The Reality of His Humanity

LESSON 3*April 12 - 18
The Reality of His
HumanitySABBATH AFTERNOON

Read for This Week's Study:

Gal. 4:4; 1 Tim. 2:5; 3:16; Heb. 4:15, 16; 1 John 4:1-3.

Memory Text:

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14, NIV). In the New Testament, without any rationalistic explanations whatsoever, Jesus Christ is presented as both human and Divine. After beginning his Gospel with the Word who is God (John 1:1), John makes the extraordinary declaration that this same Word, this same God, "became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (vs. 14, NIV). And perhaps anticipating future concerns about moral contamination, the New Testament maintains the sinless life of Jesus with unequivocal consistency (Heb. 7:26, 1 Pet. 2:22). Moreover, the writers of the New Testament matter-of-factly regard Jesus as a proper object of worship and veneration (Acts 7:59, Rom. 9:5, Heb. 1:6). These earliest Christians were not detained by the philosophical problems inherent in the concept of the God-man, or the difficulties it would pose for later thinkers. "The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us. . . . When we approach this subject, we would do well to heed the words spoken by Christ to Moses at the burning bush, 'Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground' (Ex. 3:5). We should come to this study with the humility of a learner."—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 244.

*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 19.