rom 1:3

The God-Man, Christ Jesus
Rom 1:3

1. Jesus is the Son of God-- Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord—Mat 16:15-17

a. What does it mean to say that Jesus the Messiah is the Son of God?

b. First, what it does NOT mean.

(1) He was NOT created by the Father—John 1:1-3, Col 1:15-18, Heb 1:1-3
(2) Jn 1:3
(3) He is NOT, in His essential being, inferior to the Father
(a) There are times when the scriptures appear to say that, such as Jn 14:28—“my Father is greater than I…”, but at that time, as at others, Jesus was speaking as a man, not speaking as God.
(b) There are other times, when He makes His equality with God known

(i) Jn 10:30—“The Father and I are One…”
(ii) Jn 17—in the high priestly prayer, Jesus talks to His Father as an equal….

(c) And, of course, the gospel writers and Paul make it plain that Jesus is equal with the Father—Phil 2: 5-8
(4) It does NOT mean that He gave up His Deity to come to earth.
(5) It does NOT mean that He was not also fully a man.
c. When the Bible says Jesus is God’s Son, it means that He is equal with God the Father—John 5:18—For a Jew, to say that you were the son of a man made you equal to that man….they understood that part of His message all too well.

2. Jesus is God the Son—Jesus Christ our Lord—The absolute Deity of Jesus

a. Christ is fully God—“…and declared to be the Son of God with power …
(1) He is called God by others— John 20:28 1 Tim 3:16
(2) He claims the title and prerogatives of God—John 8:58, Mat 12:8 "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Mat 9:2-6
(3) He is called God by the Father—Heb 1:4-14
(a) God tells angels to worship Christ
(b) The Father calls the Son, God—Heb 1:8-9
(c) The Father calls the Son, Jehovah—Heb 1:10
(4) He is worshipped--
(a) He is worshipped by men—Luke 24:51-2
(b) He accepts the worship of men—John 20:29
(c) He is worshipped by angels at the order of the Father (see above)
(d) He is worshipped in Heaven itself—examples--Phil. 2:9-10, Rev 5:6-14,
(5) The works of God are ascribed to Him.
(a) Creation Jn 1:3, Heb 1:2
(b) Preservation of the universe—Col. 1:17, Heb 1:2-3
(6) He possesses divine attributes.
(a) Self existence (Jn 5:26)
(b) Eternity (Jn 1:2)
(c) Omniscience (Jn 1:48)
(d) Omnipotence--(Mt 28:18-20.
(e) Omnipresence (Mt 18:20)
(f) Immutability (Heb 13:8)
(g) Sovereignty (Mt 11:27)
(h) Mat 8:17—Power over disease
(i) Mat 8:23-27—Power over the forces of Nature
(j) Mat 8:28 ff—Power over demonic spirits
(k) Mat 9:2-3—Authority to Forgive Sins!!!
(l) Mat 9:23-26—Power over life and death!!!

(7) The Bottom Line--Jesus Is God—Jesus is God, and that fact seals our redemption, for the One who died for us is Very God of Very God, a Person of infinite worth, who laid down His life and took it up again.

Ø Jesus is God, which seals our resurrection
Ø Jesus is God, which guarantees our preservation
Ø Jesus is God, which guarantees His return in power.

3. Jesus is Man—“…The Son of David according to the flesh…”
a. Jesus was descended, legally and physically, from David—
(1) Joseph was His step-father, and of the house and lineage of David
(2) And because of this and other references to Jesus’ fleshly descent from David, Mary, Jesus’ mother must also have been of the house of David.
(3) The two genealogies: Luke—the genealogy of the mother…Lk 3:23 and 31,Mat, the genealogy of Joseph,

b. Just a side note, Jesus was also, on His mother’s side, related to Aaron—Luke 1:5, 36

c. What His humanity does NOT mean—1 Jn 4:2 –3
(1) It does NOT mean that Jesus is less than fully God—He is the God-Man
(2) It does NOT mean that He gave up any part of His Deity to come to earth
(3) It does NOT mean that His Godhood mixed with His Manhood to become some third kind of being
d. What it does mean--Christ is fully man—1 Tim 2:5
(1) Not apparently man, but actually—Gal 4:4. Jesus Wept, Jesus Slept, Jesus Sweated, Jesus toiled, Jesus ate and drank, Jesus fellowshipped, Jesus loved, Jesus was betrayed, Jesus bled real blood, Jesus’ real flesh was really torn, Jesus died
(2) Not a sinful man with a sin nature, but man as he was intended to be--the Second Adam—Heb 4:14-16
(3) How was this so? How can there be a man who is a real man, but who has no sin? The Virgin Birth—

e. The Incarnation—Jn 1:14

(1) God had prophesied through Isaiah of the Virgin Birth
(2) Mary was a virgin—Lk 1: 28-34
(a) I know there are probably some liberal scholars who don’t know the birds and the bees, but Mary’s mom had apparently explained it to her, and she knew the essential element of virginity!

4. The significance of the humanity of Jesus—the Kinsman Redeemer.
a. Why was is necessary for the Redeemer to be the God-Man? Why is the doctrine of the two natures of Christ so important? The answers lie in God's law of the goel, or Kinsman-Redeemer, (Lev 25) illustrated beautifully by the historical story of Ruth. ***Lev 25:47-49

(1) A person and their inheritance were both redeemed at the same time
(2) The Redeemer must be a kinsman
(3) Ruth 3:12-13; Gal 4:4, Heb 2:14-15
(4) The Redeemer must be able to redeem (Ruth 4:4-6; Jer. 50:34; John 10:11, 18).
(5) The Redeemer must be willing to redeem
(6) Redemption is effected by the goel (Kinsman-Redeemer) paying the just demand in full (Lev 25:27; 1 Pet 1:18-19; Gal 3:13).
(7) Therefore, what we see as Christ's Humanity as our goel, our redeemer, our substitute. *When He was living, acting, speaking, suffering, denying full knowledge of events, claiming total dependence on the Spirit, etc. as a man, he was doing these things out of His human nature, and in our place. Yet, because He was also God, He could pay the whole price--he lived, acted, spoke, and suffered as no other man ever had or ever could.
b. The Manhood of Jesus

(1) He lived as a man
(2) Yet, He retained all His rights and powers as God, and demonstrated His abilities often
(3) He did many of His works "in His own right In the mysterious verse Jn 5:17, "...My Father has been working until now, and I have been working...",
(4) One of the beauties and glorious mysteries of the cross is that He who hung there was at that moment sustaining the universe--the very breath of the Roman soldiers was in His grip.

(5) He could have destroyed the Roman empire with a wink, with a thought, but He voluntarily restrained His great power, submitted to the plan He and the Father had agreed to before the world was made, and laid down His life.