Christ, Humanity of

The humanity of Christ is the NT's insistence that the eternal Son of God took on real, complete human nature — not merely the appearance of humanity — in the incarnation. The Gospel of John, which opens with the highest Christological affirmation ('In the beginning was the Word... and the Word was God'), insists that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1:14) — using sarx (flesh) to emphasize the full physical reality of the incarnation against docetic tendencies. Jesus was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4), grew in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52), experienced hunger (Matt. 4:2), thirst (John 19:28), weariness (John 4:6), grief (John 11:35), and anguish in Gethsemane (Mark 14:33-36).

The theological importance of Christ's full humanity is stated in Hebrews 2:17-18: 'he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest... Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.' Only a real human high priest could represent humanity before God; only a real human death could satisfy divine justice on behalf of humans. The classic denials of Christ's full humanity — docetism (he only seemed human), Apollinarianism (his human mind was replaced by the Logos), and Eutychianism (his humanity was absorbed into his divinity) — were each condemned by the early councils. The Council of Chalcedon (451) defined that Christ is 'truly human' with a rational soul and body, 'identical in nature with us in all things except sin' (Heb. 4:15).