The Humanity of Jeus

Luke chapter 2 brings to our attention of a birth that would forever change our world as it was known so many years ago.

"Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

Jesus born in a barn that would exempt him from being born such as a 'king' would be. His family wasn't so much as well off and under the circumstances of his birth you would have never guessed him to be the savior of our world. The baby that Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes and lay in the manger was similar to all other babies in Bethlehem, with one exception: He was the Holy one, born without sin. The human eyes of Bethlehem first gazed upon the human nature of our God. Christ's human nature was only different form us in the aspect that he knew no sin. He was just as dependent upon the love, care and attention of Mary as any other baby would be dependent on its mother. Simeon recognized the baby when Mary and Joseph brought Him to the temple. He recognized him as the "Lord's Christ", and Anna recognizes Him as well as they were entering the temple. At that moment she noticed Him she gave thanks to the Lord. Just as I would be, Mary did not fully understand who it was that she carried in her arms. She knew of what the angel told her long ago of her pregnancy but was not fully aware of what was to come. "Such knowledge would have broken the bond of His humanity to ours, by severing that which bound Him as a child to His mother. We would not have become His brethren had He not been truly the Virgin's Son. The mystery of the incarnation would have been needless and fruitless had His humanity not been subject to all its rights and ordinary conditions. Applying the same principle more widely, we can then, in some measure, understand why the majesty of His Divinity had to be kept while He was on earth. Had it been otherwise, the thought of His Divinity would have proved so all-absorbing, as to render impossible that of His humanity, with all its lessons." (Edersheim: "Life and Times of the Messiah, p. 192.)

What Mary knew from Gabriel and Simeon were only enough to leave her with the duties of caring for her child as they would by any young mother in Israel with her first-born son. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, yet born without sin.

When the Second Person in the Godhead assumed our nature, He took human nature into eternal union with His Person, "a true body." The reality of the "true body" is seen throughout scripture:

It was born, it grew and waxed strong. (Luke 2:20.) He hungered. (Matt. 21:18.) He slept. (Matt. 8:24.) He was weary. (John 4:6.) He wept. (John 11:35.) He thirsted. (John 19:38.) He sweated. (Luke 22:44.) He suffered. (Isa. 53:5.) He bled. (Luke 29:41.) He died. (Luke 23:46.) He was buried. (Luke 23:53.)

His body in substance was in no way different from our own bodies; its reaction to circumstances identical and its experiences common to all human nature: "a true body."

Christ also looks unto Himself a 'reasonable soul'.

He advanced in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52.) He loved. (Mark 10:21.) He experienced joy. (John 15:11.) He was compassionate. (Matt. 9:36.) He experienced sorrow and anxiety. (Matt. 26:37.) He experienced amazement. (Mark 14:33.) He was sympathetic. (Heb. 4:15.) He was tempted. (Matt. 4:1.) He was angry and grieved. (Mark 9:36.) He experienced agony. (Luke 23:44.) He was moved with indignation. (Mark 10:41.) He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. (Heb. 6:7.) He learned obedience. (Heb.5:8.)

The Lord Jesus having taken human nature a true body and reasonable soul into eternal union with His deity, human nature could never be separated from his deity. Christ's humanity never for a moment had a personality independent of that of the Son of David. Paul wrote concerning Jesus, ". . . who was born of the seed of David" (Rom 1:3) Again Paul wrote, "Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom 1:4). Jesus is of the essence of