God Was In Christ: The Doctrine Of The Incarnation V

I wrote to you in an earlier post that Christ did not begin to exist at His birth in Bethlehem. He has always existed; the Godhead Trinity are co-equal, co-eternal, one in essence, nature, power, action, and will; all uncreated, and all three are eternal without beginning. Jesus Himself told the Jews that “…Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” {Jn. 8:58 NASB}, and He said in John 6:62, “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?” (NASB). Not only does Scripture affirm the pre-existence of Christ, but the earliest leaders of the church, from the Patristics to the Reformers, concluded that Scripture taught that Christ eternally existed with the Father (One of the greatest works being St. Athanasius’ On The Incarnation). His pre-existence is revealed throughout the Old and New Testaments, the prophets, and by Jesus Himself, which I will discuss all in later posts. Christ’s divine nature is the very same nature as the Father and the Holy Spirit. Christ, according to His divine nature is immutable, impassible, and neither lessened nor weakened by the incarnation.[1]

The pre-existence of Christ is essential to the Incarnation. If Christ pre-existed eternally with the Father, He was God. If He did not pre-exist, He could not have been God. If He is God, He is to be worshiped as God, and the attributes of God should be ascribed to Him. The complete teaching of Scripture about Jesus Christ is that He was fully human and fully divine. “Although the Word does not explicitly occur in Scripture, the church has used the term Incarnation to refer to the fact that Jesus was God in human flesh. The Incarnation was the act of God the Son whereby he took to himself a human nature.”[2] Scripture implies and assumes that Jesus was God. The nature of Christ’s pre-existence deals with the nature of His deity. If Jesus’ birth was His beginning, He was not God, and it negates any idea that He is the Word in the flesh. He simply could not be God incarnate if He did not pre-exist eternally with the Father. “The world was from the beginning, but the Word was in the beginning. The Word had a being before the world had a beginning. He that was in the beginning never began, and therefore was.”[3]

Another aspect of the nature of His pre-existence is that He is the Second Person of the Trinity. The implications of this are imperative to His pre-existence. Christ was not only human, but He also claimed to be equal with God; sharing the very same essence of the Father. Jesus prayed in John 17:5, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” This is a clear statement by Christ that He existed before the world. This means Jesus existed before His birth and was as God in nature and attributes.

 

There are several key events in Scripture that speak to the eternal Second Person of the Trinity. It is these events that solidify His pre-existence. We will examine these events in the next post with the appearances of Christ in the Old Testament.

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[1] Timothy Pawl, In Defense Of Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay (Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2016), 16.

[2] Grudem, 543. 

[3] Leslie Church, ed., Matthew Henry’s Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960), 1506.

 

God Was In Christ The Doctrine of the Incarnation An Advent Journal Part IV

The Incarnation: Necessary For Salvation

Why did Christ come to earth? Why would He leave the glory of heaven to live in human skin and suffer the things this world has to offer?


The Incarnation is essential to God’s plan of redemption. Salvation comes by believing in Him as Lord and Savior and accepting the sacrifice He made for mankind. Packer writes,

“Take the atonement, how can we believe that the death of Jesus of Nazareth—one man, expiring on a Roman gibbet— put away the world’s sins? How can that death have any bearing on God’s forgiveness of our sins today?”[1] The writer of Hebrews answers Packer’s query, “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17 NASB). 

He came and died as a sacrifice for sin. We are incapable of making the sacrifice for ourselves. It is only by the sacrifice made by Christ, that we can be forgiven and reconciled to God. If Jesus were a mere human being, He would in the end amount to nothing more than a great religious teacher or spiritual guide. However, in the Incarnation, God bears the brunt of suffering and evil by subjecting Himself to the cruelty and horror of the world.[2]

Mankind was made in the glorious image of God:

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth’” (Gen. 1:26 NASB).

