"Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God" (Heb. 2:17).
As I have said, the doctrine of Christ has been fraught with controversy since the inception of the Christian church. Because of this doctrine’s importance to the Gospel, I will spend the next couple of weeks examining the person and work of Christ in greater detail. We’ll highlight those themes from other parts of Scripture crucial to a deeper understanding of the Gospel and the person and work of Christ.
We begin by looking at one of the most commonly asked questions about Jesus: why was it necessary for our Redeemer to be human? Why couldn’t He have been an angel, or some divine manifestation? We find the answer to this question fully laid out in Heb. 2:14–16: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
God established His covenant with people, not with angels. Because it was people who broke that covenant, people suffered the penalty of death. Our Redeemer had to be human in order qualify as the bearer of the penalty: “For if by the one man’s offense (Adam) many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many” (Rom. 5:15).
As the representative head of humanity, Adam failed. But as the new representative, Christ succeeded. Only a man could fulfill the requirement of righteousness and take on the penalty of death so that we could be freed from the condemnation of the law. The sacrifices of animals could not save. Only one who was like us, who lived under the law, who obeyed the requirements of the law, and who suffered the penalty that we deserved could qualify our Redeemer.
Read the passage for today (Heb. 2). After thinking about everything the writer has to say about this subject, put into your own words a defense of Christ’s humanity. Why was it necessary for the Messiah to be human? Write it out if that would help clarify your thinking (use verses below for more help).
