Jesus Learned His Identity, Same As We Do
Jesus Became Like Us In More Ways Than You Might Think
Do you ever pause to reflect on who you are and what your life’s purpose is? If so, you’re not alone ... Jesus did, too.
In This Article:
Jesus had to LEARN his identity and his purpose.
Consider: What if part of Jesus’ incarnation was to show us how to know who we are?
We have a role to play in helping each other know their God-given identity.
Key Application:
Live Inside-Out, not Outside-In
In my experience, most of us who claim to follow Jesus don’t often think about him growing up. Given the lack of biblical details about his early life, it’s interesting to consider what it might have been like to see the young Jesus. My guess is it was similar in many ways to yours and mine.
At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, he had to learn how to hold his bowels and not soil himself. He had to learn how to talk and put thought to words. He had to learn how to process emotions. He had to learn math. He had to learn to trust his parents, and submit to obeying them. He experienced all of this in a very similar way you and I do.
The gospel of Luke gives us a hint of this process:
“And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him … And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and people.” (Luke 2.40, 2.52)
The Greek word that’s translated as "kept increasing" is prokoptō. It literally means, "to make one's way forward by chopping down obstacles." It was used to describe the work of a blacksmith, who would forge a molten metal stock and lengthening it out by hammering—slowly and deliberately, through much effort.
This is a vivid description of the human maturation process.
We know that Jesus was fully human. Based on his humanity, we can infer that his experience was similar to the rest of humanity (apart from not having a sin nature), and that his growth to adulthood was in line with what you and I experience.
This is where it gets interesting …
The Soul and Its Container
Jesus was the second person of the Trinity, with all the glory, authority, omniscience and omnipotence associated with being God. But he chose to humble himself by inhabiting the physical body of a human being. In this sense, he existed like you and I do: living spiritual beings that operate inside the physical container that is our bodies.
A subset of this soul-container relationship is the brain and The Mind and the Brain. The brain is the physical container that our spiritual mind operates within. The mind has the capacity to drive the thinking process in a way that the brain must respond to—that is, when we think deliberately and purposefully in a healthy way.1 Our brains are designed to respond to the will and direction of our minds.
In fact our brains build the physical structures necessary to accommodate our mind’s direction (as long as our mind actually provides that direction). This is called neuroplasticity. You could say metaphorically that our physical brains have to learn how to think, much in the same way that our legs have to learn how to walk.
As it relates to our identity, our physical brains develop a specific conception of who we are and how we fit into reality and the world around us. This occurs primarily in our right hemisphere.2
The God-Man
We can presume that all this brain activity was similar for Jesus …
He came to understand who he was by the revelation of the Holy Spirit—and he responded accordingly by believing it.
He absorbed and took to heart his parents’ recollections of miracle encounters with angels.
He meditated on and believed in the Old Testament prophecies that spoke of his imminent coming.
It all contributed to him coming to know and understand the reality that he was, in fact, Emmanuel—the Son of God in human flesh.
He very likely had to learn the voice of the Holy Spirit and how to distinguish it from the voice of Satan, just as you and I do. He had to learn how to trust the Spirit and resist the one trying to tempt him away from knowing and living out his identity, in the same way that we can learn.
I imagine that Jesus’ encounters with Satan growing up were not unlike the temptations we read about in Jesus’ adult encounter with Satan in the desert (Matthew 4.1-10). The reason he successfully put off the enemy in the desert was that he’d learned how to do it as a child. His spiritual battle couldn’t have been easy. Personally, my guess is that it was quite frequent and intense. But he endured it, because it was necessary for our sake.
“… we have [a High Priest] who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4.15)
Jesus As Our Model
In the same way that Jesus learned of his identity and fought his way through the obstacles to live out his purpose, so can we. This is God’s intent for us. As Jesus’ followers, he wants us to know that …
We are his adopted children.
We are fearlessly and wonderfully made.
No one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand.
He desires to live in us and for us to live in him.
He’s made known to us the mystery of his will.
God predestined us to be conformed into the image of Christ.
God gave us the promised Holy Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing our heavenly inheritance until our redemption is complete.
No temptation has overcome us except that which is common to the human experience, and that he has provided a way out.
All of life’s struggles and hardships are temporary, and will be redeemed in a glorious eternity with him.
All those who are in Christ Jesus are one with each other, even as Jesus is one with the Father.
Jesus’ life is a model for us in how to live the spiritual life and be one with God. It follows, then, that all of Jesus’ learning experiences—in particular his learning about his identity and purpose—are also a model for us.
“… he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2.17, NET)
Admittedly, the idea of Jesus’ learning his identity is conjecture. But it’s informed conjecture—based on what we are coming to understand about human development in general, and brain and neurological development in particular.
TakeAways
There are several practical realities we can apply in our lives …
01 :: Our Identity and Purpose Don’t Have to Be a Mystery
The Bible is clear when it comes to our identity. We were created originally to be in full and complete partnership with him. We were made to be in intimate union with him and in unity with each other.
Sin interrupted and corrupted this identity. Instead of being made in his likeness, we chased after an identity of our own making. In doing so, we were separated from him, with no capacity to restore what was lost.
But God provided both a means of our restoration, as well as the model of it. Jesus came as the “second Adam”: In the same way that Adam was the model for our fallen identity, Jesus is the model for our resurrected identity.
With Jesus as our model, we have confidence in God’s predestining each of Jesus’ followers to be conformed into a unique reflection of him (Romans 8.29). THAT is who we are.
02 :: We Can Help Each Other
In the same way that Jesus’ parents undoubtedly reinforced his identity and destiny during his formative years, we can do the same for each other. We should take the opportunity to encourage each other regularly, reminding and encouraging one another about who we are and what it is like for us to live together according to our identity.
03 :: Live Inside-Out
If we’re unclear about our identity, then we end up experimenting with life in the expectation that the world or the outcome of things in our environment will define it for us. I call this living Outside-In, and it’s a disastrous approach that will not lead to maturity and peace.
The alternative is to live Inside-Out. When we know who we are, we can then move out into our environment to be an influence upon it—instead of depending on it to influence us. This is the way Jesus modeled for us.
To all those who are in Christ, Merry Christmas … And to those of other faith traditions, I pray for the best of love, peace, family and friendship for you during this holiday season!
Peace be with you …
Got Any Thoughts?
Leave a comment and let’s kick this around.
Get a Handle On Your Identity
Start off the new year on the right foot by clarifying the steps you’ll take to be the unique reflection of Jesus in your world that God made you to be. Pick up a copy of The Field Guide For Are You Who You Want to Be: A Pathfinder To Discover Your Identity and Fulfill Your True Purpose.
This book includes an Identity Mapping Process that you can use to create tangible steps and behaviors that align with your identity at quarterly rhythms, with a weekly cadence using daily touchpoints. Download a separate pdf version of the ID Mapping process:
Of course, when we don’t think in deliberately healthy ways, our mind can actually give up control and allow the brain to think on its own. This can be very destructive and debilitating. See the two articles referenced in The Soul and Its Container for more details.
Specifically, the regions of the right hemisphere involved in processing thoughts related to self-identity include the temporoparietal junction, the prefrontal cortex, the parietal lobe, the insula, the amygdala and the posterior cingulate cortex.