Was Jesus always a man?

[switalabe]

Hi,

Was Jesus always human? I guess He must have existed before time just like God, because He is God, but was he human at the beginning? I know that He was fully human and fully God…

I think this question has to do with the Incarnation, which is appropriate for the season of Christmas, right?

Finally…I’ll try to guess the answer to my own question…I would guess that He was not human before the Incarnation, but He still Was. Furthermore, He still is fully human and fully God, even when He wasn’t human (at the beginning of time), because part of being human is …not being human before becoming human. Just my thought.

Thanks, and a blessed Advent and Christmas to all,
Ben

 

[Nita]

Hi,

Was Jesus always human? I guess He must have existed before time just like God, because He is God, but was he human at the beginning? I know that He was fully human and fully God…

I think this question has to do with the Incarnation, which is appropriate for the season of Christmas, right?

Finally…I’ll try to guess the answer to my own question…I would guess that He was not human before the Incarnation, but He still Was. Furthermore, He still is fully human and fully God, even when He wasn’t human (at the beginning of time), because part of being human is …not being human before becoming human. Just my thought.

Thanks, and a blessed Advent and Christmas to all,
Ben

Your “guess” is pretty good!
Jesus did not** physically **exist in mortal human flesh until He was born here on earth.

But, “existence” to our eternal God, who is Spirit, is not limited to restrictions present in the physical laws of the physical universe He created.

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

Some Scriptures that might help:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4* In him was life, * and the life was the light of men. 5* The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Jn 1:1-5

. 5* Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, * being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Ph 2:5-8

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Heb 13:8

Jesus is the Eternal Word of God, the Son of the Father. He has existed from all eternity with the Father and the Spirit. Prior to the Incarnation, He did not have flesh and was not a man. He is the Son of God who took on flesh, becoming a man, so as to reconcile men to God through His Sacrifice on the Cross.

 

[Mintaka]

The Son always existed in eternity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was truly God.

When the Son took on flesh in Mary’s womb, that was the instant He became human as well as God. At that instant, He entered into time and space, and He became true God and true Man.

Now Jesus Christ, the Son, is God and Man in eternity also. That’s the whole point of the Ascension.

Yes, this is supposed to make your head hurt if you think about it!

 

[Brandon_Cal]

The Son always existed in eternity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was truly God.

When the Son took on flesh in Mary’s womb, that was the instant He became human as well as God. At that instant, He entered into time and space, and He became true God and true Man.

Now Jesus Christ, the Son, is God and Man in eternity also. That’s the whole point of the Ascension.

Yes, this is supposed to make your head hurt if you think about it!

No, I don’t think it’s supposed to make your head hurt. I honestly believe your second paragraph is incorrect. Jesus did not “become God” at the incarnation.

 

[Ignatius]

Hi,

Was Jesus always human? I guess He must have existed before time just like God, because He is God, but was he human at the beginning?
Thanks, and a blessed Advent and Christmas to all,
Ben

God the Son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity became the Man Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago. From the moment He was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he was human. He did not have a human nature prior to that.

Blessed Advent and a Merry Christmas to you too.

 

[switalabe]

Mintaka, I hope you do not mind if I respond to Brandon Cal’s post: “I honestly believe your second paragraph is incorrect.” I think what Mintaka meant was that Jesus became man at the moment of the Incarnation, as well as already being God. I think it was a slightly ambiguous sentence rather than an incorrect one (if it was ambiguous at all).

Thank you all for your responses; they really helped me. I especially liked the first part of the Gospel of John; it means a little more to me now.

Finally…I thought I would share some of my favorite Scriptures that I think of in regards to this:

Genesis 1:1-2: "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth—

• and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters" (footnote: A mighty wind: literally, “spirit or breath [ruah] of God”)

Genesis 18:2: “Looking up, [Abraham] saw three men standing near him.”

John 6:19: “When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea* and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid.”

I took all these quotes from the online Bible at the USCCB website (usccb.org/bible/).

 

[thistle]

Mintaka, I hope you do not mind if I respond to Brandon Cal’s post: “I honestly believe your second paragraph is incorrect.” I think what Mintaka meant was that Jesus became man at the moment of the Incarnation, as well as already being God. I think it was a slightly ambiguous sentence rather than an incorrect one (if it was ambiguous at all).

Thank you all for your responses; they really helped me. I especially liked the first part of the Gospel of John; it means a little more to me now.

Finally…I thought I would share some of my favorite Scriptures that I think of in regards to this:

Genesis 1:1-2: "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth—

• and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters" (footnote: A mighty wind: literally, “spirit or breath [ruah] of God”)

Genesis 18:2: "Looking up, [Abraham] saw three men standing near him."

John 6:19: “When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea* and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid.”

I took all these quotes from the online Bible at the USCCB website (usccb.org/bible/).

The three were angels appearing as men.

 

[switalabe]

Thanks thistle for pointing out my error. I thought the three were the Trinity.

However – wasn’t one of the three men actually the Lord? From the footnotes in the online Bible at the USCCB site:

“Abraham addresses the leader of the group, whom he does not yet recognize as the Lord; in the next two verses he speaks to all three men. The other two are later (Gn 19:1) identified as angels. The shifting numbers and identification of the visitors are a narrative way of expressing the mysterious presence of God.”

Many thanks.

 

[thistle]

Thanks thistle for pointing out my error. I thought the three were the Trinity.

However – wasn’t one of the three men actually the Lord? From the footnotes in the online Bible at the USCCB site:

“Abraham addresses the leader of the group, whom he does not yet recognize as the Lord; in the next two verses he speaks to all three men. The other two are later (Gn 19:1) identified as angels. The shifting numbers and identification of the visitors are a narrative way of expressing the mysterious presence of God.”

Many thanks.

DR Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 2. Men in outward appearance, but angels indeed. (Hebrews xiii. 2; St. Augustine, City of God xvi. chap. 29.) Some have supposed, that one of them was the Son of God, whom Abraham adored, and who bears throughout the chief authority. Tres vidit et unum adoravit. He saw three and adored one, as we read in the Church office. In the former supposition, which is generally adopted, this adoration was only a civil ceremony, if Abraham considered them as mere men; or it might be mixed with a degree of religious, though inferior veneration, if he imagined they were angels; or in fine, he adored God in his representatives. (Haydock)

 

[juno24]

Hi,
Furthermore, He still is fully human and fully God, even when He wasn’t human (at the beginning of time), because part of being human is …not being human before becoming human. Just my thought.

Thanks, and a blessed Advent and Christmas to all,
Ben

Hi Ben. Others have answered your main question, so I will just respond to this part. No, Jesus was not fully human before becoming human (Man), and neither are we. We do not exist at all until we are conceived. Our souls are created at the moment of conception so no, “not being human before becoming human” is not at all a part of being human.