The Potter molding His clay; The divine Creator creating. He separates mankind from the rest of creation to be made in His holy image:

“The image of God in Genesis 1 functions as a calling for humankind: to use all their capacities, those they share with the other animals and especially those that set them apart, in establishing a community that exercises dominion over God’s world, a dominion that reflects God’s faithfulness, wisdom, benevolence, and creativity.”[3]



Satan came to the garden and broke the earthen vessels and tempted them to sin by choosing to believe his lies. They fell, damaging the beautiful image that God bestowed on them. This was too big for them to repair; they had dug a hole too big to climb out themselves. God had to cast them from His presence. He longed to restore mankind to Himself so they could once again be in His presence. 

“What was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Saviour Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the image of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image…He assumed a human body in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need.”[4]

That is His purpose—that we may know Him. That we have a personal relationship with Him. That He be our everything. He loves us that much.

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[1] J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press., 1973), 52.
[2] Michael Green, The Truth Of God Incarnate (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), 103.
[3] C. John Collins, Reading Genesis Well (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 164.
[4] Athanasius, On The Incarnation (Yonkers: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press., 2011), 41.

God Was In Christ: The Doctrine of the Incarnation, An Advent Journal Part Three

Fulfillment Of Prophecy

The Old Testament is a wonderful and beautiful book that contains some of the richest prose and poetry. I love the Old Testament. I am saddened with the trend in some of today’s churches who exhort their flocks to detach from the Old Testament. Without the Old Testament, it is impossible to understand the New Testament. 

The Apostle Paul teaches us that “All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work” {2 Tim. 3:16-17 NASB}. When Paul wrote these great words, the New Testament had not been compiled; the Scriptures were the Law and the Prophets—the Old Testament. Yet, he teaches the new church to use them to equip and build up the saints.

Jesus Himself, tells the disciples that the Old Testament is where to find the writings concerning Him. In Luke, we find that Jesus after the resurrection told the two weary disciples on the road to Emmaus, “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” {24:27 NASB}. Again in John’s Gospel, He spoke of the Old Testament that “It is they that bear witness of me” {Jn. 5:39}.

The Old Testament contains nearly three hundred references to the coming Messiah, all of which were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The chance that Jesus is the fulfillment of all three hundred references is overwhelming. In his classic book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner calculated the chance of any man fulfilling just eight of the three hundred prophecies concerning the coming Messiah to be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 17th power) or one hundred quadrillion.[1] Yet the Bible affirms that Jesus did fulfill the prophecies concerning Him (Lk. 24:32).  

The first Messianic prophecy or the Protoevangelium is found in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 1:18 and Galatians 3:16, 19 refers to Jesus as being the promised seed of the woman.

The Old Testament is saturated with rich symbolism of Christ. Jesus was from the beginning; He was with the Father before all things. His beautiful High Priestly prayer in John 17: 5, reveals His preexistence, “Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed”{NASB} {Read Part One}. He is present from the very first in Genesis and through to The Revelation of Christ.

The Incarnation was predicted in the Old Testament and is the fulfillment of prophecy. {I wrote about the fulfilled prophecies in Jesus previously}.  It was part of God’s perfect plan. The prophet Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be both human and God: “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6). These names refer simultaneously with the Father, indicating that the Father and the Son are One.

Many years ago, there was a beautiful song recorded by Aaron Jeoffery concerning who Jesus is in every book of the Bible {Find it here}. This is an old song but a beautiful one that speaks to the symbolism of Christ throughout the Old and New Testaments:

In Genesis, He’s the Breath of Life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He’s our High Priest
Numbers, Fire by night
Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ Voice
In Joshua, He is Salvation’s Choice

Judges, Law-Giver
In Ruth, the Kinsmen-Redeemer
First and Second Samuel, our Trusted Prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He’s sovereign
Ezra, True and Faithful Scribe
Nehemiah, He’s the Rebuilder of broken walls and lives

In Esther, He’s Mordecai’s Courage
In Job, the timeless Redeemer
In Psalms, He is our Morning Song
In Proverbs, Wisdom’s Cry
Ecclesiastes, the Time and Season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover’s Dream

He is, He is, HE IS!

