True Man
Did Jesus really feel, learn and choose?
Main teaching: De fide
The big question
If Jesus is God, was his humanity real? Did he actually get tired, feel afraid, learn things, and have to make choices? Or was he God walking around in a human body, only pretending to need sleep and food?
What the Church teaches
Christ has a real human body, not an appearance of one (CCC 470, 476).
Christ has a rational human soul, with a human mind (Constantinople I, 381; Chalcedon, 451; DH 301).
Christ has a human will, distinct from his divine will and always in harmony with it, and a human way of acting (Constantinople III, 681; DH 556–558; CCC 475).
Christ is like us in all things except sin (Chalcedon; DH 301; Hebrews 4:15).
How sure is this? De fide. See CCC 470–478.
Where it comes from
Scripture. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The Gospels show Jesus fully human: he was tired from a journey (John 4:6), hungry (Mark 11:12), and wept at his friend’s tomb: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). He grew up: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). In Gethsemane he was in anguish, and prayed, “not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
The Letter to the Hebrews draws the conclusion: “we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
St John made a real humanity a test of true faith: “every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God” (1 John 4:2).
The early Church. St Ignatius of Antioch (about 110) insisted against those who said Christ only seemed to suffer that he was truly born, truly ate and drank, was truly crucified and truly died. St Gregory of Nazianzus (died about 390) gave the principle behind it all: what Christ did not take on, he did not heal (Letter 101). If he had no human mind, our minds would not be saved; if no human will, our wills would not be healed.
How theologians explain it
Three heresies, three answers. Each part of Christ’s humanity was denied by someone, and each denial was rejected:
| Heresy | What it said | What the Church answered |
|---|---|---|
| Docetism (1st–2nd century) | Christ only seemed to have a body and to suffer | He had a real body and truly suffered and died |
| Apollinarianism (4th century) | Christ had a human body, but the divine Word took the place of a human mind | He had a complete human soul and mind (Constantinople I) |
| Monothelitism (7th century) | Christ had only one will, the divine | He had two wills, divine and human, the human freely following the divine (Constantinople III) |
Gregory of Nazianzus’s principle explains why the Church kept insisting: Christ heals whatever he takes on, so he must take on all of human nature.
Gethsemane. The agony in the garden is the clearest window onto Christ’s human will. His human will shrank from suffering and death, as any healthy human will does, yet freely embraced the Father’s will: “not as I will, but as you will.” There is no conflict between the two wills, but there are two.
Christ’s human knowledge. Because he had a real human mind, Christ learned in a human way, from experience and from those around him (Luke 2:52). The tradition, following St Thomas Aquinas, also holds that his human mind was given knowledge directly by God, and that it enjoyed the vision of God, so that he knew the Father and his own mission as no one else could (Summa III, qq. 9–12; CCC 472–474). How these fit together in his human consciousness is a question theologians continue to explore.
Without sin. Christ never sinned, and could not sin, because every act of his human nature was the act of the divine Person (Lesson 5.3). This does not make him less human. Sin is not part of being human; it is a damage to it. Christ is not less human than we are, but more fully human.
Philosophy bridge
Lesson 4.3 showed that a human being is one person, body and soul, with intellect and will. To be fully human, Christ must have all of them: a body, a human soul that is its form, a human intellect and a human will. Each heresy in the table removed one of these.
What the Church does not claim
- Not that Jesus pretended to be human. His tiredness, hunger, tears and fear were real.
- Not that his temptations were fake. He was really tempted, though he never gave in, and could not (Hebrews 4:15).
- Not that sin is part of being human. Christ is sinless and fully human, which shows that sin is a wound, not a part of human nature.
- Not that his human mind was divine. His human mind remained a human mind, with a human way of knowing, even though it was the mind of the Son.
Check your understanding
- Name three things the Church teaches Christ has as a human being.
Show answer
Any three of: a real body; a rational human soul; a human mind; a human will; a human way of acting.
- What did Docetism, Apollinarianism and Monothelitism each deny?
Show answer
Docetism denied that Christ had a real body. Apollinarianism denied that he had a human mind. Monothelitism denied that he had a human will.
- Explain St Gregory of Nazianzus’s principle, “what was not assumed was not healed”.
Show answer
Christ saves human nature by taking it on. Whatever part of human nature he did not take on would not be saved. So he must have a complete human nature: body, soul, mind and will.
- How does the agony in Gethsemane show that Christ has a human will?
Show answer
His human will shrank from suffering, yet freely chose the Father’s will: “not as I will, but as you will.” There are two wills, human and divine, with the human freely following the divine.
- If Christ could not sin, was he really human? Explain.
Show answer
Yes. Sin is not part of human nature but a damage to it. Christ is fully human, and his sinlessness shows what human nature is meant to be.