There’s nothing harder than being in a difficult situation when it feels like there’s no one who really understands. I felt that on my first trip to Japan. I was living on my own, halfway around the world, struggling with the language, the culture, and the sense of isolation. When a family member made a short visit, it wasn’t just the companionship I enjoyed. Finally, I knew that there was someone who shared what I was going through. It made my conversations with them richer and my difficulties easier to handle. The same is true with God.
The most challenged truth about Jesus is that He is both God and man. Muslims claim this results in multiple gods. Jews believe that it’s blasphemy. Others just think that it’s a myth. But a God who stepped into human history is just what we need. We need to know there’s a God who gets us, and because He’s God, He not only understands our pain but has the power to overcome it.
What we mean when we say Jesus is fully human
While many modern people struggle to believe that Jesus is God, in the first few centuries of the church, the bigger struggle for people was believing that Jesus was truly human. That’s why the Bible records that Jesus got hungry (Matthew 4:2), thirsty (John 19:28), and tired (John 4:6).
Hebrews 4:15 puts it like this: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus had to deal with loneliness, rejection, misunderstanding, and abuse. He faced pressure, opposition, expectations, and betrayal. Whatever we’re going through, Jesus has been there. And He’s faced it without falling into sin, so He can give us a path through whatever we’re facing.
What we mean when we say Jesus is fully God
It means a lot to know that someone understands us, but if they’re stuck in the same mess we are, then there’s consolation but little hope. Because Jesus is also God, He can overcome our biggest problems, not just relate to them. The Bible declares Jesus’ divinity in many ways. In John 20:28, Thomas overcame his doubts and said, “My Lord and my God!” Peter called Jesus “our God and Savior” (2 Peter 1:1). Paul referred to Christ as “God over all, blessed forever” (Romans 9:5), and John called Jesus the Word and said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
Why we need a God who entered our world
Only an infinite God could bear the sins of the whole world. That’s why Romans 5:8 can say, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God stepped into our world, took on our nature, and carried our guilt in a real body on the cross.
Jesus is the God who is near enough to truly understand what we’re going through, but great enough to solve our deepest problems. A God who only understands our pain but is unable to rescue us leaves us comforted but unchanged. A God who has only power, but no experience of suffering, feels distant and unapproachable.
Rightly clarifying what the Bible says about Jesus is important to avoid confusion. The Fellowship Affirmation of Faith summarizes the Bible’s teaching on the Son like this:
We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Saviour of the world, eternally begotten of the Father, fully God and fully human; we believe in his virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry, and personal return.
This is the God who stepped into history to save us.
In awe of Him,
Paul
