Among all the debates concerning the Christian faith, the most important lies in the understanding of the One whom the faith professes to follow: Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ and what did he do here on this earth? In emphasizing the importance of these issues, the apostle Paul goes so far as to strikingly state that the Christian faith is useless if founded on a false assumption of the saving work of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:14). Indeed, there are no truths more central to our faith than the personality and work of Jesus Christ, yet serious disagreements exist regarding the nature of these principles. Jesus lived here on earth as fully divine and yet fully human in one and the same person, and His death on the cross served as the perfect sacrifice and substitute for the necessary punishment of death that all sinners deserve. To understand Jesus Christ, we must first address the question of the incarnation. What does it mean that "the Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14)? Was Jesus human or was he God? To adhere to Jesus Christ as the bearer of salvation, we must recognize that He is the God-Man, that is, that He came to earth and lived as a fully divine and yet fully human person. How did he do this? Although it may be difficult for us to understand this fact, Jesus paradoxically exercised His full humanity and His full divinity simultaneously. For example, while maintaining His omniscience, He faced the limits of knowledge. This can be seen in His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, where He demonstrated His supernatural knowledge in completely knowing the woman's hidden past. Yet in Matthew 24:36 Jesus shows limited knowledge by admitting that He does not know the time of His second... half of paper......or deserve death, but He died for us, that is, in our place, bearing the punishment due to us because of our sin. He has taken our place and satisfied our punishment, and in return we receive His healing. Through His gracious and perfect sacrifice we can accept His righteousness now imputed to us (Romans 5:19). In the end, we might actually recognize that in some areas the revelation given by God leaves us with questions, such as how we are going to explain the paradoxical hypostasis of Christ's full divinity and humanity. However, we must also remain grateful for revelation that remains unambiguous, such as that which explains how Christ took our place in death to satisfy God's wrath, so that we might receive righteousness and live with Him forever. Praise be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit for the salvation brought to us through the person and work of Christ!