Doctrinal Statement on Christology

I believe that Jesus Christ is completely divine. Direct statements in the Bible affirm Christ’s deity (Philippians 2:6), as well as his divine attributes (Isaiah 9:6) and divine works (Colossians 1:16).  Jesus also performed divine prerogatives (Matthew 5:21-22), and Jesus only could have done that if He was the Son of God (John 5:18). Paul Enns sums up Christ’s deity superbly when he states: “Christ is absolutely equal with the Father in His person and His work. Christ is undiminished deity” (MHT 236).

I believe that Jesus is completely human. “Jesus is fully human because of the incarnation which “denotes the act whereby the eternal Son of God took to Himself an additional nature, humanity, through the virgin birth” (MHT 233).  Jesus is called a man (1 Timothy 2:5) because He was physically born (Matthew 1:18), He exhibited human development (Luke 2:52), He experienced a human religious life (Luke 6:12), He experienced human emotions (John 15:15), and because He experienced human weakness (John 4:6).

I believe that Jesus is both completely divine and completely human at the same time. Jesus is one person with two natures— a hypostatic union. “When Christ came, a person came, not just a nature; He took on an additional nature, a human nature—He did not simply dwell in a human person” (MHT 238). The incarnation involved a gaining of human attributes, rather than a loss of divine attributes. The two natures did not operate completely independently; all of Jesus’s thoughts, words, and deeds are performed by His person.

I believe in the impeccability of Jesus. Jesus Christ could not have sinned since Scripture explicitly tells us this fact (1 John 3:5). There is also an absence of Scriptural data that could prove otherwise—i.e., Jesus never prayed for forgiveness and His enemies could not accuse Him of sin. We know that Jesus faced temptation in Matthew 4, but I believe that passage proves the impeccability of Jesus because even at His weakest, He could not sin. If Jesus was able to sin, He could not have been fully God (MHT 249).

I believe in the Biblical account of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies during His life. The resurrection of Jesus is specifically significant because it “determines the validity of the Christian faith” (MHT 245). He was specifically betrayed (Matthew 26:47-50), crucified (Matthew 27:33-37), buried in a tomb (Matthew 27:57-61), and then rose again the third day (Matthew 28:1-8). There are also many physical evidence of the resurrection—eye witness accounts (1 Corinthians 15:6), the disciples were changed by their belief in the event (Acts 4:13), and the church appeared and grew dramatically (Matthew 28:11-15).