[printable PDF of article]
[review previous article][advance to next article]
     Briefly in the last article, we considered if Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical character, who lived 2000 years ago.  Since Jesus walked the earth as a human we ask, “Was He also God?”  If so, “How was Jesus God and man at the same time?”  If Jesus had a natural father and mother, he would have been only mere man.  So how did God become man?  For the answers we turn to the New Testament.
     The apostle John opens his gospel with “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1).  In verse 14, John continues, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”  John identifies this person as Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
     How could God be born as a natural man without a natural parent?  Logically, in this natural realm, that is an impossibility.
     The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied (about 734 BC) that a Savior would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and Zechariah (about 520 BC) prophesied that He would dwell among men on earth (Zechariah. 2:8-11).  Matthew cites the prophecy of Isaiah stating that Jesus was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23) and that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20).  Thus, God (Holy Spirit) and a human (Mary) were involved in the miraculous conception of Jesus so that He would be God and man at the same time.
     Further, Mary was not aware of the conception, thus an angel revealed it to her (Luke 1:26- 35).  Without the revelation in Matthew and Luke we would not have the slightest idea how Jesus became man and God at the same time.  Their’s, however, is not the greatest attestation of Jesus’ deity as there were no eyewitnesses of the miraculous conception.
     Only Mary could testify that she had been a virgin at Jesus’ birth, but who would believe her?  Who would believe her had she said “This child was conceived by God”?  Thirty years after Jesus’ birth, the Jews sneeringly implied that He was the result of fornication (John 8:41).  Since Matthew was written 20-30 years after Jesus’ resurrection, there must have been other evidence at that time which proved Jesus is God, thus confirming the miraculous conception and virgin birth.
     Often the claim is made that Jesus must be God because He performed miracles.  However others, i.e., the 70 disciples (Luke 10:1, 17) and the 12 apostles (e.g. Acts 5:12-16; 19:11-12) and, later, certain Christians also performed miracles (e.g. Acts 8:6-7; 1 Corinthians 12:9-10).  Jesus resurrected people from the dead (Matthew. 9:18-25; Mark 5:22-24; 35-43; Luke 7:11-17; John 11), but so did Peter and Paul (Acts 9:36-42; 20:9-12).
     The uniqueness of Jesus, is the claim that He rose from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, never to die again, but ascended into heaven alive.  The evidence of Jesus’ resurrection will be considered later, which in turn, points to the reasonableness of Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts that Jesus was born into the flesh via a miraculous conception and that Jesus of Nazareth is God.  How do we know Jesus rose from the dead?  First, we must ascertain that Jesus actually died.

[review previous article][advance to next article]