The Kenosis of Jesus.

Recently I had a call from someone who had a Racer on the Race. They were struggling because their son does not believe that scripture is the inspired Word of God anymore. Daily we see our young people struggle because they are not grounded in the Word. Another incident happened where someone said that Jesus was only a prophet, not the Son of God. 

 

How do we answer them?

 

Phil 2:5-8 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

 

There has been a lot of talk about this subject lately after a well-known Pastor accused another renowned speaker of false teaching. The one group says that Jesus was entirely man, laying down all aspects of being God; the other speaker says that Jesus was altogether God in the flesh.

 

So why is this important? The Muslims deny that Jesus was God. So do the Jews. If we believe that Jesus was only a man, are we agreeing with them? Did Jesus lay down His divinity and become what Bill Johson states: Jesus was a man under the complete influence of the Holy Spirit. Great statement but is it true?

 

Young people get bombarded at college with what is not the truth. A lot lose their faith after four years and struggle with believing the Bible is God’s inspired Word. Next will be them considering that Jesus was only a prophet. How do we answer these questions?

 

Let us consider what the first group says: Jesus was only a man, not God. The argument and scriptures they use are: 

 

1. If Jesus was God in the flesh, why did the enemy tempt him when James 1:13 says that God cannot be tempted. So for Jesus to be tempted, proof that he was a man only. 
2. Another scripture reference is 1 John 3:9. God is Holy, and God cannot sin. For Jesus to be tempted, he had the potential to sin, proving that he was a man without God’s divinity. 
3. It would not be fair for Jesus to defeat the enemy as God. He had to be a man to overcome temptation and so rightfully defeat the enemy. Adam was a man, and Jesus came to take our place as a man to redeem us from sin. 
4. Jesus says that he does not know the time and the hour that the Father planned for his return – Matt 24:36. If Jesus were God, he would have known. As a man, he does not know what God knows.

 

The second group says: Jesus was God, and he took on the form of a man as God. He chooses not to use his divinity but knew that He was God.

 

1. God can never change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever – Heb 13:8. That means that God cannot be anything else but God.
2. The Word that is God became flesh – John 1:14. God added flesh to Himself and manifested as flesh but never denied His divinity.
3. Jesus was the exact image or imprint of God – Heb 1:2-3. That means that Jesus was altogether God and that he functioned both as a man and as God. 
4. Jesus prays that we should be one with Him as He is one with the Father – John 17:21. His oneness with the Father is not in agreement only but also in character and essence. 

 

So what does it mean when we read that Jesus emptied Himself? We have to understand that to deny that Jesus was God in the flesh diminishes him to a mere human being. He was a man in the flesh but not without His divinity. In Mark 1:34, he prohibited the demons from speaking because they knew Him. They know he was God in the flesh. 

 

Jesus claims countless times to be God. Muslims like to argue and say that He never claimed to be God. What does scripture say?

 

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

John 8:57-58 The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth before Abraham was even born, I Am!”

 

John 10:30-33 I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

 

I believe that what Paul is writing is that Jesus emptied himself, not of his divinity but of his choice to be equal with God while in the flesh as a human. He willingly took on humanity and proved that a man with the Holy Spirit’s help could overcome the sin that the enemy brings to him. 

 

He was not a man without God. He was God as a man. The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us – John 1:14