The topic of the humanity of Jesus does not seem to be as hotly contested as his deity does. I guess at a glance it seems self evident that Jesus was human and our society today spends most of its time trying to reduce God to nothing more than ‘a man’ and man to nothing less than ‘a god’. But this has not always been the case.
The importance of Jesus’ humanity is this: if he is not really one of us how could he really represent us before God. The work that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross in paying the debt of our sin could only really be effective if Jesus represented us fully as one of us.
If Jesus was not one of us, 100%, it sort of undermines his ability to resist sin ‘as a human’. It would mean the temptations and trials he faced really were not the same as the ones we face.
So what sort of biblical evidence is there that Jesus was really human? (BTW – If you are reading this series for the first time you must also read the two articles on the 100% divinity of Jesus).
It might seem sort of basic but first of all, he was born. He did not just come to be, he did not descend from heaven and begin his earthly ministry. Although his conception was unique he still grew like any other baby in the womb. Jesus has a family tree like any other human and I presume he has genes passed on to him by his ancestors.
As a young lad we are told that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52). Jesus was not super human in strength, he did not have unlimited physical strength. He got hungry (Mat 4:2), he got thirsty (John 19:28), he got tired travelling (John 4:6) and of course Jesus suffered and died physically like any other human body (John 19:34).
So it was true Jesus was 100% human in a physical sense and he was also 100% human in a human emotion sense. He loved, he cried, he experienced anguish and joy, anger and grief and he was even indignant. Sure these emotions could also be felt by God but Jesus was also astonished something that to me shows his humanity in his emotions.
Intellectually Jesus was able to know lots. Things for the past the present and the future but he was also limited in his knowledge. His knowledge did have limits and there were things he did not know (Mark 9:21, 13:32).
There is plenty more to say concerning the humanity of Jesus but space is gone. The scriptures tell us that God became flesh and dwelt among us – John 1:14. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Jesus ate with his disciples, slept with them, bled with them, cried with them. As one writer put it, “if Jesus is not human then surely, no one has ever been”.
After Easter we will look at the implication of Jesus being 100% humanity.