understood in the light of its context. Syria and Israel are about to attack Judah with Ahaz as king. Isaiah urges Ahaz not to go to Egypt for help but to trust God to deliver him from his enemies. Isaiah asks Ahaz to seek a sign that God will do it. Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign. Then Isaiah says that God will do it anyway: a woman will conceive and bear a son whose name is to be Immanuel (God with us), and by the time the child knows right from wrong, Ahaz' enemies will be gone. In light of this knowledge, we can see that there is no prophecy of a virgin birth.
Moreover, we can believe in the Virgin Birth because it is a part of the tradition of the Christian church. Already at the time of the Apostles' Creed (100 A.D.) the church was confessing her belief in the Virgin Birth. By the second century the doctrine was universally accepted. For twenty centuries millions upon millions of Christians have held to the doctrine.
In the third place, we can believe in the Virgin Birth because we believe in miracles. The Virgin Birth was a miracle -- the wondrous fact that the infinite God came to us as a little baby. This is a little miracle compared to the miracle of the Resurrection, the greatest of all miracles.
Probably the best reason for accepting the Virgin Birth is its theological significance. It tells us that Jesus is the product of God and not man. God took the initiative through grace to come to the world in Jesus as his last desperate effort to reconcile the world to himself. How does one explain a perfect, sinless life like Jesus? The Virgin Birth explains that Jesus is of God and from God. He is absolutely unique among all human beings, past, present, and future. There is none like him. There was no birth like his. The Virgin Birth is a special birth for a super-special person.
The Significance Of Jesus' Humanity
What did it mean for Jesus to be human? The creed has Jesus born of a virgin. Now he is fully human. What did it mean to him to be born of a virgin and share our humanity? In Philippians 2 Paul tells us that in his leaving heaven for earth, Jesus "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant ... humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross." In becoming human Jesus was subject to the trials and tribulations, the hunger and thirst, the violence at the hands of wicked people.
It meant suffering for Jesus as the creed says "suffered under Pontius Pilate." This does not mean his suffering was limited to persecution at the hands of Pilate. His is the only name other than Jesus in the Apostles' Creed. Christians never want to forget this Roman governor who, out of cowardice and political expediency, had Jesus tortured and sentenced to death at the insistence of the Jewish mob. His name in the creed is perhaps Pilate's punishment, for millions upon millions each Sunday for 2,000 years have spoken his name and his crime. Because he was human, Jesus suffered like all humans do: the injustice of the courts, the pain of bigotry, and the tragedy of religious fanaticism.
Jesus' being human meant crucifixion as the creed says "was crucified." The creed tells us how he died. He did not die of old age, or of sickness, or by accident. He was murdered. He died the most horrible death -- a slow, torturous death on a cross reserved by the Romans for traitors and criminals. He suffered the worst that humankind could do to another human. It meant death and burial as the creed says "dead and buried." Jesus really and truly died. He was as dead as dead can be. As a human, he shared fully with all human beings the last enemy, death. And, of course, he was buried in a tomb borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea. Here ends the human Jesus!
Study Guide
The Human Jesus
When Jimmy Carter was running for President of the United States, he was not known by many people. Often when his name was mentioned, the reaction was "Jimmy who?" For ages, even today, people have been asking, "Jesus who?" Jesus presented the same question to his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, "Who do you say I am?" Do you agree with Peter's answer? Read Matthew 16:13-20.
What do you think of Jesus? Check your answers and double-check the most complete answer:
1. ___ Jesus is only a human.
2. ___ Jesus is a reflection of God.
3. ___ Jesus is the Word of God incarnate.
4. ___ Jesus is a prophet endowed with the spirit of God.
5. ___ Jesus is a divine soul in a human body.
6. ___ Jesus is true God in the form of a true man.
7. ___ Jesus is the personification of perfect humanity.
