Scripture tells us that “no one knows the Son but
the Father” (Matt. 11: 27), and unless we think we know better than
God, it is therefore reverential and wise to confine our terminology
to words “taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2: 13) when speaking about
the Lord.
The Lord Jesus was a real man, for He is spoken
of as a man (see 1 Tim. 2: 5) and refers to Himself as a man (see
John 8: 40). The word used in both Scriptures is
anqrwpoV,
meaning man as a particular
sort of being, rather than
aner,
man in distinction to woman.
The equivalent Greek word for
humanity is
anqrwpinoV
and refers to that which is
common to man. It is
never used in
relation to Christ, for while the Lord Jesus was a real man, He was
no ordinary man.
Scripture speaks of a human way of speaking: “I
speak
humanly (anqrwpinoV)
on account of the weakness of your flesh” (Rom.
6: 19, my emphasis). What this means is that the apostle used common
phraseology, such that a ‘man in the street’ could understand his
reasoning. Now, as is well–known, the Lord Jesus made much use of
every–day language in His parables, but Scripture is also very
careful to present His words as absolutely unique, and out of the
ordinary: “Never man spoke thus, as this man [speaks]” and “as the
Father has taught me I speak these things” (John 7: 46; 8: 28; see
John 3: 34; 6: 63; 12: 49, 50; 14: 10). To actually
say He spoke humanly (and
Scripture never does) would detract from the divine origin of His
words.
The Bible also speaks of human wisdom: “that
your faith might not stand in
men’s
(anqrwpinoV)
wisdom, but in God’s power” (1 Cor. 2: 5, my
emphasis; see also v13). When we come to Christ, it was asked
“Whence has this [man] this wisdom”? (Matt. 13: 54), and the answer
is that His Father opened His ear morning by morning “to hear as the
instructed” (Is. 50: 4). To call this
human wisdom would be
grotesque, for it came “from above” (James 3: 15, 17). It was “God’s
wisdom” (1 Cor. 1: 24, my emphasis).
The apostle Paul refers to a human day: “for me
it is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you or of
man’s (anqrwpinoV)
day” (1 Cor. 4: 3, my emphasis). The context of
the apostle’s words is another day altogether, which he refers to as
“the day” (1 Cor. 3: 13) in which the Lord will “bring to light the
hidden things of darkness, and shall make manifest the counsels of
hearts” (1 Cor. 4: 5).
That day, is “the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1: 8). Man’s day is the here and
now, a day of flawed assessment—hence “do not judge anything before
[the] time, until the Lord shall come” (1 Cor. 4: 5).
The Bible mentions human nature: “No temptation
has taken you but such as is according to
man’s (anqrwpinoV)
nature; and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above what ye are able [to bear]” (1 Cor. 10: 13, my emphasis). In
this context, human nature means
what is common to man and
indicates that the temptations we face are not of a superhuman sort.
Some of the temptations are listed in the chapter including “lusters
after evil things” (v6), and murmuring (see v10). Such things
naturally flow from our fallen nature, but could not be said to be
common to the Lord Jesus.
There was nothing in Him that could respond to such temptations (see
John 14: 30).
The epistle of James refers to the human
species: “For every species both of beasts and of birds, both of
creeping things and of sea animals, is tamed and has been tamed by
the
human (anqrwpinoV)
species (Jas. 3: 7, my emphasis). Here the
expression human species
refers to mankind—what
sort (fusiV)
of creature man is (compared to other
creatures). Now while Christ is clearly man, to insist that He
belongs to the human species takes us beyond the boundaries of
Scripture. What the Bible says is that He took “his place in [the]
likeness of men” and
was “found in
figure as a man”
(Phil. 2: 7, 8, my emphasis).
Finally, we read of human institutions: “Be in
subjection [therefore] to every
human (anqrwpinoV)
institution for the Lord’s sake” (1 Pet. 2: 13,
my emphasis). The reference is clearly to the arrangements of man’s
world that enable it to function in an orderly way. Now Christ has
nothing to do with these institutions except, through divine mercy,
facilitating them in order that “we may lead a quiet and tranquil
life in all piety and gravity” (1 Tim. 2: 2)? The great end in view
is a
divine institution,
when “the God of the heavens” shall “set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed” (Dan. 2: 44).
What is clear from all this is that Scripture
is
extremely careful in
the language it uses in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. “The
Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1: 14), but there ever
remained a difference between that man and mankind. Our terminology
should reflect that difference.
