Everyday Theology: What You Believe MattersEsimerkki

Day 3: Fully God and Fully Man: The Savior Who Is Perfect, But Also Understands

Read Philippians 2:5-11. 

These beautiful verses are thought to have been a hymn sung by the early church to remind them of Jesus’ human and divine nature. 

These verses also portray the humility it took for Jesus to submit Himself to the ailments of having a human nature. He entered the world as a needy baby, grew through the awkward preteen stage, died a painful death as a man, and then was exalted in His resurrection and ascension.

The word “existing” in verse 6 refers to God the Son’s eternal nature. He has been and will always be. The “form” of God is the Greek word morphe, a word that expresses how Jesus fully expresses God.1 He is the revelation of God to us, God the Son who became flesh. He was equal with the other Persons of the Trinity, secure in His position, but willing to humbly serve and live the perfect life we couldn’t live and pay the price for sin we couldn’t afford, rising again victorious!

Only God could bear the penalty for sin. Only God could be a spotless sacrifice. Sin came into the world through one man, Adam. From Adam we all inherit a sinful nature. Since sin entered through a man, it had to be removed by a man. But no sinful man could be the sacrifice. Only Jesus could be the sinless substitute for us, dying the death we deserved for our sin and giving us His righteousness in exchange. 

Because of His deity and His humanity, He is the perfect Mediator, or High Priest, that we need before God. He has advocated for us, conveying His innocence to our account. He continues to be that Mediator before the Father today, interceding on our behalf, and we can trust Him to do this perfectly because He not only knows all things, but He understands our life because He has lived one of His own. He has been tempted and faced pain. He understands our deepest struggles, and He cares, and He has the power to do something about it.

Because of His humility and obedience, He is now exalted as King over all, His crucifixion and resurrection as a sort of coronation. He is exalted by God and worthy of our worship! What grace we have been shown, that God the Son would become flesh and do for us what no one else could, and He is a King that will one day raise us with Him! His is the name above all names, the Promised Messiah, and the One we can trust with our lives, both now and forever. 

1. Daniel Akin, A Theology for the Church (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing), 497.