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Objective

In this lesson, we will discover that Christ’s humanity is essential for our salvation and shows us how Jesus perfectly identifies with our human experience.

Key Verse

Galatians 4:4: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.

Introduction

Sometimes it feels difficult to imagine Jesus Christ as a man. We worship Him as our Creator, Savior, and Lord—the eternal God who spoke the universe into existence. But the Bible also describes Him as a carpenter who had brothers and sisters! The Gospels tell us that Jesus grew up as a boy in Nazareth, learning and growing just like other children.

Mark 6:3: Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?

Luke tells us that Jesus developed as any human child would, advancing in wisdom and understanding. Like other boys His age, He must have had friends and played games. Yet those who knew Him as a child could see there was something remarkably special about this young man.

Luke 2:52: And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Even though Jesus was God in human flesh, He lived as a child who was obedient to His earthly parents. This amazes us when we remember that Mary and Joseph were actually caring for the One who created them!

Luke 2:51: And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.

Understanding Christ’s humanity is just as important as understanding His deity. Without grasping both truths, we cannot fully appreciate what God accomplished for us through the incarnation. In this lesson, we’ll explore three main areas that reveal the reality and importance of Christ’s humanity:

• The baptism and temptation of Jesus show us His human nature
• The Gospels clearly portray Jesus as fully human
• Christ’s humanity matters for three crucial reasons related to our salvation

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus

Two events at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry clearly demonstrate that He was both God and man: His baptism and His temptation. These experiences reveal important truths about why Jesus came to earth and how He perfectly identifies with us.

Why was Jesus baptized? This question has puzzled many believers throughout church history. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but Jesus was completely sinless and had nothing to repent from.

Mark 1:4: John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus was baptized for two important reasons that show His perfect humanity. First, baptism demonstrated His complete obedience to God’s will. Throughout His earthly life, Jesus perfectly submitted to the Father’s plan, even when that plan included suffering and death. His baptism marked the beginning of this obedient journey to the cross.

Second, Jesus was baptized to identify completely with us. He came to take our sin upon Himself and die in our place. The experience of being buried under the water and rising again beautifully pictures what Jesus would accomplish through His death and resurrection. This is why the Father declared from heaven that He was pleased with His Son.

Matthew 3:16-17: And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

John the Baptist witnessed both the humanity and deity of Christ during this remarkable event. At first, John recognized Jesus only as a man—perhaps someone he had known from their childhood years. But the Holy Spirit revealed to John the full truth of who Jesus really was: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John 1:29-34: The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Immediately after His baptism, Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. It’s crucial that we understand how these two events connect. Jesus was beginning His public ministry, and Satan was ready to oppose Him from the very start.

Mark 1:12-13: The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to him.

The temptation of Jesus powerfully demonstrated His genuine humanity. He experienced real temptation just as we do, but with one crucial difference—He never sinned. (Notebook Moment: How does it encourage you to know that Jesus faced real temptation and understands the struggles you experience? What does this teach you about His ability to help you when you’re tempted?)

Hebrews 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

What the Gospels Reveal

When we read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we discover that Jesus was completely human in every way. He was not a divine spirit merely pretending to have a human body. Instead, He experienced the same kinds of things that we do as human beings.

Jesus was born into a real human family with parents, brothers, and sisters. The people of His hometown knew His family members by name and were amazed when this carpenter’s son began to teach with such authority.

Matthew 13:55: Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

Like all humans, Jesus experienced physical needs and limitations. He became hungry when He hadn’t eaten and needed food to sustain His body.

Matthew 4:2: And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Jesus also experienced thirst and asked for water to drink, just as any person would after a long journey.

John 4:6-7: Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

Jesus grew tired from His travels and ministry activities. He needed rest and sleep to restore His physical strength.

Mark 4:38: But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.

The Gospels also reveal that Jesus formed deep, loving friendships with people like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. These weren’t superficial relationships but genuine bonds of affection and care.

John 11:5: Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Jesus experienced the full range of human emotions. He wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus, showing us that grief and sorrow are part of our human experience.

John 11:35: Jesus wept.

Jesus also displayed righteous anger when He saw people misusing God’s house of worship. His emotions were always perfectly controlled and appropriate, but they were genuinely human emotions.

Mark 3:5: And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.

Most importantly, Jesus suffered real physical pain and died a genuine human death on the cross. His suffering was not an illusion or pretense—it was the actual experience of torture and death.

Mark 15:15, 19, 34: So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified… And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him… And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In the early church, false teachers arose who denied the true humanity of Jesus. They claimed that He only appeared to be human but was really just a spirit without a real body. The Bible completely rejects this error. The Gospel writers went to great lengths to show us that Jesus was a man just like us in every way except for sin. (Notebook Moment: Why do you think it was important for the Gospel writers to emphasize so many details about Jesus’ human experiences? What might we lose if we don’t fully accept His humanity?)

Why Christ’s Humanity Matters

There are three essential reasons why it matters that Jesus was truly human. Each of these reasons shows us something crucial about God’s plan of salvation.

First, Jesus had to be human to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. The prophets consistently declared that the coming Savior would be a man born into the human race.

Deuteronomy 18:18: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 53:2: For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

Second, Jesus had to be human in order to take our place on the cross and redeem us from sin’s penalty. Only by being born under God’s law could Christ perfectly fulfill that law and then take the punishment that we deserved for breaking it.

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

Philippians 2:7-8: 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.

Galatians 4:4-5: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Third, Christ’s humanity matters because it means He understands us completely and can intercede for us effectively. Because Jesus experienced everything we experience as humans, He serves as our perfect High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses and helps us in our times of need.

Hebrews 2:17-18: Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 4:15-16: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Romans 8:34: Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Conclusion

David wrote in one of his psalms that God knows how weak we are because He made us from dust and understands our limitations.

Psalm 103:14: For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

When we study the humanity of Christ, we can look back at this verse with a much fuller understanding than David had. Jesus took on our frame of dust. He came to earth to know us from the inside out. He became Immanuel—”God with us”—in the most complete and personal way possible. (Notebook Moment: How does knowing that Jesus experienced human life change the way you approach Him in prayer? What aspects of your humanity do you think He understands best?)

The humanity of Christ assures us that we have a Savior who truly understands what it means to be human. When we face physical pain, emotional suffering, or spiritual struggles, we can come confidently to the One who has experienced all of these challenges and yet remained without sin.

This is the wonder of the incarnation: the eternal Son of God became a man so that men and women could become children of God. Through His perfect humanity, Jesus accomplished what no other human could ever accomplish—He lived a sinless life and died a substitutionary death so that we might live forever with Him. Because He became like us, we can become like Him.

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