Christ as God and Man

Q: How can Jesus be both God and the son of God? Isn’t that illogical?

It is illogical from a human perspective, yet that is how the Scriptures identify Him. He is of one substance or essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, yet is a distinct Person. How this can be is impossible for reason to resolve. Yet if not so, it renders Christ’s own words and those of the prophets and the apostles false and empty.

As God, the Son has only one Parent (God the Father); He is eternally begotten, yet never born (according to His deity). As man, His parents are the Father and the Virgin Mary. God deemed both to be necessary in order to accomplish our salvation. Although I don’t understand how all this may be, I accept this word on faith because Christ has accepted me by grace.

Since various questions touching on Christ’s humanity and deity regularly come to me, I’ll point you to some other posts dealing with various aspects of your question. Here they are, in chronological order:

  §  Jesus Christ: True God
  §  The Son of Man
  §  The Humanity and Deity of Christ
  §  Questions about God and Jesus

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Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of the book What Do Lutherans Believe.

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