Last week’s lesson spoke about the mystery of Christ’s deity. But as

we contemplate His humanity, we stand also in the presence of a profound

mystery. As Paul expressed it: “Beyond all question, the mystery

of godliness is great: He [Jesus] appeared in a body, was vindicated

by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the

nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory” (1 Tim.

3:16, NIV).

One scholar makes the point that the claim that the founder of

Christianity was Divine was not a big shock in the Roman world; after

all, their emperors routinely claimed divinity. But the claim that “the

Christian God was concerned about humanity; concerned enough to

suffer in its behalf. This was unheard of.”—Huston Smith, The

Illustrated World’s Religions (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), p. 219.

But however strange to the Greco-Roman world, that, precisely, was

the testimony of the New Testament.

What do the following passages teach about this amazing condescension?

Matt. 1:18-24

Luke 1: 26-35

John 1:1, 14

Gal. 4:4

Phil. 2:5-11

It is fascinating to watch the unstudied precision with which the

New Testament writers approach the issue of Christ’s humanity.

Matter-of-fact and straightforward, they simply tell the story, with no

knowledge (perhaps) of the firestorm that would follow in succeeding

centuries. But it is precisely the absence of any posturing that helps

give credibility to the documents that we have. It is not as if the earliest

disciples faced no controversy in regard to the nature and identity

of Jesus; they did, as we see in the New Testament itself. But their

arguments in regard to Jesus’ person clearly were not designed to

counter the position of rationalistic or scientific opponents, which

gives an unspoiled freshness to their witness. It was as though they

argued their case out of surprise that anyone would dare to doubt the

uncommon mystery that had affected them so dramatically, both corporately

and personally.