Christ's fully human nature

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What does it mean that Jesus had a “fully human nature” that was separate from His fully divine nature, if humans we’re made in the image and likeness of God in the first place? Especially if Jesus" human nature was not subject to the corruption of original sin, it seems like one of those Oreos with the cookies and cream flavored filling, if that makes sense.

What about Christ was distinctly human, other than the fact he had a physical body?
 
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He ate, drank, excreted, felt bodily sensations, felt human emotions including love, grief, anger, and despair, came into the world as a helpless baby and had to be raised, cared for, taught, and protected by his parents, was tempted to sin, and underwent physical/mental/ emotional torture and bodily death.

The fact that we are made in the image and likeness of God doesn’t mean that God and us have the same experiences and feelings. A photo of me on the wall is the image and likeness of me but it certainly doesn’t feel what I feel, do what I do and live my life.
 
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nfinke said:
What about Christ was distinctly human, other than the fact he had a physical body?
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In addition to what was said, he also had a human soul, a human intellect, and a human will.

And he felt physical and emotional appetites as we do.
 
Jesus was fully God because he was one with the Father. Jesus was fully human because he was 100% huggable. 💛
 
nfinke said:
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What about Christ was distinctly human, other than the fact he had a physical body?
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The Person of the Son has a divine nature and Jesus Christ is the person of the Son that assumed a human nature, of course retaining divine nature of the Person. The human nature has an immortal soul and temporal body.

Catechism
365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body: 234 i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

234 Cf. Council of Vienne (1312): DS 902.
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Well I wouldnt say a photograph of a person is the “image of God”. God doesn’t necessarily have a body, were made in His image in a spiritual sense.

And while I’d say God definitely feels things like love and anger, I guess yeah something like despair would be something alien to His nature.
 
What is theologically important is that Jesus Christ is both God and man. What he is isn’t some new type of single nature that is a mix of the two. He is both God and man without being a new hyrbid species.
 
I agree on that. I was just thinking what part of Him was distinctly human, seeing as his one nature was made in the image of his other nature. He seems to be so perfect that it’s hard to see the human part as actually “human”. Our understanding of what a"human nature" is is no necessarily flawed.
 
nfinke said:
He seems to be so perfect that it’s hard to see the human part as actually “human”.
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Jesus’ human nature is quite evident in Scripture.

The Gospels clearly state Jesus was tempted 3 times. I’m sure this was not something he just casually blew off. Him being out in the desert fasting for weeks suggests a personal struggle or vision quest.

The Gospel describes the Agony in the Garden as being so awful that Jesus bled through his pores from stress and God sent him an angel comforter. Doesn’t sound like that was easy either.

The Gospels describe the Holy Family as having to flee into Egypt with Baby Jesus to get away from Herod. Baby Jesus’ divine nature could have struck Herod and all his men dead on the spot, but instead Jesus remained in his human nature as a helpless baby who relied on his human parents to save him.
 
I’m saying God doesn’t necessarily have a body. Unlike omnipotence or having no creator, which is necessary for a being of God’s nature, He didn’t need to have a body, He chose to have one as part of His plan to redeem us.
 
I know. I said God doesn’t necessarily had a body, and you seemed to have issue with that statement. Sorry if I misunderstood you.
 
nfinke said:
God doesn’t necessarily had a body, and you seemed to have issue with that statement.
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The statement “God doesn’t necessarily have a body” is different from “God didn’t need to have a body.”

The first statement seems to contradict Church teaching that Jesus was God.

Having said that, I’ll step away now as the Discourse auto-bot is telling me I’ve replied too many times in the thread.
 
Alright thats just a misunderstanding. I meant God doesnt necessarily have a body in the same way I might say matter necessarily has mass, or a husband is necessarily married.
 
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I would not say Christ was “fully human”.
Sure, his body was, but his soul was the soul of God, and his destiny was written clearly.
 
Michael_the_Crusader said:
Do the Bible explicitly tell us his soul was human?
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It doesn’t explicitly tell us his soul was God either. Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, etc… all lead to confirming as doctrine that Jesus Christ had a human body and soul, and that includes a human intellect and will. This was all through his human nature which was assumed by the divine person of the Word.
 
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Michael_the_Crusader said:
Do the Bible explicitly tell us his soul was human?
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he had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest
Hebrews 2:17
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Body and soul is more Greek philosophy than Hebrew, but some passages do suggest it, like Hebrews and 1 Cor 15. As we have souls, Christ had a human soul.

To answer the original poster, Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine. There are not some parts of him that are just human, but every part is joined to his divine nature. His body is human, but as it is a part of his person, it is fully divine as well. Now you just have to understand how person and body interrelate to understand the unity of the divine and human…
 
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