The True Humanity Of Christ

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” - Hebrews 2:14

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There has been a tendency in every age to pare away something from the real humanity of our Lord. Yet Scripture speaks most plainly that He partook of flesh and blood. He was born of a woman and lived in a body subject to weariness, pain, and death. If He had not been truly man, He could not have been our Redeemer. Man had offended, and man must suffer the penalty. The law required the obedience of man, and therefore if Jesus is to obey, He must be man. The sufferings of Christ were real. He felt the sharpness of the nails, the weight of the reproach, the bitterness of desertion, and the gloom of death. Our salvation hangs upon the truth that Jesus was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.

Let us guard with holy jealousy the doctrine of the real humanity of Christ. If Christ is not man, He cannot stand in our stead. If He is not man, He cannot be the last Adam. If He is not man, the grave is not conquered for men. If He is not man, then the priesthood of Christ is a figure and not a fact. But He is man, truly and perfectly man. The marvel is not only that He took our nature, but that He took it forever. The Son of God still wears that nature in heaven. He has entered as our forerunner. He will come again in the same body in which He ascended. The humanity that saved us will be the humanity that receives us.

Come, then, you who are poor, tempted, and afflicted, and be comforted. Christ is not a stranger to your condition. He has walked the road of sorrow before you. He has taken the nature that suffers, weeps, and dies, and by taking it He has redeemed it. The God who saves you is the Man who understands you.

(Taken From Charles Spurgeon's sermon "The Man Christ Jesus")