From the time of Paul and John in the first century, there have been many different teachings concerning the Person of Christ. In theology there is a special term signifying the study of Christ’s Person. This term is Christology. Just as theology is the study of God, so Christology is the study of Christ. Throughout the centuries, there has been debate concerning Christ’s Person. Most teachers have recognized that Christ has two natures, the divine nature and the human nature. However, there have been a number of erroneous teachings concerning the two natures of Christ. Much of the debate has arisen out of this point.
Our book entitled Concerning the Person of Christ gives seven different schools of thought regarding the Person of Christ. Of these seven schools, six are heretical and one is scriptural. I would encourage you to read that book. The six heretical schools are the erroneous teaching of the Docetists, those who claimed that Christ has only divinity, but not humanity; the heresy of the Ebionites, who teach that Christ has only humanity, but not divinity; the erroneous teaching of the Arians, who say that Christ’s divinity is not complete and that He was merely the highest among the creatures; the absurd teaching of the Apollinarians, who said that Christ’s humanity was not complete; the false doctrine of the Nestorians, who maintained that Christ’s divinity and humanity were separated; and the wrong teaching of the Eutychians, who denied the distinctness and coexistence of Christ’s divinity and humanity and asserted that these two natures were merged into one. The proper, scriptural teaching is that Christ has both divinity and humanity and that His divinity and humanity are complete and united in the body of one Person. We repudiate the six heretical schools and follow the scriptural school.
In the New Testament we can easily see that our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man. Because He is God and man, He is a God-man. Nevertheless, we are falsely accused of heresy because we teach that Christ is a God-man. However, a number of sound, fundamental, biblical teachers admit that Christ is a God-man. Some have even put this into writing. For example, in her book Life on the Highest Plane, published by Moody Press, Ruth Paxson says, “Such a Mediator must needs be one accepted and trusted by both parties, one who partakes both of God’s nature and of man’s nature....A true Mediator must be a God-man. The Saviour of men must be a God-man. Christ Jesus, the Mediator, is the God-man. He is not the man-God. He is not a man who became God but God who became man” (p. 101). On page 112 of the same book Ruth Paxson goes on to say, “In the God-man, God made a new union with the human race.” Moreover, a note on John 1:14 in The Ryrie Study Bible, also published by Moody Press, says, “Jesus Christ was unique, for He was God from all eternity and yet joined Himself to sinful humanity in the incarnation. The God-man possessed all the attributes of deity (Phil. 2:6) and the attributes common to humanity (apart from sin), and He will exist forever as the God-man in His resurrected body (Acts 1:11; Rev. 5:6). Only the God-man could be an adequate Savior....” By reading the New Testament we know that our Lord is both God and man. Therefore, it is altogether right to call Him the God-man.
Although the New Testament reveals that Christ is the God-man, we cannot find a verse telling us that Christ’s two natures were woven together. But this weaving together of divinity and humanity in Christ is portrayed by the type of the ephod. The gold and linen materials were not piled together, linked together, or merely joined together. They were woven together. However, many Christians have the concept that Christ’s divine nature was added to His human nature much like a piece of gold is wrapped in linen. They may not express themselves this way, but unconsciously many have this understanding.
In the past what was your understanding concerning the two natures of Christ? What was your concept of how divinity and humanity were put together? Did you think that the two natures of Christ were linked together somehow? No doubt you strongly believe that Christ is both God and man, but have you ever thought about how the two natures of Christ are put together? Were these two natures side by side within Him, or was Christ’s divine nature placed on top of His human nature? Was Christ’s human nature somehow surrounded by His divine nature, or did His human nature cover His divine nature? The Bible has a picture showing us how the two natures of our Lord have been put together. It is not by adding or linking; it is by weaving together divinity and humanity.
Christ’s divine nature has been processed, just as the gold used in making the ephod was processed. First the gold was refined in order to be pure. Then it was beaten into thin plates, cut into threads, twined together, and woven together with the linen. This picture indicates that Christ became a man by passing through a process. He did not become a man by suddenly descending from heaven to earth. No, He, as God, was conceived in the womb of a virgin. For nine months He developed in that virgin’s womb. Then He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. When King Herod learned of His birth, he tried to kill Him. Therefore, under the Lord’s leading, Joseph took the young child to Egypt. After the death of Herod, Joseph returned with Him to Israel, but he did not dare to stay in Judea. Therefore, he went up to the north to a despised district known as Galilee. As a result, the Lord Jesus grew up in the poor, small village of Nazareth. The Lord was raised in a poor family. In ancient times a carpenter, like Joseph, did not earn very much money. Throughout His years on earth, the Lord experienced the sufferings of human life. His process with all the sufferings is portrayed by the gold becoming the thread woven together with the linen.
As the very God, our Lord went through a process to become one with humanity. Without this process, how could He have become one with man? If He had not experienced this process, the textile needed for making the ephod would not have been produced. In this we see an aspect of the preciousness of Christ that is not clearly revealed in the New Testament.
In this picture of the ephod we also see how Christ’s humanity has been wrought into His divinity. This too involved a process. The linen had to go through a process before it could become twined thread used in making the ephod. Exodus 28:6 speaks of fine-twined linen. This is linen made up of threads wound together. When the cords of linen are twined, they make the thread for weaving. For the linen to become a twined thread, it had to go through a process. Eventually, the two kinds of threads, the gold and the twined linen, were woven together to make the ephod.
Although we cannot explain adequately how Christ’s divinity and humanity have been woven together, if we look at the picture of the extraordinary fabric used to make the ephod and realize that it is a type of Christ, we shall say, “Lord Jesus, I worship You. You are portrayed by the gold and linen of the ephod. Your divinity has gone through a process, and Your humanity has passed through a different kind of process. Then both Your divinity and humanity were woven together into one textile. Lord Jesus, this portrays Your Person. How wonderful You are!”
Because they are preoccupied by systematic theology, many Christians are not willing to accept this revelation concerning Christ from the Word. Furthermore, they oppose us when we teach that in Christ divinity and humanity have been mingled, woven together. But no matter how much opposition there is or what others may say about us, I cannot deny what the Lord has shown us from the pure Word of God. I will never change my realization concerning the Person of Christ. I have seen the picture from the types in the Old Testament concerning what kind of person the Lord Jesus is. I could never say that I have not seen this picture of the Lord. Praise the Lord for this portrait in the book of Exodus! In this picture we see precious details that we cannot find in the plain words of the New Testament.