Systems of belief are often structured more for communal identity than for fostering a direct relationship with the divine. As a result, concepts of divinity become abstract, tied to rituals and institutions rather than rooted in the simple, relational dynamic presented in the gospel of Christ. Jesus modeled a different kind of divinity—one defined not by metaphysical abstraction but by his human experience, sinlessness, and complete submission to God. He was made like his brethren in every way except without sin, and he never claimed to be God the Father. His teachings, especially in passages like John 10, present a divinity of status derived from God. When John writes that the Word was with God it is, by God, referring to the Father. When John writes in the same sentence that the Word was divine, it reflects this ministerial divinity—a divine commission. This ministerially divine Word then became flesh, but it is flesh the same as any human being.