The Human Jesus In The Creed
Find the human Jesus in the second article of the creed. Quote the creed's answers:
1. _________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________
4. _________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________
6. _________________________________________________
The Name Of Jesus
1. Who gave Jesus his name? Read Luke 1:29-31.
2. What does Jesus' name mean? Read Matthew 1:21.
3. In whose name do we pray? Read John 14:14.
4. By what name are we saved? Read Acts 4:12.
The Virgin Birth
Like every human Jesus was born of a woman. Unlike every other human, Jesus was born of a virgin. In the following questions, if your answer is YES, check the appropriate question. If you do not know the answer, consult your leader or present the question for discussion.
1. ___ Is belief in the Virgin Birth necessary for salvation?
2. ___ Does the Virgin Birth prove that Jesus was sinless?
3. ___ Does the Virgin Birth indicate that Jesus' birth was totally God's work?
4. ___ Does the Virgin Birth insinuate that normal birth procedures are unclean?
5. ___ Does the Virgin Birth mean that Jesus is unique and different from all other persons because he came directly from God through a godly woman?
What is the cause of this turmoil? It is largely due to the Jesus Seminar, an association of 75 New Testament scholars led by John Dominic Crossan and Robert Funk. These scholars claim that the four Gospels are fiction resulting from the authors' creative imagination. Eighty-two percent of Jesus' words are held to be inauthentic. Accordingly, we cannot be sure of anything Jesus said. Rudolf Bultmann, top New Testament scholar of the twentieth century, wrote, "We can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus." The subject of Jesus is divided into the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Christ. The Jesus of history is not real. The Incarnation, Virgin Birth, Resurrection, and Ascension as well as the miracles are denied as historical facts.
Now, more than ever, we need to face the question, "Who is the real Jesus?" Is the Christ of faith the Jesus of history? What is the truth about Jesus? What can we believe? We turn to the Apostles' Creed which has given the church's answer for 2,000 years.
Different Positions
It is not strange that the most popular question of our time is, "Who is Jesus?" Was this question not answered in Matthew 16:16 when Peter said to Jesus at Caesarea Philippi: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God"? In Jesus' day, too, there were different opinions about Jesus. When on a retreat with his disciples, he asked them what people were saying about him. The public was divided: Jesus was considered to be John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. What more of an answer do we need than the answer of Peter? Jesus accepted his answer as the truth, for he said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). Yet, after twenty centuries, we do not believe what Peter said about the identity of Jesus. According to a Gallup poll, 42 percent of Americans agreed with the statement: "Jesus is the Son of God." A recent report from Germany indicated that only one out of every four believe in Jesus Christ. Throughout Christian history down to the present, there are different views of Jesus. Now let us look at some of them.
1. The All-Human Jesus
Human
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
According to this position, Jesus is 100 percent human. It was held as early as the first centuries of Christianity by the Ebionites. They denied that Jesus was divine. He was only a teacher, prophet, miracle-man, and one with an outstanding character. But he was not divine, the Son of God. Today this view is held by many, including atheists, agnostics, Unitarians, Jews, Moslems, and other non-Christian religions.
2. The All-Divine Jesus
Divine
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
Opposite the Ebionites, Docetists held that Jesus was entirely divine. He was not at all human. This view was originally taught by Eutychus, a monk in a monastery near Constantinople. In the fourth century, Appolonarius, bishop of Laodicea, popularized the teaching. It was known as Docetism, from the Latin word docere meaning "to seem." It just seemed that Jesus was human. It was based on the idea that the physical and material were inherently evil. The human body therefore was sinful. Jesus therefore was not human, for God could not be identified with sin. Docetists held that Jesus' human nature was swallowed up by the divine. This denied the Incarnation, the biblical teaching that "the Word became flesh."
3. The Half And Half Jesus
Human Divine
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
Nestorians took the view that Jesus was half human and half divine. It was taught by Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, in the fifth century. To this day it is a very popular understanding of Jesus. When we see Jesus hungry, thirsty, and tired, we say it was because he was human. When he struggles in prayer and on the cross cries out, "My God, why ...?" we see the human Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus is God when he walks on water, feeds 5,000, raises the dead, heals lepers, and rises from the grave. The problem with this view is that we have a divided Jesus -- two persons in one body.
