Why Jesus Had to Be Human and Divine

One of the likely reasons John wrote letters to the churches surrounding Ephesus was to warn them against the growing threat of Gnostic teaching. Not only did the Gnostics propose an idea of truth based on subjective and secret revelation, but they also offered false teaching about the person of Jesus. One form of Gnosticism taught that Jesus was not actually human. Instead, they taught that he only appeared to be human, but in actuality was only something like a spirit/ghost with no real human body. Another form of Gnosticism taught that Jesus was just a regular man who was uniquely connected to God only for the three years of his ministry, but that he died as simply a martyr, not as the Son of God who was the sacrifice for the payment of mankind’s sin.

So, in one form of Gnosticism there is belief that Jesus was divine but not human; in another form of Gnosticism there is belief that he was human but not divine. However, what the Bible teaches is that Jesus was the God the Son (fully divine) who chose to be born as a man (fully human). For instance, Galatians 4:4 teaches that God the Father “sent forth his Son” to be “born of woman”; and Philippians 2:5-8 teaches that though Jesus existed from eternity past in the form/likeness of God, he chose to be born in the form/likeness of humanity.

It is critically important that Jesus was and continues to be both fully divine and fully human. If he was not fully divine then he could not have lived a perfect, sinless life and thus become the perfect sacrifice for us. If he was not fully human, then he could not have represented sinful humanity on the cross before God. But because he was and is fully divine and fully human at the same time, he alone can fully represent God to us and he alone can fully represent us to God. He even continues in this unique role now, as he stands before God as one who is perfect, and yet does so on our behalf, always interceding on our behalf (cf. Hebrews 7:25) and inviting us to come before him to receive grace and mercy from the throne of God in time of need (cf. Hebrews 4:16).