The Web Cam Chronicles... Part 2: Is He or isn't He?

Was He human or divine?

The "Barry and the Boys" from H2oChurch.tv met this past week again on Tokbox.com for some training we are doing as campus pastors. This week on the Tuesday session were the guys from El Dorado, Barry, and myself. The topic of the theological part of session two was about who Jesus really was/is. The conversation quickly moved to whether or not Jesus was divine or human. I believe that He is/was both, and here are a few scriptures to back this up...

Going over our notes, here is what we studied...

Jesus was a Man! Philippians 2:6-8 & Hebrews 4:15

Philippians 2:6-8:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (English Standard Version)

Verses 7-8 in The Message reads... "When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion."

Since Jesus didn't claim any special privileges, He really did make himself a mere man!

Hebrews 4:15-16 says, "15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

Jesus knows my hang-ups because he also had those same hang-ups, only he didn't fail like I do. Knowing this, we all have to go to Him for the help we all need!

Jesus was also God! Here are some other scriptures that point to the fact that Jesus was also God! When he was taken into custody and questioned by the high priest Caiaphas, Jesus was bold.
Mark 14:60-62 says,"60 Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 61 But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” 62 Jesus said, “I Am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

If Jesus were only a man, he would have denied what he was accused of. He, like the rest of us would have saved his own skin! If he were only man, he wouldn't have died on the cross for us, because if He were only man it wouldn't have mattered! But since He was also God, He could pull it off because only God could!

Another of many examples that shows Jesus to be God is in Matthew 26:34. In this verse, "Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” Again, if Jesus were not also God, how would he know what Peter would say in the future. I mean, he could have made a vague claim like Nostradomus or something, but He specifically said "three times before the morning!" Only God could do that!

Mark 4: 39 -41 gives us another example of how Jesus was proven to be God. "When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

... enough said.
... Jesus was both Man and God!

~Fahring