The correct answer is that Jesus is both divine and human. In other words, he is both God and man. God has a divine nature, and Jesus possesses the divine nature as well as human nature. This dual nature characteristic is called the
hypostatic union.
We know that Jesus is God in the flesh because the Bible says many things declaring this. For example,
- John 1:1, “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
- John 1:14, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
- John 8:24, “unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
- John 8:58, “before Abraham was, I am.”
- Exodus 3:14, “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
- Col. 2:9, “for in Him dwells all the fullness of deity in bodily form.”
- Heb. 1:8, “But of the Son he [The Father] says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.'”
After Jesus died on the
cross and rose from the dead, Thomas, one of the disciples, doubted that he had risen. Jesus appears to him, and Thomas responds by saying to Jesus “my Lord and my God,” (
John 20:28). Jesus makes no correction to Thomas about this.
Titus 2:13 tells us to wait for the coming of “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” In
John 5:18 it says that Jesus “was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”
It is clear from the Scriptures that Jesus is considered to be God in flesh; that is, he is considered to be divine. The reason is that without Jesus being both God and man, he could not make a sacrifice of sufficient value to please God the Father. If he were not a man, he would not be able to die for the sins of mankind.