“Jesus never did anything halfheartedly. When he embraced our humanity, he didn’t pull a fast one by making a show of it. He embraced it so fully and totally that he was able to die. God can’t die. But Jesus did.” —John Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw
The purpose here is to recognize and appreciate the immeasurable, unimaginable sacrifice of God in the fully human person of Jesus Christ; who left the divine union that is God (had to as I’ll explain) for a period of some thirty three years to fully experience life as a human being with real human experiences and issues. Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus surrendered completely His divine privileges so as to not use his “God-ness” to his advantage, which would minimize His human experience, particularly when it came to authentic temptation, pain, struggle, and suffering. It is necessary to comprehend that Jesus took on the full blow… all of the impact of suffering from birth to death to three days of condemnation in the belly of the earth… hell (Romans 8:3). This is prayerfully supported by Scripture sensitive to being contextually accurate in the interpretation of it.
“I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:30 (NLT)
Paraphrasing in context to what Jesus was responding to, it might go something like this:
“As a man, I admit that I would not have the authority or the power to heal the man on the Sabbath unless that authority was given by God. As I hear from Father and believe in agreement, I act on His authority, which means my actions are right, fair, and best. Since this is the case, why would I seek my own desires and intentions when they on their own are insufficient? It makes sense that, in dependence and submission to the will and plan of my Father, I commit to going where He tells me to go, and doing what He tells me to do.”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten (created, bred, made, produced) Son…” John 3:16
Ask yourself this question: Why is it so hard to believe that the three-person union that is God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) could by choice “create” the visible manifestation of Himself to be of a fully human nature, void of His divine nature, with a need to depend on the divine nature and authority of the other two persons of God? Is it because it would be too great a shock to our religious traditions and customs of what we claim to be sound (and untouchable) doctrine and theology? Some will not even ask the questions or have a discussion about it; perhaps since such a discussion would lead to ‘quarreling about doctrine’ as I’ve been told it does. I am asking that you be open to asking the question guided by Scriptural truth, particularly that spoken of by Jesus himself about himself while flesh as a human being.
So then, since we have a great High Priest (advocate) who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
(Note: Sympathetic Savior is a four part series. The following are links to the other parts:
Part 2: Christ’s Temptation, Part 3: Christ’s Relationships, Part 4: Christ’s Sacrifice)
In order to better understand and appreciate the sacrifice of the person of God who we call Jesus, we need to examine Him humbling Himself to the point that His initial sacrifice was laying down His function and authority as God; to become entirely man He can sympathize with your weakness and mine. To begin, let’s define the word ‘sympathy’.
Sympathy—from Latin sympathia, from Greek sympatheia, having common feelings, sympathetic, feelings, emotion, experience—pathos means an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion
Sympathy—1 a: an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other b: mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it c: unity or harmony in action or effect 2 a: inclination to think or feel alike: emotional or intellectual accord b: feeling of loyalty: tendency to favor or support 3 a: the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another b: the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity
Savior—1: one that saves from danger or destruction, 2: one who brings salvation
As defined by Merriam-Webster, Inc.
The objective here is to really get to know Jesus Christ as the person who knows you intimately, and has experienced personally—physically, emotionally and spiritually—all that you and I have experienced in our lifetime. He knows the emotional spectrum from human triumph and elation to deep sorrow, paranoia, fear and devastation until finally the experience of death.
The Humility of God
From the beginning Jesus was the sacrifice intended to restore mankind into relationship with God. Because we are not and never were God, we were by our nature prone to choose independently from the perfect will of God. God, knowing this, had already prepared a way for mercy for our imperfect choices and behavior.
The Bible says that God gave us His only begotten Son. But, the word ‘begotten’ used to describe how God gave us Jesus means, ‘brought forth’, ‘produced’, or ‘created’. Jesus has always been, from the beginning, God, as the Bible tells us he has. So perhaps He was identified by God as His Son for the first time when He was conceived inside the womb of his earthly mother Mary. While the person of Jesus always existed as God, His humanity was “created” or made for Jesus, becoming the begotten Son of God as conceived by a human being to be born human.
What killed the body, mind, and human heart of our Lord Jesus was the sin of mankind that, not only killed Jesus on the cross, but also was responsible for Jesus being exhausted, hungry, thirsty; and able to experience pain, sickness, fear, discouragement, and even despair at Gethsemane.
