How could Jesus be both God and man at the same time?

Dan Vander Lugt writes...

It is undeniable that the incarnation involves mystery beyond human understanding. How could the eternal, infinite God, Creator of all things, become a finite being with human limitations and weaknesses? While we cannot understand it, the Bible clearly asks us to believe it. Scripture declares that Jesus, the Messiah, is both truly God and truly man.

Jesus Himself clearly declared His preexistence and deity when He said:

"I tell you the truth, . . . before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58).

In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus proclaimed His authority to forgive sin, and in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus declared that He will judge the world. His enemies understood the significance of these claims. They said:

"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7).

Consequently, they wanted to crucify Him, specifically on the charge of blasphemy. They said:

"We have a law, and according to that law He must die, because He claimed to be the Son of God" (John 19:7).

And when His enemies required Jesus to state whether or not He was the Christ, He replied:

"Yes, it is as you say, . . . But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64).

While numerous passages throughout the New Testament refer to the deity of Christ, many also refer to His humanity. For example, in the first chapter of his Gospel, the apostle John declares both the deity of Christ[1] and His humanity.[2]

Through His Son, God entered into the suffering of His creatures. He even experienced their temptations:

"For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

While recognizing the paradoxical nature of the claim that the Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, became truly human, we cannot deny the truth of this event without rejecting the plain meaning of Scripture. Philippians 2:5-11 tells how Christ voluntarily gave up the independent exercise of His divine attributes. He did this to be the great High Priest "who has been tempted in every way, just as we are" (Hebrews 4:15). Somehow, the Word became flesh, voluntarily taking up a role subordinate to that of the Father.

One of the strongest statements in Scripture about the incarnation is found in 1 John 4:2-3:

"This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."

Many of the battles within the church in the first 400 to 500 years of its existence were centered on the need to define the relationship between Christ's divine and human natures. The greatest battle within the church over this issue occurred when the Arians[3] attempted to define Jesus' divine nature in a manner that distinguished and separated it from the Father. Arians held that the Father is eternal but the Son is not. They taught that though the Son is the greatest of the all created beings, and Himself the Creator of the world, He is not "of the substance of God."

Providentially, the Arian party had a brilliant, dedicated opponent in Athanasius of Alexandria. He reasoned that if Jesus were not truly God, His death could not have the infinite value needed to atone for the sins of the world.[4] This argument eventually provided the basis for the victory of the orthodox position that Christ possessed two natures-a divine nature and a human nature-united in one person. He is God and man, not half-God and half-man. He is as much human as if He were not God; and He is just as much God as if He were not human.

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