by By Erick Muriithi
In the calendar of the church, no season is quite like the Easter holiday. For many in today’s church, it is one of the only two periods they are guaranteed to hear the gospel preached, though unfortunately this happens in a watered-down fashion for dramatic effect.
Part of the emotionalism that characterizes the Easter season has led to one of the most prevalent heresies in the modern church. Mathew 26: 46 is often taken to imply that there was a separation in the Godhead. It is a heresy that dates back to the second council of Constantinople. A neglect of church creeds and the willingness in the modern evangelical church to compromise with the post-modern therapeutic culture has further fanned the flames of this heresy.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” Matthew 27:46
What does it mean that Jesus Christ at the cross was forsaken by God? Does it mean that he was separated from God? Does it mean that he felt forsaken while he was not?
This passage does not mean that Jesus merely felt forsaken. To assume this, would be to imply a flaw in the emotional life of Jesus. The reason our emotions lead us to false conclusions in times of suffering is the corruption of sin in us. If Jesus felt something that was not real, then we would have to conclude that he was not sinless. Second, this passage does not mean that there was a separation in the Trinity. The divine will within the Godhead is one. The being of the Godhead cannot be separated or divided, that is, God cannot cut himself in half. God by nature is indivisible, and irreducible. A half of a third God is not God. Thus, we must not conclude that there was a separation between the Father and the Son.
Another error is concluding that there was a separation of the divine nature of Jesus from his human nature. That would affect the sufficiency of the atonement of the God-man. The two natures of the person of Jesus Christ are united in what the church called a hypostatic union. They are eternally united in the person of Jesus Christ! If his divine nature separated from his human nature, then you would not have the hypostatic person, Jesus Christ, who is descended from David according to the flesh, and is the son of God.
So, in what sense was Jesus forsaken by his God? Traditionally, the church had a great answer. Jesus Christ did not suffer on the cross according his divine nature, but according to the flesh. I support based on:
1. The impassibility of God.
2. the context of the psalm Jesus quoted.
The impassability of God
This is a big word to mean God does not have passions. He cannot suffer. There has been a movement of men such as Nicholas Wolterstoff who have denied this attribute of God. But suffering is a tell tale sign of dependency. If God can suffer, then he is not omnipotent because he is at the mercy of circumstances. Thus, to assume that Jesus would have suffered at the cross according to his divine nature would be to deny his deity. Jesus, in his divine nature, was all powerful at the cross. It is precisely because of the impassibility of his divine nature that he didn’t come down on that cross. Because his love is impassible love. It is not subject to passions or emotions. It is steadfast love (Exodus 34:5-7, Psalm 51), immovable and grounded in sovereign omnipotence.
So, how can we reconcile the suffering at the cross with Christ’s deity? Suffering is a property of the human nature and was communicated to the person of Jesus Christ, without being communicated to his divine nature. Jesus suffered at the cross according to the flesh, and was forsaken according to the flesh (Hebrews 5:7).
The context of the Psalm 22
The psalmist is crying out for help. He is surrounded by enemies who mock him for putting his trust in God. It draws the image of inhabitants of a city under judgement. ‘Tongues clinging to the roofs of mouths’ was a motif that Jeremiah uses in lamentations for the city of Jerusalem under divine judgement for sin. In this particular sense, Jesus Christ is suffering under divine judgement on account of the sins of all who will ever believe. Jesus shows the terrible nature of his suffering, condemned and under the judgement of God.
The psalm also gives hope — that Jesus would tell of God’s goodness to the brothers. He would rise from the dead for our justification. His sacrifice was total and complete.
Jesus according to his divine nature was as much in the eternal loving fellowship in the Godhead as he had been for all eternity. No relationship in the Godhead was broken at the cross. But according to his human nature, he was forsaken and under divine judgement for all our sin. Through the infiniteness of his divine nature and by the eternal spirit he was able to bear the judgement of God against our sin.
The good news is that the eternal son of God, suffered, according to his flesh, the penalty of our sin, so that we, sinners would be adopted as sons of God.