This is important to better comprehend and appreciate the degree to which Jesus was actually human as He demonstrated His dependence on God the Father to live out His life of humanity—what the Bible refers to as “flesh”—without sin. Jesus modeled for us the perfect example of recovery from flesh as he would admit powerlessness, believe that His Father, God, would empower Him with authority over his mortal body and mind of flesh, and commit to depend on God the Father for everything. The approach of Jesus to His own recovery from the human plight was as though his life depended on it. Jesus understood that His very breath was dependent on God to survive His life as a human being.
We may not be able to understand how Jesus, as God, made himself to become this “creation” of human flesh by the reproductive processes created by God, but the Bible explains why Jesus became flesh.
That being said, God somehow caused a virgin to conceive and the human experience of Jesus began. The human life of Jesus began when the egg of the virgin Mary became fertile and formed into an embryo, which grew into a fetus with the exchange of human blood and DNA from his mother.
He had His Heavenly Father’s Spirit, but the Bible tells us He was fully human. Jesus had the full deity of who He was as God but somehow laid it down in order to fully experience humanity in order to better relate with you and me.
“Jesus did not come to do what he did and say what he said to fulfill prophecy. Jesus came and did what he did, and said what he said, and prophecy was fulfilled.” —a convicted drug dealer in prison
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NASB)
What does it really mean that “The Word became flesh”?
Does it merely mean that Jesus was God manifest in human form by means of flesh and bones, or was Jesus born of and in the flesh as it speaks to the whole person – body, heart, mind, and soul (the character, or spirit of a person)?
Was Jesus fully God and fully man? That is what most of us have been taught but is it an accurate interpretation of Scripture? Does it make sense even in a Biblical context?
God is never tempted to do wrong… Temptation comes from our own desires… James 1:13-14 (NLT)
Start with these questions:
- Can God sin?
- Can God be tempted to sin?
- Can God die?
- Can God forsake (abandon) God?
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (NLT: “…abandoned me?”) Matthew 27:46
God rejects—disowns—sin! Can God reject—disown—God?
If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself. 2 Timothy 2:13 (NIV)
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13 (NKJV)
Could Jesus be tempted to sin in all aspects as we are if He was fully God in his “human” experience? It is important to understand the human condition of Jesus to appreciate the scope of His sacrifice in order for us to have a restored relationship with God. Jesus, was “made” to live the full human experience, the Bible says. I’ll ask it again, Can God die… really? He must have miraculously made Himself fully human, empty of His divine nature as God. I won’t speak for you, but I believe it is the only thing that makes real sense; magnifying all the more the sacrifice of the triune union that is God.
Being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2:6-8 (NIV)
This is a revelation given to us by the Apostle Paul, to describe for us the nature of the man, Jesus. Observe the pattern of submission within this verse. While being in “very nature” God, meaning before becoming human, Jesus, fully God, decided within the the three-person union that is God to place Himself under the authority of God the Father. Jesus never ceased to be God. So, in being God, He would not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Paul wrote that Jesus, fully God, made Himself “nothing”. Nothing in relation to what? Who He was as God, that’s what. Somehow He made Himself fully human—not fully God anymore until He was resurrected and exalted to the throne as King of kings and Lord of lords. I don’t have to understand it… because I don’t… but I do accept it.
The Bible in this passage tells us that in His humanity Jesus gave up the function of being God by the laying down of His divine nature so as to have no advantage in His human experience. He humbled himself absolutely to be a man of no reputation to the point that, in his humanity, He was subject to the law of sin that leads to the decay and death of his human flesh—body, mind, heart and soul. He also did not consider Himself to be equal with God, in terms of function (power and authority) while in human flesh. This fact came from the lips of Jesus Himself, delineating between God’s perfect goodness and His own humanness.
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God.” Luke 18:18-19 (NKJV)
“Consider how our Lord regards His own Sonship, surrendering His will wholly to the paternal will and not even allowing Himself to be called ‘good’ because Good is the name of the Father. Love between father and son, in this symbol, means essentially authoritative love on the one side, and obedient love on the other. The father uses his authority to make the son into the sort of human being he, rightly, and in his superior wisdom, wants him to be.” —CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain
The relationship of God the Father and God the Son had been established. Exactly when this relationship between God the Father and Jesus, the Son of God, was established is hard to say. The prophets were given revelation of the father-son relationship between God and Jesus way back in the Old Testament (Psalm 2:16). The prophet Isaiah referred to Jesus as God’s beloved Servant (Isaiah 42:1, 53:10). Revelation tells us that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world. As stated previously, I believe that Jesus became God’s begotten Son at the point He became flesh in Mary’s womb even though it was planned from the beginning (remember that ‘begotten’ means ‘made’ and ‘created’ while also being uniquely God’s son since as God He humbled Himself to be made human in the flesh).
