Question:  Hi Greg,

            You answered a question to Sheldon on your site about Jesus/God.  You said that Jesus was in fact God and that God cannot ever stop being what He is—God.  A quote from you:

            “However, he was not just a human—he was God.  He was the Eternal Son of God—and when he came to us, born of the virgin Mary, he added flesh to his divinity.  He never stopped being what he was—God—for God cannot stop being who he is…”

            Therefore, I must ask, how can Jesus have been God (which you say God can NEVER stop being) if God cannot be tempted/tried (James 1:13), yet he (Jesus) was, personally, by Satan (Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:13 and Luke 4:2)?

            I know, I know, God works in mysterious ways, right?  Funny, we have a God who would be so kind and generous as to leave us his written code, the completed Bible, but then work so mysteriously about himself as to leave us always wondering as to whether He is really one, or two, or three beings (separate or one)…

            AJ

Answer:  Dear AJ,

            The answer to your question lied in what the Bible reveals of the incarnation of God—the fact that God came to save us in the person of Jesus and that he did so by adding humanity to his divinity (see Matthew 1:23—“God with us”).  Since you appear to be interested in finding out more about what the Bible says about the two natures of Jesus, you may want to read and study about the hypostatic union—the union of Jesus’ divine and human natures into one person.

            There are times when Jesus’ action/reaction was from the man Jesus, the son of man—as in the passage about him being tempted to which you have reference.  Many other passages are available about the humanity of Jesus—the fact that he ate, that he got tired, that he was tortured and killed on a cross.  All of this was according to the prophecies—the Old Testament, that he might fulfill al that was prophesied, and in order that he might fulfill all of the terms of the old covenant perfectly.

            On the other hand there are many references to the divinity of Jesus—such as when he walked on water, created food for the multitudes, resurrected Lazarus, and even his own body (the divine Jesus resurrecting the human Jesus—see John 2:18-22).

            Your comparison of Jesus (the second Adam) with Adam seems to assume that Jesus was only human, or if he were also divine that the two natures were mixed—but they were not.

            The problem of Jesus being equal with the Father was one that the religious leaders of the Jews had when Jesus was alive.  Many passages in the Gospel of John record this and speak to this issue—see John 5:18; 8:42, 57-58; 10:16, 29-30.

            God has not left us wondering whether he is one, two or three—the clear biblical teaching is that he is one God who eternally exists as three co-equal yet separate persons.  The Godhead is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—see Matthew 28:19—“in the name (not names) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”—one name, one Godhead, one God.  Three separate, distinct, yet co-equal persons in the Godhead.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht