Dr. Lawrence Butler

The Bridge Church, Pembroke

Jesus the man: There are two words used in the NT for man, and both are applied to Jesus. The first is Anthropos and is the word for man as a human being. It considers man as a representative of humanity. The second word is aner which describes man as a husband and a father. It makes the person an individual and a male member of the human species.

It would not be so surprising to find those who met Jesus casually to refer to Him as such. They could not have known Him personally and intimately, and thus would have suspected He was no different than others. However, even those who had a very close relationship with Jesus called Him a man.

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me” (John 1:29-30). John knew Jesus as his cousin, as his friend, but also that Jesus was “before” him. There was something eternal about Jesus. Even Pilate recognized Him as man, but failed to see deeper than that. “Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:4).

Others met Jesus the Savior: As Jesus passed through the land of His people, they not only saw a man but something more. Think about the woman at Jacob’s well. She met a Jew who would talk to her, something unknown in her lifetime. He changed her life, causing her to leave her waterpot and hurry into the town giving her testimony. “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29). She called Him a man, but recognized Him as Christ. There was a blind man who met Jesus and was healed. When questioned about his healing miracle, “He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight” (John 9:11).

A man, but more than a man: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27). Seeing as how we are made in God’s image, it shouldn’t be such a stretch to think about God inhabiting the flesh He made. Jesus was a man, but more than just a man.

God was in man. According to John, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The story of Jesus as man doesn’t end there. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;…”(I Tim. 2:5). He serves to mediate for us for He knows us!