I was walking amidst the rows of desks as I was engaging the students in a discussion about the humanity of Christ. When I reached the end of the room, as I recall, I was leaning against the wall. Trying to drive home a point about the reality of Christ’s humanity, as we say in the Athanasian Creed, that Christ is “man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world,” that he is like us in every respect, sin excepted (Heb 2:17; 4:15), I said, “You know, don’t you, that Jesus had an umbilical cord?” and at least one student gasped. At that very moment, I began to realize that American evangelicals have a problem with Jesus’ humanity.

Since that time, I have had ample evidence from incoming seminary students that my hunch was correct. In our Ancient Church course we have opportunity to discuss Jesus’ humanity, of course, and I usually ask them how they think Jesus got through a door (John 20:19, 26). Students regularly assume that Jesus’ humanity must have changed in order to get through the door. I call this the Star Trek Christology.¹ Historians attribute this view to Melchior Hoffmann (c. 1500–c.43), Caspar Schwenckfeld (1490–1561), and to Menno Simons (1496–1561) among the early Anabaptists and call it the “Celestial Flesh Christology.”² More recently this view was advocated by the late Michael Heiser (1963–2023).³ In Belgic Confession 18, the Reformed churches condemn this Christology as heresy against the ecumenical faith:

Therefore we confess, against the heresy of the Anabaptists who deny that Christ assumed human flesh from his mother, that he “shared the very flesh and blood of children;” that he is “fruit of the loins of David” according to the flesh; “born of the seed of David” according to the flesh; “fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary;” “born of a woman;” “the seed of David;” “a shoot from the root of Jesse;” “the offspring of Judah,” having descended from the Jews according to the flesh; “from the seed of Abraham”—for he “assumed Abraham’s seed” and was “made like his brothers except for sin.” In this way he is truly our Immanuel—that is: “God with us.”

It is contrary to the ecumenical doctrine of Christ as summarized in the Definition of Chalcedon (AD 451), where we confess him to be

perfect in humanity; truly God and truly man, of a rational soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the Deity, and consubstantial with us according to the Humanity; in all things like unto us, without sin . . . according to the humanity; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son.

One of the gospel passages that teaches us Jesus’ true humanity is in the story of Jesus walking on the water (Matt 14:24–34). There we see not only one but two true humans walking on water.

They were already hundreds of yards from the shore, being tormented under the waves, because the wind was against them. And the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking upon the sea. The disciples, seeing him walking on the sea were troubled, saying that he was a phantasm, and they cried out from fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, “Take courage. I AM. Fear not.” Peter answered him and said, “If it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus said, “Come.” And after he climbed out of the boat, Peter walked upon the water and came to Jesus; but seeing the strong wind, he was afraid and he began to sink and cried out saying, “Lord save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, grabbed him, and said to him, “O little of faith! Why did you doubt? And after they went up into the boat, the wind stopped. And those in the boat worshipped him saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”⁴

The primary intent of this passage is to demonstrate Christ’s power and deity and to show him to us as the proper object of saving faith. He truly is the “I AM” of Exodus 3:14. The very same person of the Trinity who appeared to Moses in the wilderness was demonstrating his sovereign power over all creation by suspending the very laws of nature that he himself instituted. By the power of his word, he was even able to empower Peter to walk on the water.

Though the primary intent of the passage is about Jesus’ deity, there is a clear implication here about his humanity. When he walked on the water did the humanity of Jesus change? Is there anything about this narrative that would suggest that Jesus’ humanity changed or that the properties of the deity were communicated to the humanity? Not at all, and we show that by thinking about Peter, who also walked on the water, for just a moment. Because Christ is one person with two natures, the temptation is to confuse the two natures and to impute the properties of the deity to the humanity and the properties of the humanity to the deity. This is the heresy of Eutychianism. When we separate two natures, as the Nestorians were accused of doing, thereby positing two persons, that is the opposite heresy. The orthodox faith, as we see in Chalcedon and in the Athanasian Creed, is to confess that Jesus is one person with two distinct but inseparable natures.

Peter, however, is not the God-Man. He was and remains a mere mortal human with one nature. Yet, according to God’s Word, he also walked upon the water. In his case there is no possibility whatever of two natures communicating their properties to each other; and still he walked on water. So, it cannot be that his nature changed. I do not know how much time you have spent in and around the water, but it ordinarily, in nature, is not possible to walk on water. The relationship between the molecules that compose the human body and the molecules that compose water are such that when we try to remain suspended on top of unfrozen water we sink. This is why divers leap from platforms high above the water during the Olympics: because they know that when their hands hit the water, they will break the surface and slip below it.