In Isaiah, He’s the Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet
In Lamentations, the Cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He’s the Call from sin
In Daniel, the Stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever Faithful
In Joel, He’s the Spirit’s power
In Amos, the Arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He’s the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He’s the Great Missionary
In Micah, the Promise of Peace
In Nahum, He is our Strength and our Shield

In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zechariah, our Fountain
In Malachi, He is the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings

He is, He is, HE IS!

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God, Man, Messiah
In the Book of Acts, He is Fire from Heaven
In Romans, He’s the Grace of God
In Corinthians, the Power of Love
In Galatians, He is Freedom from the curse of sin

Ephesians, our Glorious Treasure
Philippians, the Servant’s Heart
In Colossians, He’s the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon, He’s our Mediator and our Faithful Pastor
In Hebrews, the Everlasting Covenant
In James, the One who heals the sick
In First and Second Peter, He is our Shepherd
In John and Jude, He is the Lover coming for His Bride
In the Revelation, He is King of kings and Lord of lords

He is, He is, HE IS!

The Prince of Peace
The Son of Man
The Lamb of God
The great I AM

He’s the Alpha and Omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
And when time is no more
He is, HE IS!

 

Jeff Silvey and Jeoffrey Keith Benward, He Is (Brentwood and Nashville: Birdwing Music (Capitol Records), and Shepherd’s Fold Music (EMI),) 1995.

  

[1] Peter Stoner, Science Speaks (Chicago: Moody Press., 1963), 104.

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God Was In Christ: The Doctrine of the Incarnation, An Advent Journal Part Two

 Jesus Did Not Begin To Exist

The message of Christmas is that God became flesh and came in the form of the Holy Child in a humble stable in Bethlehem. The book of Luke describes the supernatural, prophecy-fulfilling birth of Jesus Christ; through His messengers, God sets forth the significance of this event.^[1]

The whole of the angelic hosts proclaimed to the shepherds that the Savior had been born (Lk. 2:11). This was God’s way of enacting His salvation plan. However, though He was born in Bethlehem, He preexisted the event. John 1:15 states, “John testified about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me’” (NASB). His birth in Bethlehem does not mark the beginning of the Son of God, rather it is when He entered the world to dwell among His creatures. John Murray writes, “The doctrine of the incarnation is vitiated if it is conceived of as the beginning to be of the person of Christ. The incarnation means that he who never began to be in his specific identity as the Son of God, began to be what he eternally was not.”[2]

Jesus is the preexistent Second Person of the Godhead. He existed before time began, before there was any matter before anything had been made—before majestic mountain ranges, deep blue raging oceans—Jesus was. “In the beginning was the Word,” so, there at the beginning, when those things were brought into being, He was there already. 

“…Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” {Jn. 8:58 NASB}.

Christians rest their belief in the eternality of the Son in part in John 1:1-2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”   

Christ was at the beginning with the Father, “And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed” (Jn. 17: 5 NASB). His position was of One who transcends time and preeminent over all creation. Scripture speaks of the previous glory that He shared with the Father before time began. He left the majestic, beautiful, glory when He came to tabernacle among us.

  

The Lord Of The Ages Is God

When the prophet speaks these words,

The time of fulfillment is still 700 years away.

But so deeply is the prophet immersed

In God’s thoughts and decisions

That he speaks of the saving hour,

As if he has already stood in worship at the manger of Jesus.

“Unto us a child is born.”

We who don’t know what will happen next year, how are we to understand

Someone looking over the centuries?

This voice of a single person,

Gently ringing down through the ages

Joined now and then by another isolated voice of prophecy,

Chimes in at last with the shepherds’ midnight adorations

And cries out in jubilation:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Mystery of Holy Night

 

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[1] Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and Charles L. Quarles, The Cradle, The Cross, And The Crown (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2009), 270.

