Talking with Your Kids about JesusSample

Day Three: The Identity of Jesus—How Can Jesus Be Both God and Human?

Scripture: John 1:1-14

The Son of God becoming man is a foundational truth of Christianity, but it can be difficult to grasp—for both kids and adults! It’s also a concept often mocked by skeptics. Today will help you better understand and communicate the theology of what it means for Jesus to be both God and human. 

First, we need to understand that Jesus is fully human. At the time 1 John was written, an erroneous belief was circulating in the church that Jesus was not fully human—a heresy that came to be known as Docetism. In response to docetic beliefs, John wrote about the importance of believing that Jesus truly took on human flesh: “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” (1 John 4:2–3). In today’s world, people are far more likely to challenge Jesus’s deity than His humanity. But as Christians, we often focus so much on how Jesus is God that we forget He is fully human as well: Jesus was born (Luke 1:35; 2:6–7), had a human mind (Luke 2:52), needed food (Luke 4:2), became thirsty (John 19:28), became tired (John 4:6), needed sleep (Luke 8:23), experienced human emotions (John 11:35), and died (John 19:33).

Second, we need to understand what it means for Jesus to be fully God. While the Bible never uses the word Trinity, it speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three distinct persons (John 14:26; Acts 10:37–38). The Bible further equates each member of the Trinity with God himself. The Father is God (John 6:27), the Son Jesus is God (John 1:1, 14), and the Holy Spirit is God (Matt. 10:20). 

An accurate understanding of the Trinity is important for understanding what it means that Jesus is fully God, because only God the Son became incarnate, not God the Father or God the Holy Spirit. This explains why, for example, Jesus prayed to God even though He is God: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). We often take such concepts for granted as adult Christians, but we have to remember how confusing these things can be for kids!

To some degree, the incarnation is a mystery we can never fully comprehend, because it’s unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. But it’s important that we explain it to our kids based on what we do know from the Bible: Jesus has two natures (fully human and fully divine), united in one person.  

Ask your child if they think of Jesus more as a human or more as God. Share what the Bible says about both of these natures.