This seems to be a concept people struggle to understand. I have heard many pastors say Jesus chose to leave part of His Deity behind when He came to earth. The miracles He performed and His connection to the Father in His ministry years makes me doubt that.
Lin, my wife, has always said to me Jesus had to come to earth to experience what it is like to be human. That is a mystery to me. Jesus, the Creator of everything and all the intricacies of the human body (brain, muscular system, skeleton system, digestive system, etc.) all created to work together to become a human, had to “dwell among us” to understand what it was like to be human. That is hard to understand, but I think she is right.
Most of what we see in Scripture is after He was in His ministry years. We only see snapshots of His early years; a baby laying in a manager, a toddler visited by Magi, a 12-year-old speaking to the teachers in the temple. His first 30 years are a mystery to us. One of my favorite statements in Scripture is about Mary after the shepherds’ visit. Luke 2:19 says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” I can only imagine what she was thinking. I also ponder them.
Every year for the last few years we have watched a movie titled “The Nativity”. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it. It makes the whole story come alive. In the movie Mary asks Joseph, “When do you think we will know? Will He say something or do something?” I love those questions. The reverse of that is true for us. When did we know about Him? Did He “say” something or “do” something? And then we were born again. Amazing.
The fact that Jesus was 100% God has been made clear to us in the Gospel of John 1:1-5. This is clear and not hard to understand.
1In 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.
I think we struggle with 100% God and 100% human because we only think of Jesus as a grown man who did amazing miracles only the Creator could do. Think about changing water into wine. Totally changing the molecular structure of the liquid. Not even touching it, but just thinking about it. Or raising Lazarus from the dead after he was dead for four days and his body was starting to decay. Those were truly 100% Creator God things that the 100% human, Jesus, did.
However, in the manger He was a helpless baby. He had no control of His body. We have all seen babies’ arms and legs flailing around out of control. This is where the struggle starts. 100% God and 100% helpless baby. How about the toddler Jesus being visited by the Magi. How would a little boy react to strangers adorned as the Magi would have been? 100% God and 100% toddler with “stranger danger” and has no idea of what is happening, probably seeking safety from His mother. To me the most intriguing glimpse is the 12-year-old Jesus setting in the temple and amazing the teachers with His understanding and answers.
In Luke 2:46-47 we have the encounter.
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
100% God and 100% pre-teen. Somewhere along the way I think Mary’s question was answered, “When will we know?” As His human body and mind developed, He became more and more capable of understanding His connection to the 100% God that He was and to His Father.
The book of Hebrews shines some light on this question in chapter 2.
2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
I think these verses are the key to clearing up the confusion. “Fully human in every way.” This is the mystery, but it was God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus had to learn to walk. Jesus had to learn to talk. He had to learn how the body He was born in functioned. Even how His brain could interact with His Divinity. Luke 2:52 says-
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
He grew from a baby to a toddler to a pre-teen to a man. In that journey He grew in wisdom. He wasn’t born with all knowledge. He could not change water into wine at 2, but He could at 30. So, my conclusion is He was always 100% God and 100% human, at the level of human that He was at each stage.
I see this like our journey of sanctification. Though we will never be like God, with the help of the Holy Spirit we can be more and more the godly human He wants us to be so we can be reflectors of His “light” to this world.
Christian Life Coach 