Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God!
by Robert Schmid

Volumes of books have been written on the dual nature of Jesus Christ.

Was He man or was He God?
Was He half man and half God?
Was He fully man and fully God?

If Jesus was only a man, His death could atone for only one human being.
If Jesus was only God, or fully God, He could not have atoned for even one human being for God can not die.
If Jesus was half God and half man, could His death atone for only half the people?

It can easily be seen that none of the above options explain the dual nature of Jesus Christ and resolve the universal problem of sin that demands the death penalty, unless atoned for by someone who is fully qualified and completely acceptable to God.

To understand the dual nature of Jesus Christ, we need to go back to the Garden of Eden and understand the dual nature of man. Adam and Eve were created by God in a neutral, innocent state, neither being exposed to the Holy Spirit of God, represented by the tree of life, nor to the Evil Spirit of Satan, represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave clear instructions to Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest they would die. Nevertheless, at the trickery of Satan, and the disobedience of Adam and Eve, both ate from the forbidden tree and thereby received their spiritual orientation and spiritual life from the forbidden tree. From this point forward Adam and Eve and all of their offspring, down to you and me, were human beings with a dual nature.

Beginning with Cain and Abel, every human being was “begotten” and “born” of physical sinful parents (our physical nature), and “begotten” of our spiritual father, Satan (our spiritual nature). Jesus confirmed this when He told the unconverted Jews that, “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.”

To His own disciples He gave the solution to the problem when He told them, “Marvel not that I said to you, you must be born again.” Yes, in order to break the begettal of Satan and the stranglehold he has on everybody, we must change and reject Satan’s claim on us. We must reject being his begotten children and open the door to being called by God and “begotten again”, this time by the Holy Spirit whereby God now becomes our spiritual Father. In the process we reject sinful Adam as our physical father and accept faithful Abraham as our physical father. After living, suffering and dying as born human beings and begotten children of God, we have the assurance of the resurrection when we will be “born again”, born of God as Spirit God Beings unable to ever sin or die again.

Now, lets go back to Jesus Christ and consider His dual nature.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.” Mary was impregnated by God, through God’s Holy Spirit (tree of life) so that what grew within Mary’s womb was a God being from conception. At the same time, a human being grew within Mary’s womb that was born nine month later and was named Jesus by His Father God. In other words, Jesus was a dual being from the beginning just like you and I were dual beings from the beginning. The difference is that Jesus was begotten from conception by the Holy Spirit/God (tree of life), whereas you and I were begotten from conception by the evil spirit/Satan (tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

Jesus, as a born human being and begotten God being, i.e., the un-born Son of God, never sinned during His earthly life. He suffered and died and was resurrected by God His Father. In other words, He was “born again”, born spiritually, the first born Son of God who thereby became the acceptable Savior of ALL mankind.

When the angel of the Lord told Joseph: “…do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit…” we need to ask ourselves what it is that was conceived in Mary? Well, the answer is given in John 1:14 where it tells us that it was the Word of God that became flesh, became Jesus the Christ.

• From all eternity and for 4000 years (Jesus) was the Word of God.
• For nine month (Jesus) was a begotten human being and a begotten God being.
• For 33 years (Jesus) was a born human being and a begotten God being.
• For 40 days and into all eternity (Jesus) was and is a born God being.

Jesus, as a born human being, begotten of God, i.e., the unborn child of God not only changed water into wine, but He forgave sin and raised the dead to life.

He then said to His disciples and by extension to you and me: “If you (you born human beings, begotten of God) had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” The problem is that we, the un-born children of God, do not have faith as a grain of mustard seed, unable to move the tree and for the most part unable to heal anybody. Let us therefore ask with the apostles: “Lord, increase our faith.”

Click here for a printer friendly version of this article.

Click here to return to the article index.