First, I am quite puzzled as to why you believe that Jesus was a man, but not also God. All through the Bible its states that Jesus was God. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit according to scriptures were one, three entities and one in equality. Jeremiah prophesied of Christ, David did, Ezekiel, Isaiah, just to name a few. Isaiah 53 speaks of the suffering of Christ for us all; he (Isaiah) prophesied of what would happen to Christ. The biblical basis of Christ’s humanity is clearly stated in John 1:1-5; 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was with God in the beginning. 3. through him, all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. 4. in him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. 5. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Verse 14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Please remember that without Christ being a man we would not have been saved. God needed a human sacrifice that was free from sin.
The biblical basis for his deity is Jesus himself, and in how he looked at himself. Jesus boldly declared his deity. John 10:30. …. I and my Father are one, John 12: 45 “He that sees me sees him that sent me….Col 2:9 for in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives bodily form…. At this point, they seem very shocked at the scriptures I am throwing at them and reading to them, proving that their theory on Christ was wrong. Now they seemed very interested in more of what I had to say, so they asked me to continue.
I helped the two well dressed gentlemen to understand why Jesus was both man and God. I continued to use a lot of scriptures for my bases of prove to them, who Christ was. I quoted again to them John 1:1 stating that Jesus was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. We as humans cannot grasp the concept of three different entities being one; it’s just human nature not to believe this. This is where Faith comes in the picture, I told them. Faith is a strong belief in God, even though physically we do not and cannot see him. Our faith must come from the heart, since we have no visual of God himself. I told them what it meant for Jesus to be both God and man: It meant that Jesus was eternal, he was not created he already existed. Jesus was and still is the creator of ALL things. I read to them, John 1: 14-18 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)16. out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Jesus needed to become incarnate because as I had stated earlier, God needed a human sacrifice to save man-kind. In the OT, they sacrificed bulls, and sheep, but this was no longer needed since Christ came to earth. This would not do anymore; God needed a sufficient sacrifice and a worthy sacrifice to set man free. Jesus became man in order to model the holiness that was accepted of Christian believers who followed him and also follow him today. He was a perfect example, of how we should live. As I looked up the word incarnation, I told them the meaning meant an act of God making him human. I gave them three reasons why I felt God became man per scripture;
1. To save us
2. So we could know his love.
3. Christ became a model for us to follow.
I advised them that there were dangers of overemphasizing or denying the deity or humanity of Christ. By overemphasizing his deity, you can forget that he was a man, and if you over emphasize him being a man; you forget that he is God, and he loses that authority and power. I feel that it weakens and belittles him to say that he is not God. Isaiah 9:6 says; "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. This was another prophesy of Christ that was given to Isaiah. This verse shows the deity of Christ and also shows how he would come into this world as a human baby born of a woman. I gave them several scriptures to read and study relating to his deity and humanity. (Col. 2:9; 1 John 5:30; John 5:23; Hebrews 1:8; John 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:16) I didn’t want to overwhelm them, so I just gave them a few, there are much more scriptures that I could give you to read, but I want you to ponder and think about these scriptures. I gave them my phone number and asked them to call me, when they studied these scriptures through.
Listed below are the common objections to the tradition understanding of Christology:
1. Monarchianism – God as one person not three
2. Homoousios - God as Trinity
3. Theotokos – Applied to Mary, who gave birth to a Godhead
4. Anthypostasis – Humanity of Christ was complete with no independent subsistence
Well I would reply to all four of these by proving through scripture that God is Christ and the Holy Spirit, prove the Trinity, his birth to a virgin, and his humanity and the scriptures are below;
Monarchianism – my scripture I would use; John 1:1
Homoousios – my scripture would be; John 10:30
Theotokos – my scripture I would use; Isaiah 9:6
Anthypostasis – I would use scripture; 1 Timothy 3:16
Christ in his humanity is an example of shear humility, love and compassion for all of us. He became a man merely for us because he loves us so much, but also as an example of how we should live as believers.
The biblical basis for his deity is Jesus himself, and in how he looked at himself. Jesus boldly declared his deity. John 10:30. …. I and my Father are one, John 12: 45 “He that sees me sees him that sent me….Col 2:9 for in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives bodily form…. At this point, they seem very shocked at the scriptures I am throwing at them and reading to them, proving that their theory on Christ was wrong. Now they seemed very interested in more of what I had to say, so they asked me to continue.
I helped the two well dressed gentlemen to understand why Jesus was both man and God. I continued to use a lot of scriptures for my bases of prove to them, who Christ was. I quoted again to them John 1:1 stating that Jesus was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. We as humans cannot grasp the concept of three different entities being one; it’s just human nature not to believe this. This is where Faith comes in the picture, I told them. Faith is a strong belief in God, even though physically we do not and cannot see him. Our faith must come from the heart, since we have no visual of God himself. I told them what it meant for Jesus to be both God and man: It meant that Jesus was eternal, he was not created he already existed. Jesus was and still is the creator of ALL things. I read to them, John 1: 14-18 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)16. out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Jesus needed to become incarnate because as I had stated earlier, God needed a human sacrifice to save man-kind. In the OT, they sacrificed bulls, and sheep, but this was no longer needed since Christ came to earth. This would not do anymore; God needed a sufficient sacrifice and a worthy sacrifice to set man free. Jesus became man in order to model the holiness that was accepted of Christian believers who followed him and also follow him today. He was a perfect example, of how we should live. As I looked up the word incarnation, I told them the meaning meant an act of God making him human. I gave them three reasons why I felt God became man per scripture;
1. To save us
2. So we could know his love.
3. Christ became a model for us to follow.
I advised them that there were dangers of overemphasizing or denying the deity or humanity of Christ. By overemphasizing his deity, you can forget that he was a man, and if you over emphasize him being a man; you forget that he is God, and he loses that authority and power. I feel that it weakens and belittles him to say that he is not God. Isaiah 9:6 says; "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. This was another prophesy of Christ that was given to Isaiah. This verse shows the deity of Christ and also shows how he would come into this world as a human baby born of a woman. I gave them several scriptures to read and study relating to his deity and humanity. (Col. 2:9; 1 John 5:30; John 5:23; Hebrews 1:8; John 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:16) I didn’t want to overwhelm them, so I just gave them a few, there are much more scriptures that I could give you to read, but I want you to ponder and think about these scriptures. I gave them my phone number and asked them to call me, when they studied these scriptures through.
Listed below are the common objections to the tradition understanding of Christology:
1. Monarchianism – God as one person not three
2. Homoousios - God as Trinity
3. Theotokos – Applied to Mary, who gave birth to a Godhead
4. Anthypostasis – Humanity of Christ was complete with no independent subsistence
Well I would reply to all four of these by proving through scripture that God is Christ and the Holy Spirit, prove the Trinity, his birth to a virgin, and his humanity and the scriptures are below;
Monarchianism – my scripture I would use; John 1:1
Homoousios – my scripture would be; John 10:30
Theotokos – my scripture I would use; Isaiah 9:6
Anthypostasis – I would use scripture; 1 Timothy 3:16
Christ in his humanity is an example of shear humility, love and compassion for all of us. He became a man merely for us because he loves us so much, but also as an example of how we should live as believers.