What is remarkable, in close examination of this relationship, is that it appears that Jesus, as God, humbled Himself out of necessity to fulfill His purpose of becoming a submissive servant. While still being God, according to these verses in Philippians, Jesus chose to lay down His divine nature and authority. Then, after Jesus lowers himself, as if to initiate a divine hierarchy, He offers Himself in submission to God as His servant, as a son under the authority of His Father, and reduces Himself from who He is as God to the form of a human being. Paul writes in Philippians that Jesus emptied himself of being God for it to be even possible to become authentically human.
John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… the only begotten of the Father.” What does scripture say about the flesh? The flesh is imperfect. It is by nature unclean because of sin, and it is decaying to death because of the law of sin. Remember that the law of sin dictates that what is made alive on this earth must die. The Bible tells us that Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, meaning He was subject to the law of sin. His body would eventually get worn out, grow old and die.
What is so interesting in determining to what extent that Jesus the Son became flesh is that the original Greek word for flesh in the Bible is the word ‘Sarx’.
The meaning for ‘Sarx’ is as follows:
- the soft substance of the living body covering the bones and permeated with blood
- the sensuous nature of man
- the physical man subject to suffering
- human nature apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin
A root word for ‘Sarx’ is ‘Sarkinos’, which means:
- consisting and composed of perishable flesh
- wholly given up to the flesh, or rooted in the flesh
God cannot be tempted to sin… Jesus was tempted
God is never tempted to do wrong. James 1:13 (NLT)
Another problem with Jesus being fully man and fully God simultaneously lies in the fact that God absolutely cannot sin. How could Jesus the man be tempted to sin if He was at the same time divine and not capable of sin? It does not make sense to me that God would become flesh in the form of man, but still be all God. It does not make sense to me that Jesus could be tempted to sin if it was impossible to sin if he was in fact divine as a human being.
Do me a favor. Go out and lift your automobile over your head with your own two hands. You can start by lifting up the front end so you can get under the vehicle until you are able to get enough leverage, and with a little more effort, lift with everything you’ve got to get your car over your head. Aren’t you going to step out and at least try to lift your vehicle over your head?
Someone might say that my challenge tempted you to lift your car over your head just because I said it to you. But, at any point were you actually tempted to lift your automobile over your head? Of course not, it’s ridiculous. It is impossible. You are not tempted to do something that is impossible. I can offer you the world and the moon and you still would not be tempted to lift your car over your head because it is impossible. Therefore, you will not even try. It should also be said that a person is not really tempted unless there is at least desire for the object of temptation. If Jesus was fully human then he would have desired what human beings desire.
If it was not possible for Jesus to commit sin, how and why would he be tempted to sin? Do the math. It doesn’t add up that Jesus could be tempted to sin if in His deity it was not possible for Him to do so. But, if Jesus laid down his deity, denying His divine power and authority, He could then give in to temptation, and yes, actually be tempted in weakness as a human being to sin. Central to His position as a spotless lamb to be sacrificed, Jesus did not yield to temptation. Jesus did not sin. While flawed by his flesh, He remained innocent of sin.
Was Jesus subject to the law of sin in his soul? I believe that we learn that Jesus, a man of flesh, was vulnerable, and even “obedient” to the reality of sin in the world as a person of human flesh. I will not pretend to comprehend this; however, this point needs to be made for Jesus to be authentically human, having the will of the flesh, meaning the full measure of human desire. It is important, then, that we accept that God the Son essentially emptied Himself of being God in order to become flesh.
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:6-7 (NIV)
We observed in Genesis that our sin is predicated on our desire for control in order to minimize our discomfort. This would suggest that Jesus the man experienced human dissatisfaction. This is astounding to me; and here lies the irony. We strive to be more our own god in our pursuit for control, which we eventually learn by experience is impossible to attain (even though we may resist admitting that), and Jesus who is God, completely lets go of the control and authority that is His, to become flesh as Jesus the Son, and must totally trust in the control and power of God.
God cannot die… surrendered, Jesus died
For what the law could not do in what was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh. Romans 8:3 (NKJV)
Being made in the likeness of sinful flesh is not about flesh and bone but is about the flesh between the ears of a person; brain matter. The flesh then involves the mind, the body, the behavior that emanates from the heart, and most importantly, the soul of a person. Jesus would tell His disciples that His death would place His soul in the heart of the earth for three days and nights. Jesus took in His soul of flesh, the sin of your flesh and mine to experience condemnation for it for three days and nights. He suffered fully human before the cross, on the cross, and for three days and nights until the resurrection.
Jesus said, “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” Matthew 12:40
In my sin and yours, Jesus experienced the full impact of falling out of divine favor—even though he prayed three times in the garden for grace instead of the suffering… and three times was denied grace since He had to die… drinking from the cup of God’s wrath for man’s sin (according to most scholars)—and therefore by His sacrifice became grace for you and for me.
Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done… So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.” Matthew 26:42-44
How often do you hear about Christ’s human experience for the three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection? It’s rarely examined. It wasn’t some romantic dive into the pit of hell (or even Hades) to wrestle the devil and rescue lost souls. It was however, absolutely heroic what He did for us. Fully man, having emptied Himself of the advantage of being God, the suffering of our Lord was at the very least unimaginable. Here’s the thing: Jesus even sympathizes with the suffering of the human souls condemned to the worst places in hell—condemned only because they chose to remain in relationship with their selfish sin rather than surrender into relationship with their Sympathetic Savior. Please keep this in mind as this discussion continues.
I think one of the things about Christianity is that it is not simply a faith that you understand at a spiritual faith level, but in fact can be also justified through logic… You look at how Jesus fulfilled perfectly, to the letter, every single prophecy that was made of the coming Messiah… there is a logical argument for the truth of Christianity. So for me I’ve always been interested in the depth of that theology. It brings me into greater understanding. What fascinates me so much—not just about the Bible but about Christianity—is how deep it is. If you spent 80 years pondering, you still wouldn’t fully understand its depth and its scope and how it virtually has answers to every challenge and every circumstance in life. —U.S. Senator, Marco Rubio
In laying down His God nature, to by experience know the nature of man, Jesus became human. The nature of human flesh was created intentionally by God to be independent from His will. God already had the universe and everything in it as a means to express and receive glory. But nothing else in the universe was independent and able to choose on its own. God gave us free will—the independent spirit to make up our own mind. God desires that we choose to love Him, to worship Him, and to serve Him. We know by our experience that independence from God means that we are prone to make mistakes by choice since we are not God. Jesus left heaven and the glory that was His as God, and was made in our likeness with the independence from God to choose. As a human man of flesh, even Jesus was prone to make mistakes by choice. Therefore, He had to choose daily, moment by moment, to turn away from what might appear to make sense according to human reasoning, capturing every independent thought and obediently depend on His Father God, according to what made sense in relationship with God (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest (advocate) who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NKJV)
Please allow me to paraphrase so that Paul’s double negative in his original translation is in the singular positive translation: “Seeing then that we have an advocate in Jesus Christ in His heavenly position as God, let us be free to come to Him as we are with our confession. For in Christ we have an advocate who understands us; even sympathizes with our weakness since He was in His human experience vulnerable to weakness and susceptible to the draw of temptation in every way we are. The difference is that He did not sin. Now let us with full confidence come to His throne where grace abounds so that we may obtain mercy and experience His grace in our time of need.”
Central to Christ-centered recovery that works is centering on recovery the way Christ himself modeled recovery for us. Jesus surrendered his life into the care and plan of God. He depended on God absolutely every day of his life as a human being. If that was the recovery model for Jesus, who vacated his authority as God so that he could get to know us intimately (as a person of flesh), who are we to think we can realize authentic recovery into freedom any other way? Now fully God, Jesus Christ invites us into the fullness of our new life experience. We must, however, be willing to lay down the former life that is in one way or another killing us. In other words, we must be willing to die to the life that is death to us in the end. How much more sensible can it be?
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NLT)
Jesus Christ understands the human experience but make no mistake; He is no longer limited and hindered by the flesh. He is all God with full authority. He loves you like crazy. Jesus is your Sympathetic Savior.
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every; tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)
(Please watch this amazing video to “Revelation Song”. It’s absolutely worth the six minutes.)
“Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness, opened my eyes, let me see. Beauty that made this heart adore You; hope of a life spent with You. King of all days, oh so highly exalted glorious in Heaven above. Humbly You came to the earth You created, all for love’s sake became poor. I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.” —Tim Hughes
