BOTH!

I had Tex-Mex last night at that notable institution in Dallas, Luna de Noche. For those of you non-connoisseurs of that delectable branch of gastronomic delights, Tex-Mex is an odd juxtaposition of culinary characteristics creating something entirely new … and mucho delicioso! For those of us, its ardent aficionados, it is a regional American cuisine with roots going back to the hybridization of Texas/native American and Mexican influences over several centuries, a mélange characterized by cumin, chiles, cabrito, carne, and lots of cheese! Not something one can lay hands upon with ease in Scotland, I engorged myself on this coalescence of the idiosyncrasies of Texan cooking and Mexican cuisine.

As I write this, I am reminded of another “mixture”, one of tremendous significance for the followers of Christ: we claim that Jesus Christ was both human and divine, two natures in one person. How exactly can one speak of the divinity and humanity of Christ? Is the nature of Christ a new product, a tertium quid, a third other—the “humandivine” amalgam (“texmex”)? Is He more human than divine (“TEX-Mex”) or more divine than human (“Tex-MEX”)? Does both human and divine natures undergo some change in the blending process (“txe-mxe”)? Or perhaps Christ’s human and divine natures remain separate and isolated (“Tex / Mex”)?

What do the Scriptures assert? Of course, there is no formal statement that defines the nature of Christ in a particular chapter and verse. Instead, Christ’s nature is in “solution” form in the Bible and must be “crystallized” out from various texts.

He is God:

Christ according to the flesh,
who is over all,
God blessed forever.
Romans 9:5

For in Him
all the fullness of Deity
dwells in bodily form.
Colossians 2:9

… our great God and Savior,
Christ Jesus.
Titus 2:13

He is man:

For there is one God,
and one mediator
also between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5

God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman.
Galatians 4:4

Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:3

The formal proclamation of this bedrock of doctrine dealing with the humanity and divinity of Christ was hammered out at the Church Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451). In carefully chosen terms, Chalcedon defined the biblical and orthodox understanding of what it meant to say that Jesus Christ was both human and divine: “We confess that one and the same Christ, Lord, and only-begotten Son, is to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division, or separation.”

A mystery—fully God and fully man, a 200% person, the God-man! How a single person can possess two natures is beyond our comprehension. But this is the testimony of the Bible and we must hold it to be true. If Christ were not divine, he couldn’t have saved us—only God could have been perfect enough to pay the infinite price to purchase our salvation. If He were not man, he couldn’t have died for us, in our place, substituting His life in place of ours, when we were the ones who deserved the punishment for sin.

Praise God! Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. Our Savior, our Redeemer!

He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
For this reason also,
God highly exalted Him, …
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow …
and that every tongue
will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:8–11

Tex-Mex will never be the same again!