Christmas is the celebration of when the Son of God became a human being. The Eternal God took on flesh and became a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. The True God became a True Man.

In order to keep this from becoming a simple truth we ascribe to, allow me to point out three specific truths/implications about the humanity of Christ that have been helpful to me.

Jesus is More Human Than You

Is Jesus really a human? Like, a real one? Yes, He is. He had a real family heritage (Matthew 1:1; Luke 3:23-38). He had a real human body (Matthew 26:12; Luke 2:40, 52). He had a real human soul (Matthew 12:27). He had real human emotions (Luke 10:21; Mark 3:5), weaknesses (John 4:6), and limitations (Mark 13:32). He was human as human is.

However, we can say something more. Jesus is not only truly human, but He is the truest human who lives and who has ever walked the face of this earth. Jesus was a human without the stain of sin. Humanity as intended to be. This means that the sinless Jesus is more human than you or I are right now. Millard Erickson says it well…

The question is not whether Jesus was fully human, but whether we are; he was more human than we are. He was not merely human as we are; he was more human than we are. He was, spiritually, the type of humanity that we will possess when we are glorified. Jesus most fully reveals the true nature of humanity. (Introducing Christian Doctrine, p. 239).

Jesus is not only human, He is more human than we are. Which leads to the second point.

Jesus is the Standard of True Humanity

The life of Jesus Christ shows us humanity as it was meant to be. Humanity without sin, abounding in joy, overflowing in love, and God honoring in all things. Jesus exemplified humanity as it was created to be. Everything we see people do today is a distorted picture of what humanity is supposed to be. We see people with half-hearted love and unrighteous hatred. We daily read about events that highlight Man’s greed, pride, and lust. We live in a world filled with sub-humans stained with sin. We live among the distorted. But this is not so with Jesus, our Lord. His human life stands at a light in the darkness. He is Truly Human. Therefore, when we look to Jesus, may we not make the mistake of comparing His humanity to ours, but may we begin to compare our humanity to His. We are not normal, He is. Those around us do not give us a picture of real humanity, He does. He is the standard of what true humanity is, not us.

Becoming More Like Jesus is Becoming More Human

If Jesus is the standard of true humanity, that means that growing to become more like Jesus is actually growing to become more human. Our sin has dehumanized us. We have lost sight of what it means to be human and we have no power in ourselves to become human again. But Jesus has come to not only atone for our sins (1 Peter 3:18), but also to restore our humanity to us through the process of sanctification. As we are sanctified, that is, as we become more like Jesus and less like the world, we actually are becoming more human as God intended humanity to be. The more we grow in Christ, the more human we become.

May we all, by the grace of God, grow to become more human like Jesus in all things.