Christ's Divine and Human Nature

Who, or what, is Jesus?

Emmanuel (Immanuel)--God is with us (Mt1:23;Is7:14).  God who took on our human nature, lived among us, suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world, and was resurrected and a short time later ascended into heaven.  Jesus Christ is simultaneously truly God and truly man.   His two natures, human and divine, are distinct and separate, yet united in the person of Jesus.  Two natures, one person.

The Holy Scriptures confirm the dual nature of Christ, including his divine nature or divinity, in many places.  

• In John 20:28, the Apostle Thomas, who had doubted Jesus' divine nature, proclaims with certainty, "My Lord and my God!"  
• John 1 states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... The Word [God] became flesh [man] and made his dwelling among us."  
• Paul states, “God was revealed in the flesh” in the person of Jesus (1 Timothy, 3:16).  
• In Philippians 2, he writes, "Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in the human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even on a cross."
• "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3).

Jesus is not a demi-God.  He is not half man and half God.  He is not more than a man but less than God.

He said this about himself, according to John.

• "I and the Father are one" (10:30).
• "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (11:25-6).
• I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am! (8:58).  They tried to stone him for that comment.  "I Am" was the name for God.

Christ's two natures are distinct and separate, yet a perfect and harmonious union in the same person, Jesus.  Two natures, one person.  In Jesus, God becomes human, shares in our humanity, and bridges the gap between him and humanity.  In the person of Jesus Christ, we come face to face with God.