Was Jesus Fully Human and Why Does It Matter?

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:23)

When Christ came to earth, he came as a human born of a woman. He was fully human and still fully God, but why is this so important?

For as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21–22)

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. . . . For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:17,19)

Because sin came through one man—our father Adam—we all inherit a sinful nature. Since sin was brought into this world by a man, it had to be removed by a man. If Christ had come as just a spiritual being, then he could not have been sacrificed and had his blood spilled. Christ was a blood sacrifice for us since “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22, NASB). If Christ had just been a spiritual being—and not 100 percent man—he would not have had blood to spill, and thus we could not have been truly cleansed from our sins.

Just as Adam and Eve needed a living sacrifice (requiring the shedding of blood) to cover their sin, so we have a covering that takes away our sin in a way no animal sacrifice ever could (Hebrews 10:4).

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)

Jesus became a member of the human race and is the only Mediator between God and man. Because he was fully human, we could see our own sufferings in Him, for he endured the same types of trials as we face, and he persevered under great physical pain. We can identify with him since he was fully human (Hebrews 2:14). He suffered pain and endured emotions so he could relate to and sympathize with us (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus became a man to die for our sins because our substitute needed to be fully human to take humanity’s place. As a descendant of Adam, he was our blood relation, so he can be our “kinsman-redeemer” (Isaiah 59:20, same word in Ruth 2:20).

Christ had to be fully human in order to die, pay for our sins, and redeem us.

Thank God because he sent a “kinsman-redeemer” so we could be saved from his wrath.