The New City Catechism — Week 23
Question 1 — Why must the Redeemer be truly God?
Answer —That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective; and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death.
Acts 2:24 (ESV)24God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Be encouraged, Sinner & Saint, that God has not abandoned us to our failures and shortcomings. The beauty of the Gospel, that stands apart from all other bits of news we hear— the beauty of Christianity that stands apart from all other worldviews is a message of God not leaving us to our own devices. Rather, the Gospel is good news that tells of God’s love—a love that is so great, not even heaven could contain it. A love that compelled God to take on human flesh and die for us.
Why must the Redeemer be truly God? It was necessary for Christ to be God so that in his human nature, he might be completely obedience to his Father’s plan, perfectly suffer for us and the effectiveness would not be mitigated due to being only human.
God’s plan for redemption could not have been met without a divine presence showing up and doing what was necessary to atone for a church made up of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. It was only God who could bear the weight of his own anger and wrath against sin, die, and yet not be overcome by it. As the New Testament has shown us, Jesus as fully human is able to sympathize with our human weakness yet was without sin. And as the divine was poured out into human form, Christ was able to do what no other person could do—bear the weight of sin of all his people.
This week, as we think and reflect on the divine nature of Christ, we can get caught up in the deep theological questions that have been debated from the days of the early church. Instead, rather think about God’s extreme love for us, and what he was willing to do for us so that we might be saved from out sin and have a restored relationship with him for all eternity. God did that by sending his Son—pouring out his divinity into human flesh. He was obedient, even to the point of death, and on the cross he bore our sins and died.