He Had to be Human

​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. (Heb. 2:17)
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​Throughout Church history there have been those who question the full humanity of Christ (Docetism), believing that if Jesus was fully God, then he could not have been fully human.  The argument goes that Jesus was human merely on the outside but fully God on the inside.  In other words, Jesus was God wrapped in a human body.  However, the author of Hebrews makes clear that not only is this view of Christ's humanity false, but that it was necessary for Jesus to be fully human--inside and out.  In v.14 he states, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”  Since Jesus came to save sinner who are flesh and blood, he himself also had to be flesh and blood.  And since came to redeem the “offspring of Abraham…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.”  Jesus had to made like humans "in every respect," physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically.  This is because since it was a human who brought sin into the world and rebelled against God, then it had to be a human who would offer himself up for the sins of humanity.  It was not a bull or a goat who rebelled against God.  It was a human; thus, a human--someone who was fully human--had to undo what man had ruined.