The Emotions of Christ

Emotions are one of the biggest downfall of mankind. They are fickle. They come and go and they can be deceptive. If we were to act on every emotion we have then our lives would be incredibly volatile. We would probably end up with a lot of broken down relationships, and possibly in jail (or is that just me?). 

Martin Luther (the 16thC reformist, not Martin Luther King) said “Feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving; My warrant is the Word of God-- Naught else is worth believing.”

As humans our emotions are a natural thing to us, both bad and good.

Not often do we think about the Lord as an emotional being. When we speak about what Christ has done, we talk about it in a cold and unemotional way. We are able to say "Jesus died for you" with ease as if it is some empty phrase.

It is easy to think about Christ as God Almighty who came to the earth to defeat sin and was perfect. However, we must not forget that the Lord Jesus was also an emotional being, just like us. We read in the gospels of His anguish and turmoil in the garden of Gethsemane before His arrest and crucifixion; we read about the pain He suffered on the cross; and we read about His righteous anger as He turned the tables in the temple and lashed out at the blasphemy against God amongst the Jewish people of His day. The Lord was an emotional man and we should remember this.

Hebrews 2:14-15 states, “¹⁴ Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. ¹⁶ For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

Christ did not come down as almighty God to invade and conquer, as so many people of the day expected the Messiah to do. Christ came down lowly and without beauty. Isaiah 53:2 states “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.”

Christ came down as human, just like me and you. It says in Hebrews 2:17 that in all things He was made like His brethren (me and you). Hebrews 2:16 states that “He did not give aid to angels but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.” Verse 16 here is stating that He did not come in the likeness of strong mighty angels, He came in the likeness of a meek human being, with emotions, who is tempted in exactly the same way as we are tempted. Galatians 3:29 states, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heir according to the promise.”

Jesus was a man. He had all the same temptations and problems that we suffer each day. That is why we can relate to Him as our Saviour and He can relate to us. He knows what you are going through for He has been through it Himself already. He suffered all that we suffer every day, yet unlike us, He was perfect, and He remained perfect. That is why He is our ultimate High Priest. That is why He was able to take the sins of the world upon Himself; because He was sufficient to bear the punishment, as He was worthy and perfect to be able to do so. The Bible tells us that sin is death. But Jesus had no sin in Him, therefore death could not hold Him and He was able to save us from this wretched state that we are all in.

We should remember the emotions that Jesus possessed and the struggles He would have had to endure. We read in Matthew 4 about His arduous temptation in the wilderness. Yet at all times He remained perfect.

Through our own emotions we can begin to relate and understand just some of the enormity of the sacrifice that the Lord voluntarily made. One can only imagine how our Saviour felt during His time on earth; a perfect man wrongly accused to the point of death. Mocked and numbered amongst the transgressors, yet like a lamb to the slaughter He remained silent. How difficult and devastating this must have been to bear. How words cannot describe the emotions He would have felt. Indeed, they cannot. Yet through our own emotions, that we experience every day, perhaps we are able to get just a glimpse of what He would have felt.

We understand the heartache that can be felt through relationships, we understand the feelings of injustice over small matters, we understand the feelings of sorrow and mourning and grief. Imagine the feelings that the Lord would have suffered throughout His life. A man who was susceptible to all the things that we are, yet He was able to remain perfect.

From reading God’s Word, His final and complete revelation to us, we can see the emotions of Christ. Look at the feelings of betrayal and anguish felt by Hosea, as He lives with an unfaithful wife. Look at the feelings of helplessness and listlessness of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes as He looks at all His riches and realises that nothing on this earth can bring fulfilment, look at the utter despair of Job as everything that was important to Him was taken away.

These are the emotions that Christ would have felt as He gave up His life for you. He was not some distant entity. He was a man to whom we can relate.

Let us stop telling people ‘Jesus died for you’ as if it has become some sort of empty phrase. Let us remember that Jesus is God, yet He came down as human. Let us remember through our own emotional understanding, how dire a situation the Lord put Himself in for our sakes. Let us remember the realness of His death and sacrifice and let us remember that we are able to relate to Him, and He to us.

Our ultimate High Priest.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Romans 10:9 "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved"

-BACChristian