4. The Adopted Jesus
Divine
Human
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
This is known as adoptionism. According to this position, Jesus came into the world as a human. Because of his moral excellence, his perfect obedience to God, his wisdom, his compassion for people, and his willing sacrifice of himself on the cross, the Father adopted him as his son at his baptism. This adoption was confirmed by the resurrection and the ascension. Jesus then became a deified man.
5. The Both/And Jesus
Human & Divine
(The illustration is found in the printed book only.)
The above different positions concerning Jesus caused great concern, for the gospel was at stake. If Jesus were only human, then he was just a martyr on the cross and not the Lamb that took away the sin of the world. If he were only human, the resurrection was a fairy tale. His promises of forgiveness and eternal life were meaningless. His claims to know God and to be one with God would then be the words of a religious fanatic who was deluded into thinking he was the Son of God.
On the other hand, if Jesus were only divine and not human, humanity would be the loser. Because he was human, he became one of us. As a human, he fulfilled the law for us. Through his humanity we could see the nature of God. Above all, he became sin for us so that sin, through him, could go out of the world. As a human Jesus knows our human condition. Like all of us he was tempted and he showed that by the power of God we can overcome temptation to sin.
Consequently, the church had to take a stand on the question of Jesus. Is he only human, only divine, or half and half? In 451 A.D. the church held a council at Chalcedon to decide the issue. The church decided that it was not a matter of Jesus being fully God or fully human, or half and half, but it was a matter of both, both fully human and fully divine. To this day the church holds to this truth stated at Chalcedon:
We confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, or a rational soul and a body, of one substance with the Father with respect to the Godhead, and of one substance with us in respect of the manhood, like us in everything but sin ...
This is to say that Jesus is fully God and fully man. These two natures are blended into one integrated personality. He is not a split personality, nor does he suffer from schizophrenia. It is like a blender in your kitchen. Suppose you put apples, peaches, and pears in it and pushed the "on" button for a minute. Now what do you have -- apples, peaches, and pears? Yes, you do, but can you tell which is which? They have become one fruit, one substance. Also, it is like homogenized milk. When the raw milk comes from the farm, a dairy runs it through a homogenizer. As the milk runs through the machine, pistons compact the milk so that the cream and skim milk are made one. As a result you cannot take cream off the milk. In the same way, the human and divine natures of Jesus are compacted into one integrated person.
This means that the Father and the Son are one. When Jesus prays, God also prays. When the human Jesus suffers and dies on a cross, God is in Jesus enduring the cross. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). When the human Jesus speaks, it is also God who speaks. When Jesus weeps, God weeps. This truth makes us realize the seriousness of the cross. It was not only a human on the cross, but God was there in Jesus. Good Friday is the day God died in Jesus. Indeed, the murderers did not know what they were doing; they did not know they were killing God! As the spiritual says, "Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble."
The Creed's Witness
Not only does the Chalcedon confession witness to the humanity of Jesus, but 350 years earlier the Apostles' Creed did also.
The Name: "I believe in Jesus ..."
When the archangel Gabriel came to Mary to announce that she was chosen by God to be the mother of God's Son, he instructed her to name the baby "Jesus." The Hebrew form of the name is "Joshua." It means, "He shall save."
The name expresses the humanness of Jesus. In Hebrew thought, a name is exceedingly important because it denotes the nature of a person. Therefore, the name of God is not to be used in vain, according to one of the Ten Commandments. The misuse or abuse of the name directly affects the person. A name tells who you are. The name, Jesus, indicates that Jesus was human, born like every human, and grew into manhood. Because of the relation of the name to the person, we pray in the name of Jesus and we hail the power of Jesus' name.
The name, Jesus, is used repeatedly in the monogram IHS, which can be seen on a cross, in stained-glass windows, on paraments, and carved on chancel furnishings. In spite of its wide use, many have no idea what it stands for. For some it means "In His Service," or In Hoc Signo, "in this sign." Others think it stands for "1 Hour Service." In a certain church a husband gave altar paraments in memory of his dead wife, Ida Helen Stouffer. After the dedication service, a member asked the pastor whether he did not think that the donor should not have put his wife's initials on the paraments: IHS. These three letters are the first three in the Greek word for Jesus: IHSOUS.
