Students seeking to become a pastor should be aware and prepared to answer the questions and curiosities of the people they’re leading. This will sometimes mean fielding quick questions about where to find something in the Bible. At other times it will require much deeper study and further research.
One such example is trying to understand how Jesus Christ can be both fully God and fully man at the same time. It stretches the limits of our finite minds. Even the brightest minds in the first few centuries of the church struggled to explain how Jesus could be fully God and fully man! But passages such as Philippians 2:6-8 make clear the full deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ, “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,7but emptied himself, by 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.”
As the Son of God, Jesus has existed from eternity past, but at a specific point in history He took on human flesh to dwell among us.When we try to wrap our minds around this reality, one of the questions that arises is what was Jesus doing before He was born in Bethlehem? How is Jesus both fully God and fully man? While the Bible does not provide an exhaustive answer, it does give us some indications.
Jesus Fully God and Fully Man
First, from all eternity the Son has been enjoying the love and glory that He shares with God the Father. Shortly before his death, Jesus prays “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). He was receiving the worship of the heavenly hosts that He rightly deserves (compare Isaiah 6:1-8 with John 12:37-41).
Second, the Bible identifies God the Son as the Creator of all things. Referring to Him as the Word, the apostle John writes “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2He was in the beginning with God.3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). Paul speaks of the same reality in Colossians 1:15-16 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.” These passages (along with others such as John 1:10; 1 Cor 8:6) make it clear that the Son of God created everything in the universe.
Third, before His incarnation, the Son of God was sustaining the universe. The author of Hebrews says that the Son is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of his power” (1:3). Colossians 1:17 communicates the same truth when it says that Christ “is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” The reason that the universe continues to exist is because the Son of God sustains it.
Fourth, the Son was preparing to redeem his people. In John 17 Jesus refers to the Father giving him work to accomplish (17:4) and a people to redeem (17:6). Only when the fullness of time came did God send his Son into the world to carry out his mission (John 17:18; 21; Gal 4:4).
So while the Bible does not speak extensively of what Jesus was doing before He was born in Bethlehem, it does show him as fully God and fully man. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe who was receiving angelic worship while awaiting the time when He would take on flesh for our redemption.
Does the thought of deeper study of God’s Word excite you as you explore the possibilities of a life of ministry? Grace Theological Seminary offers eight distinct concentrations within our MDiv degree program, including Pastoral Studies. Learn more about our various programs and unique pathways to match your unique calling and season of life.
FAQs
He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh, but by God's taking humanity to himself. He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence, but by the unity of his person. For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh, so too the one Christ is both God and human."
How is Jesus both fully God and fully human? ›
He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh, but by God's taking humanity to himself. He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence, but by the unity of his person. For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh, so too the one Christ is both God and human."
How can Jesus be 100% God and 100% human? ›
But passages such as Philippians 2:6-8 make clear the full deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ, “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
How is Jesus truly God and truly man? ›
The divine person of the Son of God has always had a divine nature. He has all the qualities of God. He is, as the Shorter Catechism says, infinite and eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He's the Lord of creation.
What is the term for Jesus being fully God and fully man? ›
The idea that “Jesus Christ is true God and true man” is also referred to as the hypostatic union and is a central tenet of Orthodox Christianity.
How can Jesus be both men and God? ›
Jesus is fully God and fully man; in other words, He is both at the same time. What this means is that Jesus had two natures, not just one; a divine nature and a human one, combined in the same person, Jesus. The divine nature added human nature to itself and the human nature was in submission to the divine.
How can Jesus be God if he is a human? ›
The Bible says Jesus is unique in both His person and His purpose. He wasn't just some spiritual individual during His time on earth; He was both God's Son (John 3:16) and God Himself—God in human flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). Yes, He was fully man, but He was also fully God (Colossians 2:9). Jesus claimed to be God.
Did Jesus ever say he was God? ›
During his lifetime, Jesus himself didn't call himself God and didn't consider himself God, and ... none of his disciples had any inkling at all that he was God. You do find Jesus calling himself God in the Gospel of John, or the last Gospel.
When did Jesus realize he was the son of God? ›
Some Bible scholars and theologians, noting the clear connection in all four Gospels of Jesus beginning his public life in connection with the ministry of John the Baptist, have speculated that perhaps it was only at the revelation at his baptism (when the voice came from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am ...
Is God the Father or Jesus? ›
As the second person of the Godhead, Jesus freely refers to God as His Father – a relationship they always have shared. As the co-equal second person of the Trinity, Jesus is deity revealed in the flesh (John 1:1, 14; Col. 2:9). Jesus never becomes the Son of God; He is, eternally, the Son.
How is Jesus Christ both fully God and fully man? Jesus Christ, the co-eternal Word of God and Only-Begotten Son of God, took on our full humanity in the Incarnation without loss of his divinity. This is a mystery of the Faith that is foundational to Christian belief.
Does Jesus identify himself as God? ›
In the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus never says he is God. He does talk about himself as the Son of Man; he says he must be killed and raised from the dead, and he admits he is the messiah.
Did Jesus become God or was he always God? ›
Jesus, never “became” God. His “godness,” to use that word, has always been who He is. We know from the first three verses of John's gospel that Jesus created all things.
What evidence is there that Jesus is fully God? ›
His deity was affirmed by His own words and actions, as well as by the Apostles. Evidence in the Bible Jesus was fully God: “So that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23).
Is Jesus still fully God and fully man? ›
John 20:27 says, "Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." Jesus is forever the God-man - fully God and fully man. Though he is in all his glory, he is still a man - see Revelation 1.
How is Jesus both fully human and fully divine? ›
He is two in that he has two real, full natures — one divine and one human. He is one in that, while remaining distinct, these two natures exist together in such a way so that they constitute “one thing.” In other words, the two natures are both the same Jesus, and thus are one Person.
What does it mean that Jesus was both true God and true man? ›
What does it mean that Jesus was both true God and true man? it means that he was the son of God, who had existed from eternity. But Jesus was also man, who was born at a particular point history and died 33 years after that.
How are Jesus and God the same person? ›
God the Father and Jesus Christ are both God, but they exist as separate Persons through the Trinity. The Trinity revolves around the idea that there is one God, but that God exists in multiple forms. God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the three different aspects of the Holy Trinity.
Which statement about Jesus being both God and man is correct? ›
Explanation: Based on Christian belief, the statement 'Jesus was reincarnated into the form of man' is incorrect. Christians believe in the concept of incarnation, which holds that Jesus was both fully man and fully God from the moment of his conception.
Did God become human through Jesus? ›
The incarnation—the act of God assuming mortal flesh through Jesus Christ—reveals God's radical love for a world marked by the rebellion of the created against their creator. God becomes human to create life and restore the disrupted divine-human relationship.
