God is not a Man…? (Num 23:19)
By Peter Salemi
Many critics of the Bible including people of other religions say that the Bible contradicts when it comes to the deity of Christ. Many say “how can Jesus be God, when the Bible plainly says,” “God is NOT a Man…” (Num 23:19)? Now the New Testament says, the “Word was God…And the Word was made flesh,” (John 1:1, 14). Does the Bible contradict? What about the scripture in the book of Numbers? Added to that it says in the same scripture, “neither the son of man,” and clearly Jesus claimed to be the “Son of Man” (Luke 9:22 is one of many scriptures).
Context is Key
People when they come up with these so called “proof texts” to try and disprove the Bible always take these scriptures out of context! Once the context is understood there is no contradiction.
First of all, it does not say that God cannot BECOME Man. This scripture was written 1500 years before the birth of the Saviour.
Also, there are prophecies of about God becoming a man like Isaiah, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father [Father of Eternity], The Prince of Peace.” (9:6). So in the future, God was to become a man and of course this was fulfilled in Christ.
It was also prophesied that he would be born of a virgin, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isa 7:14). Immanuel means “God with us.”
In fact, there is nothing that logically prevents God from becoming a man in a whole new way—in fact, redemption requires this, and redemption was God’s plan from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Thus, it can be said that God knew He would become a man before Numbers 23:19 was even penned!
So what does it mean when it says, “God is not a man…neither the son of man”? (see also 1 Sm 15:29; Hosea 11:9).
Notice the context, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
Notice the NIV Bible: “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind, Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
Or the Bible in Basic English, “God is not a man, to say what is false; or the son of man, that his purpose may be changed: what he has said, will he not do? and will he not give effect to the words of his mouth?” This is the context!
God is not like a human being that he should LIE! In fact the Bible says it is “impossible for God to lie,” (Heb 6:18). There is nothing here about God not becoming a man-but that God is not like man-man lies God does not! God is holy not sinful like man. And even when God became a man he was “without sin” (Heb 4:15). Jesus being God did not have the internal desire to sin even though he was tempted externally “but was in all points tempted like as we are,” So even as a man God (Jesus) did not have the carnal nature of men, but the divine nature-his nature.
Neither does God “change his mind,” or “his purpose may be changed.” His emotions do not change His eternal purposes. This is unlike fallen humanity, who cannot see the big picture, who often breaks promises, and whose feelings often cloud discernment. In other words, the statements that God is not a man are contrasting one aspect of God’s nature with a corresponding part of man’s. God will bring about what he said he was going to do and does not hold back on his promises unlike man who do that all the time! This source writes, “change his counsels or purposes; which men do, either because they are not able to execute them, or because they are better informed and their minds changed by some unexpected occurrent, or by their lusts and passions, none of which have place in God” (Poole’s Commentary, emphasis added).
Nothing here suggests that God CANNOT become man. The context is clear that God does not possess the sinful nature of man, and Jesus Christ-the God who became man-God in the flesh DID not have the sinful nature of man as well.
Instead Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit “for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.” (John 3:34). The Holy Spirit is the divine nature that God wants all of us to put on, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Jesus had this without “measure” and had no internal desire for the external temptations! So again, God even as a man-Jesus, was not like man that he lied, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life:” (John 14:6).
And being the “Son of Man” yet was not like the sons of men that he should change his mind and not follow through with God’s purpose. He fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament and suffered for the sins of the world. He said, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” (John 18:37). Truly God, as Spirit, or in the flesh is not like Man At all!
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