“Who do you say I am?” is one of the most important questions in the Bible. And while it’s important to confess that Jesus is truly God, it is also true that he was truly man.
What Scripture Says
The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 21, asks: “Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?” The answer is deeply biblical: “The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who became man, and so was, and continues to be, God and man in two distinct natures and one person, forever.”
Jesus isn’t half God and half man. He is truly God and truly man—two natures united in one person, forever.
The Word Became Flesh
To see this truth in Scripture, we don’t need to look far. John 1:1–3 reveals Jesus as divine, but verse 14 brings the stunning climax: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The word “dwelt” here literally means “tabernacled”—Jesus came and lived with us just as God once dwelt among Israel in the tabernacle.
Other passages echo this reality. Romans 1:3 says Jesus was “descended from David according to the flesh.” Philippians 2 tells us he “took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” The birth narratives in Matthew and the genealogy in Luke ground Jesus fully in human history—he is both the Son of God and the Son of Adam.
The apostle John defended Jesus’ humanity explicitly: “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands…” (1 John 1:1). Why so direct? Because early heresies like Docetism claimed Jesus only appeared human. John insisted—no, we saw him. We touched him. He was truly one of us.
What If You Don’t Believe in Miracles?
Still, some people are skeptical. A famous Cambridge professor once said, “I don’t believe in stories like the virgin birth for the same reason I don’t believe in Father Christmas. I just stopped believing in miracles.”
But as others have noted, everyone believes in miracles. If you reject the virgin birth, what do you believe instead? That the universe came from nothing, by no one, for no reason? That’s a miracle too. As author Glen Scrivener put it, “Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Secular people believe in the virgin birth of the universe. Choose your miracle.”
Why Did God Become Man?
Hebrews 2:14–18 gives a clear answer: Jesus had to become like us “in every respect” in order to save us. Since we are flesh and blood, he became flesh and blood. He died to destroy the power of death and the devil. He became a merciful and faithful high priest who made propitiation—satisfaction of God’s wrath—for our sins.
Only a human could die in place of humanity. And only God could bear that weight.
But that’s not all. Jesus didn’t just come to die for us—he came to live for us. God demands perfect righteousness (Matt. 5:48). We’ve all failed, but Jesus obeyed perfectly. In his humanity, Jesus lived the sinless life we couldn’t live—and by faith, he gives us his perfect record.
He came to die for our sin, and he came to live for our righteousness.
This truth—God became man—is at the heart of the gospel. And it tells us something beautiful: God cares about humanity.
He cares so much that he took on everything it means to be human, including suffering. As Tim Keller once noted, the one thing you cannot say when you look at the incarnation is that God doesn’t care.
The incarnation is the greatest miracle of all. The eternal God, who made time and space, chose to become temporal and finite. The one who crafted the stars laid aside his glory to walk among us. He became vulnerable. He became killable.
And in doing so, he destroyed death itself.
Why Does This Matter So Much?
This changes how we think about salvation. Many imagine a ladder between us and God. If we do good deeds and avoid enough sin, we climb a little higher. Maybe we’ll make it.
But the incarnation says the opposite. God came down. He descended the ladder. He took us—sinful, broken, and helpless—and brought us up to himself.
Religion says, “Do enough, and you’ll be accepted.” The gospel says, “Jesus has done enough, and through faith, you are accepted.” Jesus’ perfect humanity is our hope.
