(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
Why did Jesus have to become human?
Intro:
Imagine you’re in a conversation with someone and they learn you’re a Christian…and they ask why. Why are you a Christian?
That’s an important answer to have, and there are good reasons why you should give reasons besides just saying “It’s my experience” or “It works.”
Relatedly, and conveniently given that we’re in the season of anticipating Christmas, today’s focus question gets answered in Hebrews 2…Why did Jesus have to become human?
It’s one of the most important answers you may ever give someone because it relates to the unique truth claim of Christianity that Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life and the only way to get to heaven. This is, as the writer of Hebrews points out, “solid food..for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.” Heb 5:14 CSB
Passage: Hebrews 2
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 18
Words: ~410
OLD TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
As you’ll hear today in Nehemiah, Ezra reenters the picture. Listen for what happens when Ezra reads the Law to them…they start in one place emotionally, but hear what they are told and how they respond.
Passage: Nehemiah 8-9
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 56
Words: ~1358
Think about it — the day is holy, meaning set apart, for worshipping the Lord. They’re struck with their sin, which is what happens when we encounter God, and it’s a moment of unspeakable joy. I hope that happens for you here on this podcast.
Remember one critical difference between them and us, however. God’s original covenant was with a nation, a chosen people through whom He was to reach all nations (and when you get to heaven you can ask Him why He did it that way). Under the new covenant (which is a big deal in the book of Hebrews), that covenant is with individuals who then collectively make up the church. Both covenants call for repentance — turning from our junk to honor our side of the covenant — but while Israel was on the hook as a nation, we are on the hook individually.
The bottom line:
Why did Jesus have to become human?
Let’s begin with a common problem: the whole Bible is a unified story that points to Jesus, but many a heresy has been birthed by not looking at the whole picture. For instance, a common error is to miss that Jesus is both fully God and fully human — he has two complete natures — and both are necessarily true both theologically and philosophically. But, for example, Jehovah’s Witnesses deny His divinity, and Christian Scientists deny his full humanity. So what’s the problem? If he’s not fully God and fully human, He can’t solve our sin problem.
Now our question was “Why did Jesus have to become human?” This presumes He’s fully God, and Scripture affirms this:
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time. 1 Ti 2:5–6, CSB
And, while less direct, that was exactly where the writer of Hebrews started His argument:
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature… Heb 1:3a, CSB
So then as we read today, the writer of Hebrews also points out that Jesus is fully human and tells us why:
For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring. Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement, for the sins of the people. Heb 2:16–17, CSB
So what’s the big deal?
At risk of oversimplification, the penalty for a legal offense (like breaking our covenant) is relative to the one offended — it’s worse to kill a dog than a cockroach, for instance. But what if the offended party is infinitely and perfectly good? Philosophically the offense is infinite. The Bible says the wages of sin is death — spiritual death and eternal, complete separation from God. So only the God part of a God-Man could pay that price.
But the God-Man also had to be fully human to, again, be like us in every way so that He could die in our place, or make atonement. He takes the penalty that we could not, pays the price of restitution that we could never pay. How? As the one who goes to God, so to speak, and offers the perfect sacrifice…
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Heb 4:15, CSB
He’s both judge as God, and the judged as human. Perfect justice is’t satisfied by forgiveness that’s arbitrary…it’s satisfied by someone who is sinless posting bail, paying our penalty.
There’s a whole lot more to this, of course, including some poorly-thought-out-but-common objections that we don’t have time to get to today.
But that’s why Jesus had to become human. Emmanuel. God with us. And that should be some serious celebration on Christmas!
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
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