[2] John Murray, John Frame, ed., Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2013), 883. 

 

God Was In Christ: The Doctrine Of The Incarnation, An Advent Journal Part One

 A true Christology will bring God in at the beginning, realizing that in the life of Jesus from the start there was no independence of God.[1]

For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world. In one sense, indeed, He was not far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without Him Who, while ever abiding with the Father, yet fills all things that are. But now He entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us.[2] 

The Deity And humanity, in One Glorious Person, is a concept that I cannot grasp or understand. Though, if I could, I suppose He would not be God. For how can one fathom God? How can one understand Him? The Advent season the time we await the Christ child, the one born in a manger in the quiet of the wee hours of the night in a cave for livestock in Bethlehem many moons ago, while the world slept. A few sleepy shepherds. A multitude of angels. The God of the universe left the glorious position of heaven to become a man for the world which He loved so much. He did not appear in glorious triumph, but in the lowly human coat of flesh and bones like those He came to save.

God is not ashamed of human lowliness.

He enters right into it. He chooses a human being to be his instrument

And works his wonders where they are least expected.

Where else are we to seek mercy

For all our betrayals, all our weak faith, all our failures,

But in the lowliness of God in the manger? ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

John’s Gospel account eloquently describes the mysterious incarnation,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it…And the Word [God the Son] became flesh [incarnate], and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:1-5, 14 NASB emphasis added).

Jesus of Nazareth was—and is— the Son of God, who while remaining fully divine, took on human nature so that He could redeem the world. How did this once and for all union of God and man happen? Can the divine nature and human nature coexist within one person? How can our glorious Lord Jesus be both God and man at once? First, Scripture tells us that Jesus is God and that He has all the divine attributes of God:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Col. 1:15-20).

This union of the divine and human natures (the hypostatic union) have the personal subsistence in the Godhead, as distinguished from their common essence or substance (ousia) as God.[3] The hypostatic union is not a conflation or a mixture of two people. Jesus is not part human and part divine. The biblical teaching on the full deity and full humanity of Christ has been believed from the earliest times in the history of the church.[4]

Both the Old and New Testaments, present Jesus Christ as having the divine nature and human nature in a single undivided personality (John 1:1–18; 9:48–59).[5] The Apostle Paul rightly taught that “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9 NIV). This means that the divine nature penetrates and perfects every aspect of the human, and the human is permeated by the divine. In the Son, the divine participated in the human and the human in the divine without blurring or confusing either. The idea of Jesus being both fully human and fully divine is not a concept that can be understood logically, because it is an event that can only be performed by a transcendent God who exists outside of time and space. The Incarnation is truly a mystery that our human, finite mind cannot grasp. This mystery of true divine nature and true human nature is the very heart of our faith. It is definitely the heart of my faith, which without, I would be very lost.  

“In Christ, something has taken place which is so new that it is related to our ordinary knowledge only at its extreme edges; if it is to be apprehended by us it must be apprehended from outside the limits of our ordinary human experience and thought.” [6]

Any theology or ideology that diminishes His humanity or His divinity is denying the Incarnation of Christ. For thus is the Incarnation of the Word of God—that He took on flesh yet with all His divine attributes of God.

The Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion being that what is beyond all space and time, which is uncreated, eternal, came into Nature, into human nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again, bringing Nature up with Him.

 ~ C.S. Lewis, The Grand Miracle

 

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[1] D.M. Baillie, God Was In Christ (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948), 93.

[2] Athanasius, On The Incarnation (Yonkers: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press., 2011), 33.

[3] Thomas C. Oden, Classic Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 1992), 306.

[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 553.

[5] Ibid., 302. 

[6] Thomas F. Torrance, Incarnation: The Person And Life Of Christ (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2008), 83.