Is Jesus Both God and Man?

From an Africa Study Bible learn note titled “Is Jesus Both God and Man?”:

Jesus is God. John begins his Gospel by saying that Jesus “existed in the beginning with God” before his birth (John 1:2). Jesus declared, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). God the Father testified at Jesus’ baptism, “You are my beloved Son” (Mark 1:11). Peter confessed, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Throughout the New Testament, Jesus as the Son of God is believed to be divine—God himself (Galatians 4:4; Colossians 1:13-17).

Jesus was also human. Born of the Virgin Mary, he “became human and made his home among us” (John 1:14). He got tired from walking (John 4:6). He was hungry (Matthew 21:18) and thirsty (John 19:28). Jesus called himself “the Son of Man.” Daniel saw “someone like a son of man” who is “given authority, honour, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world . . . His kingdom will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).

Early Christians tried to understand this mystery, especially in the African city of Alexandria. Arius, pastor of the church founded by John Mark, began teaching in the early fourth century that Jesus Christ was not fully God and was not eternal; he had a beginning. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, replied: “The Jesus that I know as my Redeemer cannot be less than God.” 

In AD 325, more than three hundred bishops affirmed the divinity of Christ and wrote the Nicene Creed: Jesus is “true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father.” The Council of Chalcedon, in AD 451, declared that the Lord Jesus Christ is “perfect in Godhead” and “perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man.” 

We accept these truths by faith because they are revealed in the Bible, even though we may have a difficult time understanding the mystery of the incarnation. 

Today: 

Affirm your faith along with the African theologians and the early church by reading the Nicaean Creed aloud. Find the creed here under the heading “A contemporary English-language translation”.