The Birth: "Born of the Virgin Mary"
Mary was the earthly mother of Jesus. She was the mother of no ordinary person. She was the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. In this sense we can say she is the "mother of God." As such we admire, respect, and honor her as the greatest mother that ever lived. Because she was human, Protestants do not pray to her or worship her. Also, Protestants do not accept the Roman Catholic teachings of the Immaculate Conception and the Blessed Assumption. In 1997 Time magazine reported the prediction that Pope John Paul II would in 1998 exercise his power of infallibility to declare Mary the Co-Redemptrix of humanity, making her a participant in salvation along with her son Jesus Christ. To Protestants this would mean that Christ was demeaned as the unique Savior.
Not only does the creed say that Mary was the mother of Jesus but that she was the Virgin Mary, referring to the virgin birth. Not all who say this in the creed believe it to be a historical fact. Many have difficulty accepting the virgin birth. The birth involves the doctrine of the Incarnation: God came to earth in the human Jesus. How did he come? The creed explains that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. "The Word became flesh" through Mary.
What the Virgin Birth does not mean: First, belief in the Virgin Birth is not necessary for salvation. One can be a true Christian and not believe in it. Why? Because our salvation does not depend on how Jesus was born, but on how he died. The chief symbol of our faith is not a cradle but a cross. The method of Jesus' coming to earth is really peripheral and nonessential for salvation. Our faith is based on his death and resurrection.
Second, the Virgin Birth does not mean that it made Jesus sinless. Some claim that because Jesus was born without a human father, he was free from original sin and consequently he was sinless. Sin is not a physical matter and is not passed down by physical birth. Sin is a spiritual matter involving the mind, heart, and will. Even if Jesus were born free from Joseph's sinful nature, Mary was a sinner and through her Jesus could have inherited original sin. To overcome this, Roman Catholics pronounced the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary was born free from original sin.
Third, we need to realize that the Virgin Birth does not imply that parenthood is inherently sinful. It is incorrect to think that sexual intercourse between married mates is dirty and ugly. Sex is God's creation for the continuation of the human race. In the creation of the universe, the Bible tells us that everything God created was good. Therefore, if Joseph and Mary had a loving sexual experience, the child would be pure and honorable.
On the other hand, many do accept the Virgin Birth as truth. Why do they? First, because scripture teaches it. We must admit, however, that Paul, Peter, John, and James do not mention it. Only Matthew and Luke tell the story of the Virgin Birth. Apparently, the Virgin Birth was not important enough to the New Testament writers to refer to it. Moreover, there is no prophecy that forecasts a virgin birth. Matthew 1:23 refers to Isaiah 7:14 as a prophecy of the Virgin Birth. In the Isaiah passage the Hebrew word Almah is used, meaning "a woman of marriageable age." When the Septuagint translated the Hebrew into Greek, the word parthenos, meaning "virgin," was used. When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he uses the Greek and not the original Hebrew word. Isaiah 7:14 should be understood in the light of its context. Syria and Israel are about to attack Judah with Ahaz as king. Isaiah urges Ahaz not to go to Egypt for help but to trust God to deliver him from his enemies. Isaiah asks Ahaz to seek a sign that God will do it. Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign. Then Isaiah says that God will do it anyway: a woman will conceive and bear a son whose name is to be Immanuel (God with us), and by the time the child knows right from wrong, Ahaz' enemies will be gone. In light of this knowledge, we can see that there is no prophecy of a virgin birth.
Moreover, we can believe in the Virgin Birth because it is a part of the tradition of the Christian church. Already at the time of the Apostles' Creed (100 A.D.) the church was confessing her belief in the Virgin Birth. By the second century the doctrine was universally accepted. For twenty centuries millions upon millions of Christians have held to the doctrine.