Given that, in the providence of God, it was not necessary for Peter’s humanity to change its properties in order to walk on water (e.g., he did not become ubiquitous, etc.) then we may not assume that the properties of Jesus’ humanity changed. Jesus’ humanity is of the same essence as Peter’s and yours. This is what our fathers meant at the Council of Chalcedon when they confessed that Jesus’ humanity is “consubstantial” with ours. When Jesus and Peter walked upon the water, the only things that changed were the properties of the water. It was a miracle in which God the Son operated upon the water to make it possible for them both walk on it without sinking. When he saw that Peter began looking at the weather, rather than at him, our Lord Jesus allowed him to sink to make a point, and then he saved him to make another point. In other words, Jesus humanity remained what it was: true, finite, and proper. The properties that belong to humanity generally belong to Jesus’ humanity.

What does it all mean? It means that Jesus our substitute, Savior, and mediator (1 Tim 2:5; Heb 9:15; 12:24), is like us in every respect, sin excepted. He is not a phantasm, a ghost, as the disciples feared. He is true God and true man, and in his true humanity he walked toward them on the water.

It means that we have our true humanity at the right hand of the Father (Heb 8:1), through whom the Father rules all things. He is our intercessor and representative, our high priest. The Roman bishop is no one’s Pontifex Maximus (high priest), but Jesus is.⁵ Pope Francis cannot hear me as I talk to him from San Diego, but Jesus, who has penetrated into the heavens, into the holy of holies, can (Heb 9:11). Later this year the Roman communion will canonize Carlo Acutis (1991–2006) as the first millennial saint. Contrary to Rome’s claims, Carlo cannot hear me or you, but Jesus does because he is God the Son incarnate. He is the only high priest who has entered “once for all into the holy places” (Heb 9:12). It was Jesus who appeared “once for all at the end of the ages” (Heb 9:26).

This matters because it was not angels for whom Jesus came (Heb 2:16) but flesh and blood humans such as you and I are. It was the first human (Adam) who sinned and plunged all of humanity into sin and death (Gen 2:17). After the fall we still owed obedience (Lev 18:5; Luke 10:28; Rom 2:13). Jesus is the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45) who obeyed in our place (Rom 5:12–21), all the way to death (Phil 2:8) and was raised for our justification (Rom 4:25).

Because Jesus is consubstantial with us and because he does not have a “celestial flesh,” we appear with confidence before an all-holy God who is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). Our Lord Jesus has satisfied divine justice for us. Everything he did he did for us, and all that he did is imputed to us as if we had done it ourselves. In his humanity he is presently making perfect intercession for us. In him we have adoption as firstborn sons (Eph 1:5). In Christ we are loved and accepted, and by him we are understood; and just as he took doubting Peter by the hand and saved him, so too he will take you by the hand and save you to the uttermost (Heb 7:25).

Notes

1. R. Scott Clark, “Against The Star Trek Christology.” For more on this see the following essays, “Born of A Woman: Against The Star Trek Christology,.” Calvin Contra The Star Trek Christology,” “The So-Called ‘Celestial Flesh’ Christology Is Just Gnosticism,” “Ignatius of Antioch As A Remedy For Two Weaknesses In Contemporary Evangelicalism: The Reality of Christ’s Humanity and the Reality of the Church.”
2. This term dates at least to Tertullian (c. 160–c.225), who used it in a treatise defending the reality of Christ’s humanity against Valentinus (the leader of the Gnostic movement) and Marcion (and his disciple Appelles), who also denied the unity of the covenant of grace. He used it in chapter 6 of On The Flesh of Christ. See Tertullian, On the Flesh of Christ, in Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Peter Holmes, vol. 3, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 527. Calvin attributes the celestial flesh Christology to the Manichaeans and the Marcionites. See Institutes 2.13.1.
   It does not appear from this modern Mennonite Confession that they still adhere to the Celestial Flesh Christology.
3. “In our more modern language, we might say that the body Christ had after the resurrection was his earthly body, healed and transformed into a material form unbound by the limitations of human terrestrial existence. It was a ‘glorious body’ (Phil 3:21), both of earth and not of earth. This resurrection transformation is the final, unimaginably literal expression of being conformed to the image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18).”
   Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 379.
4. My translation.
5. Leviticus 21:10 speaks of a “pontifex id est sacerdos maximus inter fratres” (a priest that is great among his brothers). Biblia Sacra Vulgata: Iuxta Vulgatem Versionem, electronic edition of the 3rd edition. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1969), Lev 21:10. Heb 4:14 i the Vulgate says of Jesus, ” habentes ergo pontificem magnum. . . (having therefore a great priest).

©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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