"And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.'" --Acts 1:9-11 (ESV)
Here's a good question to ponder...
If Jesus is God, the 2nd Person in the Trinity, and He existed as God before coming as a man, did He cease being a man when He left this earth? Did He go back to His prior state of Godhood that He enjoyed prior to the incarnation, as suggested by Trinitarian doctrine?
Several years ago I was teaching a lesson on how Jesus' perfectly modeled for us walking in the power of the Spirit. The premise of the teaching was that Jesus did what He did and said what He said, not because He was God, but because He was full of the Holy Spirit! In other words, everything He did on this earth, He did as a man, anointed, filled, and led by the Spirit of God. The lesson I was attempting to draw was that since Jesus gave us the example of his own life, as a man, we should be encouraged to do as He did. We also are anointed, filled and can be led by the Spirit of God. And he said "...whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12 (ESV))
One of the Scriptures I used to support my teaching was Philippians 2:7 where it says that He (Jesus) "emptied Himself" and became a servant. This phrase, "emptied himself", has been interpreted various ways. But for me, at the time, I understood it as meaning that Jesus set aside - or laid down - His Diety. This is known as the "kenotic theory" (kenosi being the Greek word meaning emptied). Given this "emptying" or temporary giving up his Divine nature, He could then be filled with the Spirit and be our perfect example of a Spirit-filled man! The idea that, being God, yet willingly coming to earth to live a totally human life - not as God in any way - was very appealing to me because His example for us was real and believable.
At the time, of course, I didn't realize that the kenotic theory, or kenosis, was actually rejected by modern, up-to-date, scholarship. The reason it is rejected, even by Trinitarian scholars, is because emptying himself of Deity would mean that Jesus was temporarily NOT God. According the doctrine of the Trinity, Jesus never ceased being God at any time and was always conscious of his Deity. He merely "took on" human flesh, so He was always conscious both of His humanity and His Deity.
The reason I bring all this up is because I realize now that even some years prior to my current understanding of Jesus complete humanity (not God), I had found, in the kenosis, a way to reconcile his Deity with his humanity. I knew that Jesus had to be a man in order for his temptations to be real, and he had to be human for his example to be meaningful for us, but I thought he also had to be God! The kenotic theory solved the problem.
Jesus, being led and empowered by the Spirit, made great sense to me; but I also saw, even then, that while laying down His Deity while here on earth (although a mistaken idea), He DID NOT lay down His humanity when He ascended into heaven! I remember my elation at this discovery from Acts 1:9-10 which says
"as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight."
Then it goes on to say that he will come again
"in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
You see, this means that Jesus did not drop his body off and spiritually ascend into heaven thus returning to His previous state of glory with the Father. Clearly, when Jesus rose from the dead, his body changed because he was apparently able to appear and disappear at will, yet his body was solid and he could eat and be touched (Luke 24:39-42) . It was this body that the disciples physically "saw" being taken up into heaven, and according to the text, he will come again in the same way; i.e. physically, in the body he had then!
Now I understand that the kenosis of Phil 2:7 has to do with his willingness to humble himself and be obedient even to the point of death on a cross. The fact of his humanity - being anointed by God and empowered by the Spirit - does not have to be confused by any idea of a dual nature. This only causes problems when trying to make sense of his life, his words, and his work!
Consider this...
- As a man, he was born and thus had a beginning. (Luke 1:35)
- As a man, he developed an intimate relationship with his Father God, from an early age. (Luke 2:40,45)
- As a man, he continued growing and finding favor with God and man.(Luke 2:52)
- As a man, he had complete dependence on God. (John 8:28; 12:49-50)
- As a man, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. (Heb 5:8)
- As a man, he succeeded where Adam failed. (Rom 5:14ff)
- As man, he lived a complely sinless life. (Heb 4:15)
- As a man, he was the perfect image of God, that we were meant to be. (Gen 1:27; Heb 1:3)
- As a man, he was the first to be raised from the dead and the only one to ever ascend into heaven. (1 Cor 15:20-23; Acts 1:11; 3:21; 2:34)
- As a man, he has been made both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)
- As a man, God highly exalted him and gave him a name above every name. (Phil 2:9)
- As a man, he now sits at the right hand of God as our mediator and intercessor! (Rom 8:34; 1 Tim 2:5)
- As a man, he will come again to be king over all the earth. (Acts 1:11; Luke 1:33; Rev 11:15; 20:4)
- And as a man, he will finally hand over the kingdom to The Father, so that "God may be all in all." (1 Cor 15:28)
Jesus is truly the perfect man, our champion, and our perfect example!
It's almost surreal that I could be writing about Jesus being human and not God when only a little over a year ago I would have fiercely defended the Deity of Christ. I had always been taught that all of the cults had this one thing in common - every cult denied the Deity of Christ. This is a huge problem for evangelical Christians because it is taught that Jesus must be God in order to have paid for our sin!
Now, you may call me a cultist if you like, but the way I see it, I have come to the simple understanding of the plain teaching of Scripture, and have adopted a much more exalted view of Jesus than I ever had before! People seem to think that denying the Deity of Christ is taking something away from him, but this is not true. I take nothing away; rather, I ascribe to him all the glory given to him by God! (1 Pet 1:20) Taking this view of Jesus preserves the veracity of Scripture and the uniqueness of Christ, giving him greater status as the perfect man and our perfect example! And to me, it makes much more sense of the Biblical message.
God Bless,
Keith
