The Man

The basic element of Christianity is that Jesus was a man: He was fully human.

He is also the visible expression of the invisible God. He is the Word made flesh. He is the Son of God; He is One with the Father.

But the most profound thing in Christianity is that Jesus was fully human. If we were not human, this would not be important. But we are human, and so Christianity has something to say to us. God can express Himself in a human. God accurately expressed Himself in the man Christ Jesus. God can do something in me even though I am weak.

The basic experience of Christianity is just what Jesus experienced. He was fully man; He had to learn how to do what was right.

"Although He was a Son, he learned obedience from the things He suffered. And having been made perfect, he became to those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." Hebrews 5:8-9

True Christianity is about being truly human; true Christianity is not about idealizations. Jesus emptied Himself to be made a man; He was just as weak as me.

Yet He learned to obey His Father, even though He was just as weak as me. He learned what no one else has ever learned.

The basic message of Christianity is what the man Christ Jesus learned.