Question: Our adult Bible class teacher says Jesus was half God and half man; that God can only act ...

Question: Our adult Bible class teacher says Jesus was half God and half man; that God can only act in response to our prayers; and that when the one prayed for isn’t healed it’s because there hasn’t been enough prayer and fasting. Are these ideas biblical?

Response: The teacher may not be a heretic but poorly expressing the idea that God is Jesus’ Father and Mary His mother. The virgin birth is not like having an Irish father and French mother and being half-Irish and half-French. Jesus is fully God and fully man: “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Tm 3:16), not half-God manifest in half-flesh. The same verse calls this a “great mystery.” Isaiah called the virgin-born child “Immanuel,” which means “God [not half-God] with us” (7:14, Mt 1:23)—“The mighty God [not half-God], The everlasting Father” (Is 9:6).

Paul called Him “God our Saviour” (1 Tm 1:1; 2:3; Ti 1:3,4 2:10,13; 3:4) as did Peter (2 Pt 1:1) and Jude (v 25). To be our Savior He had to be God (Is 43:11) and man (Rom:5:12-21 [12] Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: [13] (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. [14] Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. [15] But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. [16] And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. [17] For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) [18] Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. [19] For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. [20] Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: [21] That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
See All...), not a hybrid or half-breed. Ask your teacher if this is what he means.

That God doesn’t need our prayers in order to act is obvious. He did a great deal, even creating the universe without our prayers. Our prayers didn’t cause Christ to be born into the world and to die for our sins. It is not our prayers that will usher in a new universe, though God gives us the privilege to pray “Thy kingdom come.” If God could act only in response to our prayers He would be at our mercy, His hands tied most of the time, unable to do what in His infinite wisdom and knowledge He knows ought to be done but of which in our limited understanding we are ignorant or haven’t considered. Moreover, He couldn’t meet emergencies that we didn’t know would occur and thus hadn’t prayed about. That’s unbiblical and illogical.

To say that failure to be healed is due to a lack of prayer and fasting is equally foolish. That implies that we can cause God to do whatever we pray for, if we pray and fast long and hard enough—that we can impose our will upon God. What about God’s will? It also suggests that God’s will is to heal everyone every time. On the contrary, sickness and death are part of God’s judgment upon mankind for sin, which will only be abolished in the new heaven and new earth. God has something better for us than perpetuating our lives endlessly in these bodies of sin.

Prayer is one of our privileged opportunities which God provides for communion with Him, for molding us and conforming our minds to His will, and for encouraging our faith in Him by His response to our requests.

We recommend you read a detailed discussion on prayer and faith which appears in Beyond Seduction.