Was Jesus a Real Human?

The body (“flesh”) of Jesus was that of a normal human being. In the early centuries of the church there were those who taught that Christ was a divine being but His body was not “real,” but only seemed to be a real human body. The heresy was called Docetism (from Greek dokein, “to seem”). It seems likely that the apostle John had such a false teaching in mind when he wrote the first words of his first letter.

Jesus and Frailty

Human weaknesses were seen in Jesus during His earthly ministry.

Hunger

Matthew 4:1–2
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.

Fatigue

Matthew 8:24
And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.

John 4:5–6
So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 

Thirst

John 19:28
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.”

These verses plainly affirm that the humanity of Jesus Christ was a real bodily existence and not a mere appearance (like a hologram) or a phantasm (ghost). Docetism was an early heresy that suggested that Christ only seemed to be a man (from Greek dokeo “to think or seem”). This heresy explained away these texts by arguing that His hunger, fatigue, and thirst were simply instances of His “play-acting” to conceal His true heavenly identity. However, if Jesus did not have a real human body, then his sufferings on the cross would also be an instance of “play-acting.” Furthermore, if He did not have a real human nature, then the affirmation of the author of Hebrews—“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin”—would not be true.

Jesus and Emotion

Jesus showed real, human emotion.

Grief

John 11:35
Jesus wept.

Anger

Mark 3:5
After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 

Compassion

Matthew 14:14
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

Joy

Hebrews 12:2
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Two Questions About Jesus’ Humanity

Was Jesus Sinless?

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Hebrews 7:26
For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

1 Peter 2:21–22
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was anY deceit found in his mouth.

No effort to charge Jesus with sin has ever been successful, nor could it be. The New Testament texts which affirm His sinlessness are clear and unequivocal. It has been suggested by a number of skeptics over the centuries that this claim is incredible and evidence that the gospel records about Jesus are more myth than fact. After all, “to err is human.” However, that aphorism is not true. Adam and Eve were not created sinful nor prone to err. They were created in the image of God and that image before the fall was “very good” (see Gen. 1:31) as was the whole of God’s creation before the fall in Genesis 3. Jesus was fully human but without sin.

Still, theologians continue to debate whether Jesus could have sinned. The question is put in two Latin phrases: some say Jesus was posse non peccare, which is a Latin expression meaning “able to not sin.” Others employ another Latin expression, non posse peccare, which means “not able to sin.” Another way to say this is: some say he was peccable, that is, “able to sin, but did not” and others say he was impeccable. Among other reasons, those who argue for His peccability are trying to preserve His true humanity. They feel that if He could not sin, He just would not be human (nor could He sympathize with us since humans are non posse non peccare “not able to not sin”). But those who hold that Jesus was impeccable have the better view. Jesus could not have sinned, even though He was fully human, because in the incarnation He was also fully God. His divine nature made it impossible for Him, the person, to sin.

Was Jesus Truly Tempted?

Hebrews 4:15 (see Matthew 4:1–11)
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Another question that comes (after the conclusion that Jesus was non posse peccare “not able to sin” or impeccable) concerns His temptations. Could His temptations be real if He were not able to sin? The argument would be that if He was prevented by His divine nature from actually sinning, then His temptations would not be as real for Him as ours are for us. However, Jesus was not prevented from sinning by the intervention of His divine nature. In His human nature He knew the full weight of those temptations (probably more so than us who so often have succumbed to the temptation before the full weight of it is felt by us). Jesus experienced the temptation in His human nature and overcame those temptations by the means available to anyone with faith and confidence in the Word of God—He quoted Scripture (to the devil and to Himself). “So it was with Jesus: every temptation he faced, he faced to the end, and triumphed over it. The temptations were real, even though he did not give in to them. In fact, they were most real because he did not give in to them.”13