THE NATURE OF CHRIST

"..For verily he [Jesus] took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham". 
(Hebrews 2:16)

THE APOSTLES’ EMPHASIS ON JESUS BEING A MAN:

In considering the nature that our Lord Jesus Christ possessed during his days upon earth, we must be careful not to confuse what is said about him before, and after, his resurrection, immortalization and ascension to heaven.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus who is called the Christ (The Anointed Messiah), was a full member of the human and Jewish race, being born of a Jewish woman, Mary, and born under the Law of Moses, (Galatians 4:4). Mary, Jesus’ mother could only impart to her first-born son the identical nature which she herself bore – a frail, mortal nature with its capacity for both righteousness and sin. And this she did, as Christ’s apostles stress in their writings to believers. Let us review some of those writings:

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death"; "forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same"; "for verily he [Jesus] took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren… he himself hath suffered being tempted…"; "but [he] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" – (Hebrews 2:7-18; 4:15). "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, wonders and signs. ." , (Acts 2:22); "through this man [Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins…", (Acts 13:38); "For there is one God , and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5).

WHY JESUS WAS A MAN AND NOT A GOD:

So, unless we make them liars and deceivers by refusing to believe their definite testimonies, the apostles clearly and unequivocally teach that Jesus was, and still is a man, a Jewish descendant of Abraham (albeit now at God’s right hand in heaven. He has become a glorified man, a man to whom God has given His own glory and honour).

There is very good reason why Jesus, the Son of God, sent by God to be the Saviour of mankind, MUST BE A MAN It was through a man, the first man, Adam, that sin and death came into this world. So God determined that through another man, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, that righteousness unto eternal life should also be shown to be feasible in this world. In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (where he expounds in much detail The Gospel of God), he shows in Chapter 5, both the benefits of justification (vv.1-11) and how those benefits can become effective for all mankind (v.v 12-21)

Note well his inspired reasoning that, as one man, (Adam), brought sin and death, so by another man, (Jesus Christ), God wrought righteousness and life. The Lord Jesus just had to be a man of the human race so that, GOD, THROUGH HIM, might make forgiveness, righteousness and life effective for all. That is why the Lord Jesus is set forth as our Model, our Exemplar, our Saviour, our Redeemer–(1 Peter 2:21-25).

NOT A SUBSTITUTE BUT AN EXAMPLE:

If the Lord Jesus was a 'God-become-man', a 'God-man', (as many Churches falsely claim), he could only be the saviour of other such 'God-men'. God has not substituted Jesus' righteousness instead of ours, nor his death instead of ours, because we still need to be righteous to be saved, and we still die and need redemption from it.

What God has done in Jesus was done that we might, by true trust in God, as Jesus trusted in God, follow the peerless example set, called "following in his steps". Thus Paul writes, in Roman 8:3-4, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin, in the flesh: THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT".

ANTICHRIST MAKES HIM A 'GOD-MAN':

Near the end of the first century, many false teachers went around the Christian congregations teaching that Jesus did not come in the same common flesh as the rest of mankind. They taught that Jesus was ‘an emanation from God’, who partook of God’s nature in order to do for God and man what God cannot do in normal men, i.e., live a truly righteous life. They said that, ‘as long as we believe that God did it in Jesus, then God will impute Jesus' righteousness to us’. So they taught SUBSTITUTION, quite contrary to the correct Bible teaching of IDENTIFICATION AND REPRESENTATION. Unfortunately, gradually and increasingly, the brethren listened to them – and the Disciples and Brethren of Christ became "The Church", called "Christianity", but which has changed and replaced first century Christianity. The apostles branded such teaching as "antichrist", and "idols", 2 John v.7; 1 John 2-22). All false teaching ‘opposes Christ’ and is in fact, idolatry.

JESUS DIED FOR US THAT WE MIGHT LIVE FOR HIM:

The Truth about Jesus’ nature is that He came as a man, that in the same love that God has for all mankind, he might die for and redeem them. Those for whom he died must live the rest of their lives in devotion to Him – (Romans 12:1,2; Philippians 1:21).