Wholly Man and Wholly God « rummaging for answers

I still find it amazing that while he was fully man, Jesus never once sinned. It is such a human thing to sin, and yet he never did. His lack of sin is not something that is there to taunt us and say, "I'm better than you, you heathens," but is merely because God, whom Jesus fully was, is incapable of sinning. This is not because God is not all powerful- He is, but it is because of His nature (characteristics, attributes, qualities). The most relevant attributes of God based on what I've been talking about are holiness and perfection.

As Jesus was both wholly man and wholly God while living on earth to carry out the life, death and resurrection that was foretold in the Old Testament, it can be said that he had two natures. These have been referred to by Mr. Stott as "according to the flesh" and "according to the Spirit".

It seems then that the two expressions 'according to the flesh' and 'according to the Spirit' refer not to the two natures of Jesus Christ (human and divine), but to the two stages of his ministry, pre-resurrection and post-resurrection, the first frail and the second powerful through the outpoured Spirit. So here is a balanced statement of both the humiliation and the exaltation, the weakness and the power of God's Son, his human descent traced to David, his divine sonship-in-power established by the resurrection and gift of the Spirit. Moreover, this unique person, seed of David and Son of God, weak and powerful, incarnate and exalted, is Jesus (a human, historical figure), Christ (the Messiah of Old Testament Scripture), our Lord, who owns and rules our lives. (pg. 51)

I had to read that paragraph numerous times after I first came to it in my book. It so well describes exactly what I believe to be true about Jesus. He is Jesus Christ our Lord in this very way and I wholeheartedly believe that the purpose for which he came- to show the love of God by dying for all of each and every person's sins, bearing that load which separated him from God the Father, causing unspeakable agony and despair, and then proclaiming his power over sin and death by raising from the dead three days later.

John 15:13 says, "Greater love has none than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." Greater still is God's love for us, in that he gave up His Son to bear our sins while we were enemies of Him. This gift of righteousness leaves me speechless. I am completely incapable of being thankful enough for God's gift of love to me. To you. To us.

"Hallelujah for the blood of the Lamb that was slain!"

Randomness: Today campus was emptied of the remaining students who were there. Though I know I'll see the friends whom I helped to move out today again on Sunday, I still feel so sad that this year (of school) has already drawn to a close. Everything is so different. I'm different. And though I know it's a good thing, and that I've grown and learned a lot, I still find myself wishing that time would stop moving so fast and that things wouldn't change so drastically and that I didn't have to worry about the changes yet to come. I cannot believe that I'm now a junior in college. I have a deep love for my four closest friends this year (Megan, Peter, Beth and Kevin) and it grieves me to look ahead and see the possibility of losing any of them. I pray that I never do. They're amazing and they've been with me through some tough situations, but we've also shared a great many laughs in the wee hours of the morning. I love them all so much.