THE MAN CHRIST JESUS


A. "FOR THERE IS ONE GOD, AND ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS." - 1 Tim. 2:5
  1. The word "man" comes from two Greek words:
    1. Anthropos - human being - a specimen of the human race.
    2. Aner - a male member of the human family.
  2. In the New Testament Jesus is called by both these words:
    1. John the Baptist uses the word "aner" when speaking of Jesus - John 1:30
    2. The woman of Samaria uses the word "anthropos" when she said, "Come and see a man ("anthropos") who has told me everything I ever did" - John 4:29
    3. Peter used the word "aner" in his sermon on the day of Pentecost - Acts 2:22
B. LET US CONSIDER, PRAYERFULLY, THE IMPLICATION OF THE NAME "THE MAN" WHEN APPLIED TO OUR LORD
  1. It shows us that those who actually associated with Jesus found Him fully and naturally a man:
    1. He did not appear to them to be an indeterminate person from some halfway land, part spirit and part human.
    2. They saw in Jesus Christ clearly and fully a man, even though God was in Christ - 2 Cor. 5:18-21; 1 Tim. 3:16
    3. The Word was made flesh; he was born of a woman; he took the nature, not that of the angels, but of the seed of Abraham - John 1:14; Gal. 4:4-6; Heb. 2:14-16
  2. The Bible offers several reasons for speaking of our Lord as "the man":
    1. He took the place of the first man Adam to gain the victory over sin, where Adam lost - Compare Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:22-29 with Mi. 4:8
    2. To qualify for the office of the priesthood, which necessitated the entering into the experience of the human race - Heb. 2:14-18. Only a person of kindred feeling and experience knows how to help.
C. LET US NOTE WHAT THE MAN JESUS ACCOMPLISHED AS A MAN, IN THE FASHION OF OTHER MEN
  1. He demonstrated that there can be perfect harmony between man and God:
    1. "I and my Father are one" - John 10:30; 17:21-23
    2. "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" - John 5:19, 30
  2. That there can be in man the union of the two natures - - the divine manifesting itself in the human: 1 Tim. 3:16
    1. "Christ in you the hope of glory" - Col. 1:27
    2. Thus we become partakers of the divine nature - 2 Pet. 1:2-8; 2 Cor. 3:18
  3. That our Saviour had no advantage over us; He hungered and thirsted; He was tempted in all things, as we are; He sorrowed; He wept; and He feared, just as we do!
  4. As a man, he emphasized the dignity of manhood:
    1. This was acknowledge by Pilate when he said, "Behold the man" - John 19:5. No greater test can come to manhood than in the very shadow of the cross!
    2. He proved his manhood in the hour of great temptation - Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13
    3. He showed his manhood in his gentleness with others - Ps. 18:35; 2 Sam. 22:36
  5. He showed the full measure of a man:
    1. In exercising complete self-control under the most severe tests in his earthly life.
    2. He demonstrated what man's union with God can and will do in and for man!
    3. The man Jesus draws me closer to Him. He is my elder brother. He is a relative to me. I dearly love Him - the man Christ Jesus!


Design © John Bryant 2011