- We’re going to talk tonight about the limitations of Jesus during His earthly life.
A Foundational Truth:
Jesus was not half God and half human; Jesus was fully God and fully man.
Other Interpretations Through The Years:
1. Ancient.
a. Ebionism - Denial of the divine nature of Christ.
- The Ebionites were a Jewish sect that existed during apostolic times.
b. Gnosticism - Denial of the reality of His human body.
- The Gnostics claimed a superior capacity for knowledge and were heavily influenced by pagan
philosophy. They denied the humanity of Christ, even to the point of denying the reality of His body.
2. Modern.
a. Jehovah’s Witnesses - Jesus Christ is not God, but rather a created being.
- In their writing Let God Be True, they write, “The truth of the matter is that the word is Christ Jesus, who did have a beginning” (p. 88).
b. Mormons - Jesus is not the unique Son of God.
- One of their writings notes, “The Divinity of Jesus and the Divinity of all other noble and stately souls, in so far as they, too, have been influenced by a spark of Deity - can be recognized as manifestations of the Divine.”
c. Christian Science - Jesus is not God.
Biblical Teaching:
- John 1:1-4, 14 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. . .. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. . ..”
- 1 Timothy 3:16 - “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.”
- 1 John 4:2-3 - “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.”
- Hebrews 2:14 - “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same. . ..”
A Key Implication:
In becoming fully human, Jesus voluntarily limited Himself.
- Philippians 2:5-11.
Some Examples Of The Limitations Jesus Took Upon Himself:
1. He grew in knowledge.
- Luke 2:52 - “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
2. It was not obvious to Jesus’ own brothers that He was God.
- John 7:1-5; Matthew 13:53-57.
- The presence of an unlimited God is undeniable.
3. He experienced hunger, thirst, and fatigue.
- Matthew 4:2; John 19:28; John 4:6.
- An unlimited God has no physical limitations, yet Jesus did because He limited Himself in becoming human.
4. He could be killed.
- John 19:30.
- An unlimited God cannot be killed, yet Jesus was dead.
5. There were things He could not do.
- In Mark 6:1-6, Jesus goes back home to Nazareth and is rejected by His hometown folks. Verse 5 says, “Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Note that the Bible does not say “did not,” but rather “could not.” Apparently the faith of people had some effect on His power. This again is part of the limitations Jesus apparently took on Himself in becoming human.
6. There were things He did not know.
- What Jesus did know was amazing and far beyond our mental abilities (Luke 6:8; 9:47; John 1:47-48; 2:25; 4:18; 11:14 are a few examples).
- Yet His knowledge was not without its limits.
- In Mark 5:21:43, Jesus heals a woman with an issue of blood. When she touches Him to receive healing, Jesus turns and looks and the crowd jostling Him and asks, “Who touched my clothes?” (v. 30). Now, it could be He was just saying that to draw the woman out, but taken in a straightforward manner, it seems to indicate a limitation in knowledge.
- In Mark 9:21, Jesus asks the father of the boy He is about to heal, “How long has this been happening to him?” Again, it could be to prompt the father, but taken in a straightforward manner, it seems to indicate a limitation in knowledge.
- There is one occasion in Scripture where straightforwardly admits limitation in knowledge. In
Mark 13:32, speaking of the end times, Jesus say, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” This is a straightforward admission that there were things Jesus didn’t know.
7. He seems to have depended on the Father for some guidance and power.
- John 12:49 - “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.”
- John 14:10 - “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”
- Acts 2:22 - “. . . Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst. . ..”
Conclusion:
- In all of these we see evidence of what Paul spoke of in Philippians 2. Jesus was God, but in coming to earth He voluntarily limited Himself in becoming human.
- Although we might know better from a theological standpoint, at a practical level we often treat
Jesus as a Superman who wasn’t really human in any significant way.
- There’s that horrible line from “Away in the Manger”: “The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,/But little Lord Jesus no crying He makes. . ..” You know, He was a baby (wink-wink), but not really a baby. But Jesus really was human and with that came the limitations inherent in being human.
- Philip Yancey notes in "The Jesus I Never Knew" concerning the Temptation of Christ, “I see that
Satan proposed an enticing improvement. He tempted Jesus toward the good parts of being human without the bad: to savor the taste of bread without being subject to the fixed rules of hunger and of agriculture, to confront risk with no real danger, to enjoy fame and power without the prospect of painful rejection - in short, to wear a crown but not a cross.”
- Jesus was fully human; Jesus was fully God. Anything less is unacceptable.
