Was Jesus primarily the same as or different from mankind?

Was Jesus primarily the same as or different from mankind? However we answer will define the rest of our lives. We will only answer that question by simultaneously answering two other questions: "What is the true essence of mankind?" and "What is the true essence of Jesus?" It might be considered a natural consequence of legend-making that while he lived on earth Jesus seemed nothing more than a man but after he died he seemed nothing less than a god. But those who think such things willfully ignore that the perspective of his followers changed not decades but days after his death. This leaves no time for mythological evolution, but it does make the title question more difficult to answer. It also produces the urge to frame that answer with temporal caveats: "Before his death he was primarily the same as, but after his death he is primarily different from mankind." But these are turbulent philosophical waters in which to swim. If such a basic question cannot be answered consistently, it erodes the foundational concept of Jesus' enduring nature ("Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."), and at worst it demolishes it. So the temptation to parameterize the answer with before and after statements must be resisted; it appears we must choose a side. But this dichotomy produces its own set of thorny problems. If we, observing the divine in Jesus, answer that primarily he is different from humanity, we are wont to return to those tangible and, therefore, corruptible forms of worship in which the Jews engaged; or worse, those of the pagans. We may decide not to worship at all, thinking Jesus too distant for human hands to touch. Foible or not, we cannot worship the completely incomprehensible and inaccessible. We long for some measure of commonality between ourselves and that which we adore. But what does the Holy Spirit say? "Both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." This affirmation would seem to justify those who answer that Jesus is more like than different from mankind. But the text must be more carefully parsed; it states that sanctifier and sanctified are members of the same family but states nothing in regard to the unsanctified. The Son of the thrice-holy God counts as his brethren the holy among mankind ("made like his brethren in all things"); the rest are invited to partake of the same bond but until such time as they do, the level of commonality between them ends with the sharing of flesh and blood and temptations-which is still greater than what might have been expected from a comparison between the I AM and a human, but nowhere near as deep and wonderful as the community of the sanctified family; He is "separated from sinners". But even within the holy family some distinctions must be delineated, both now and forever. There is a Son and there are sons. As he is the exemplar, we are to "run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus". As runners, the holy follow the forerunner. He is the goal of perfection which we have not yet attained, yet we live every day knowing that it is a possibility, it is a joy, it is a duty to be more like Jesus than we are different from him.

"So, let us go out to Him..."