In the third place, we can believe in the Virgin Birth because we believe in miracles. The Virgin Birth was a miracle -- the wondrous fact that the infinite God came to us as a little baby. This is a little miracle compared to the miracle of the Resurrection, the greatest of all miracles.
Probably the best reason for accepting the Virgin Birth is its theological significance. It tells us that Jesus is the product of God and not man. God took the initiative through grace to come to the world in Jesus as his last desperate effort to reconcile the world to himself. How does one explain a perfect, sinless life like Jesus? The Virgin Birth explains that Jesus is of God and from God. He is absolutely unique among all human beings, past, present, and future. There is none like him. There was no birth like his. The Virgin Birth is a special birth for a super-special person.
The Significance Of Jesus' Humanity
What did it mean for Jesus to be human? The creed has Jesus born of a virgin. Now he is fully human. What did it mean to him to be born of a virgin and share our humanity? In Philippians 2 Paul tells us that in his leaving heaven for earth, Jesus "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant ... humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross." In becoming human Jesus was subject to the trials and tribulations, the hunger and thirst, the violence at the hands of wicked people.
It meant suffering for Jesus as the creed says "suffered under Pontius Pilate." This does not mean his suffering was limited to persecution at the hands of Pilate. His is the only name other than Jesus in the Apostles' Creed. Christians never want to forget this Roman governor who, out of cowardice and political expediency, had Jesus tortured and sentenced to death at the insistence of the Jewish mob. His name in the creed is perhaps Pilate's punishment, for millions upon millions each Sunday for 2,000 years have spoken his name and his crime. Because he was human, Jesus suffered like all humans do: the injustice of the courts, the pain of bigotry, and the tragedy of religious fanaticism.
Jesus' being human meant crucifixion as the creed says "was crucified." The creed tells us how he died. He did not die of old age, or of sickness, or by accident. He was murdered. He died the most horrible death -- a slow, torturous death on a cross reserved by the Romans for traitors and criminals. He suffered the worst that humankind could do to another human. It meant death and burial as the creed says "dead and buried." Jesus really and truly died. He was as dead as dead can be. As a human, he shared fully with all human beings the last enemy, death. And, of course, he was buried in a tomb borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea. Here ends the human Jesus!
Study Guide
The Human Jesus
When Jimmy Carter was running for President of the United States, he was not known by many people. Often when his name was mentioned, the reaction was "Jimmy who?" For ages, even today, people have been asking, "Jesus who?" Jesus presented the same question to his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, "Who do you say I am?" Do you agree with Peter's answer? Read Matthew 16:13-20.
What do you think of Jesus? Check your answers and double-check the most complete answer:
1. ___ Jesus is only a human.
2. ___ Jesus is a reflection of God.
3. ___ Jesus is the Word of God incarnate.
4. ___ Jesus is a prophet endowed with the spirit of God.
5. ___ Jesus is a divine soul in a human body.
6. ___ Jesus is true God in the form of a true man.
7. ___ Jesus is the personification of perfect humanity.
The Human Jesus In The Creed
Find the human Jesus in the second article of the creed. Quote the creed's answers:
1. _________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________
4. _________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________
6. _________________________________________________
The Name Of Jesus
1. Who gave Jesus his name? Read Luke 1:29-31.
2. What does Jesus' name mean? Read Matthew 1:21.
3. In whose name do we pray? Read John 14:14.
4. By what name are we saved? Read Acts 4:12.
The Virgin Birth
Like every human Jesus was born of a woman. Unlike every other human, Jesus was born of a virgin. In the following questions, if your answer is YES, check the appropriate question. If you do not know the answer, consult your leader or present the question for discussion.
1. ___ Is belief in the Virgin Birth necessary for salvation?
2. ___ Does the Virgin Birth prove that Jesus was sinless?
3. ___ Does the Virgin Birth indicate that Jesus' birth was totally God's work?
4. ___ Does the Virgin Birth insinuate that normal birth procedures are unclean?
5. ___ Does the Virgin Birth mean that Jesus is unique and different from all other persons because he came directly from God through a godly woman?
