The Implications of Jesus’ Humanity, Revisited

Jesus came as a man--fully human--and lived under the control ("filling") and power of the Holy Spirit, in exactly the same way we can, if we will permit him to do it. In this respect, the only difference between Jesus, as a human, and us, is that Jesus was never anything but fully under the Spirit's control. Jesus invites us to live as He did, obeying the Spirit's direction and living by the Spirit's power.

Jesus came as a man–fully human–and lived under the control (“filling”) and power of the Holy Spirit, in exactly the same way we can, if we will permit him to do it. In this respect, the only difference between Jesus, as a human, and us, is that Jesus was never anything but fully under the Spirit’s control.

This post will present a concentrated summary of the scriptures upon which several of my previous posts–listed at the end of this post, depended. It will lay the foundation of the power we have as children of God through Christ, our Head, and the importance of yielding control of our lives–including our rights–to him. This foundation will support my next post, which will deal with the real power–for good or ill–of our forgiveness or unforgiveness toward others, as a part of my series on repentance.

To begin laying this foundation, I note that Jesus was born as a man–a male human–like us except for the identity of his divine Father and his conception by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18-24; Luke 1:26-38). He had to be made like us to be our hope and liberator, our merciful high priest and helper:

Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

Hebrews 2:14-18 (WEB).

Even so, Jesus could not begin his work among us until he had visibly received the Holy Spirit, as all four Gospels record:

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”

In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Mark 1:4-11 (WEB)

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

“I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”

But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him.

Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.  Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:7-17 (WEB).

As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”

Luke 3:15-22 (WEB).

This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.” These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’ I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel.”  John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him.  I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

John 1:19-34 (WEB).

Note particularly that all four Evangelists clearly state that Jesus was baptized by John, and visibly received the Holy Spirit–even though, as God, he was always one with the Spirit–for two purposes: first, to publicly authenticate his identity as the Son of God, but second, and equally important, to identify him as the one “who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” Commentators have always tended to stress the first purpose at the expense of the second. But Jesus was baptized in water, and then, visibly, in the Holy Spirit, as our assurance that he can likewise immerse us in his Spirit, that we can be directed and empowered by the same Spirit that directed and empowered Jesus’ whole ministry.

Jesus’ right and power to judge, like his power to do everything he did, flowed from his commitment to seek his Father’s will, not his own:

I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

John 5:30 (WEB)

He amplified this a chapter later by placing the source of all life, including his own, in the spirit, which flows from his words:

It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.

John 6:63

Jesus later explained that the only way to recognize the real source of his teachings in the One who sent him is to be willing to do the will of that One, seeking his glory, the same way Jesus did:

Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

John 7:16-18

Jesus offered this fact–that he spoke and did only what the Father gave him to speak and do–in his own defense when an angry, envious crowd wanted to stone him for calling God his Father, “making himself equal with God:”

For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

John 5:18-20 (WEB)

Because the only way to know the real source of Jesus’ words is to be willing to believe them (and, therefore, to follow them), and their source is the God who is light (John 1:1-4; 1 John 1:5-7), the judgment we face is exactly this: believe Jesus and live in the light, or reject him and remain in the darkness, judged by his words:

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. He who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness. If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him in the last day. For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”

John 12:44-50 (WEB)

How does all of this apply to individual believers after Jesus? When Jesus “fell into the earth” like a seed and died, he bore fruit. In the same way that grains produced by a plant are like the grain from which the plant grew, Jesus’ fruit–us–is like him. Therefore, anyone who follows Jesus becomes like him, and is found where Jesus also is:

Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 12:23-26

While the life Jesus has “in himself” he possesses because of his divinity–as the Son of God–God gave him authority or power (exousian) to do justice for/ work judgment upon (poiein krisin–both readings are correct, simultaneously) humans because of his humanity as a/the “son of man:”

Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.

John 5:25-27 (WEB)

Here, it must be noted that the word “son” is not preceded by an article in Greek and that it precedes the linking verb. So whether the clause is properly read as “because he is a son of man,” emphasizing Jesus likeness to us as humans, or as “because he is the Son of Man,” emphasizing his uniqueness and difference from us despite his humanity, depends on whether Colwell’s “rule” is properly applied to this context. But it appears to make better sense if Colwell’s “rule”–which does not always apply–is not applied here. Verses 25 and 26 speak of a way in which his followers will become like Jesus–namely, the dead will hear his voice and will live. He will give us his life, which he has in himself. Similarly, it would appear to make better sense to see in verse 27 a way in which we are like him–his power to do justice for us arises from his humanity, the way in which he is like us.

Because he is like us, Jesus can call us his “friends” (philoi, his “beloved”!) if we do what he commands, and promise that he will make known to us everything he has heard from the Father:

You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

John 15:14-15 (WEB)

This is reiterated a chapter later, with the further specification that the vehicle by which Jesus will make everything he hears known to us is the same as that by which he lived his own human life, the Holy Spirit:

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming. He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.

John 16:12-14 (WEB)

It is not just God’s words that the Holy Spirit opens to us, just as he did for Jesus, the man. Jesus did his great works by the Holy Spirit, and, as we are led by the Spirit, we can also expect to do works like those of Jesus and even greater works:

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

John 14:10-20 (WEB)

But, as the conclusion of this quotation, an even greater result of the Spirit Jesus will give us is that we will be able to “see” Jesus in a world that is blind to him, and will “know” that we are now one with Jesus and his Father.

Further, the only route of entry into God’s kingdom–the invisible realm around us in which God is acknowledged as King— is to be “born” of the Spirit:

 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’  The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:5-8 (WEB).

Once again, God’s reign, the movements of his Spirit, are invisible to the world, and not even fully comprehended by his children, who have been born of that Spirit. The world sees the effects of the Spirit’s moving, and attribute them to other causes, being blind to the Spirit. By contrast, we see the effects of the Holy Spirit, and are able to correctly attribute them to him, but cannot predict them. All we know of what God is doing is what he has told us.

But we know the Father, and can trust him and have his peace. We can also have peace in knowing that the Spirit will teach us whatever we need to know:

Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me. I have said these things to you while still living with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.

John 14:23-27 (WEB)

In the last analysis, we can have life, fruit and joy only by remaining in Jesus, the true Vine, remaining in him in the same way he remained in his Father during his earthly life:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

“In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.

John 15:1-11 (WEB)

In the Spirit, we have Christ’s mind, and therefore can know all of the things God has freely given us, and discern his role in all things:

But as it is written,

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,

    which didn’t enter into the heart of man,

    these God has prepared for those who love him.”

But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit. But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 (WEB)

But this is exactly like the life Jesus’ lived among us, as a man.

A Few More Related Pages of this Blog:

Why Jesus’ Full Humanity is Important: Our Freedom, Truth, Victory, New Birth and Adoption in Christ

Our Individual Oneness with Christ

The Underlying Truth: The Church is One, Invisible Body – What is Missing is Visible Unity

Our Oneness Makes Christ Visible to the World

NEXT: The Distinction Between “Sin” (Singular) and “Sins” (Plural)–Part 1

Next in the Repentance Series: Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6.