2013 Doctrine Series #6 – Incarnation

The first chapter of the Gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God… And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-2, 14 NRSV)  This is John’s version of the Nativity; no Mary, no Joseph, no Manger, no shepherd, no wise men.
The reason for this is that one could come away from the Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke with the impression that Jesus is a very special but merely human baby.  John is trying to make sure that this does not happen.  John is trying to show the doctrine that lies behind the story, the doctrine of Incarnation.
Those with a minimal understanding of Spanish, or who have even spent enough time in Mexican restaurants, will recognize the word “carne” which means meat and which comes from the same word in Latin that means meat, flesh, or skin.  Incarnation, or to become incarnate, is to become, or take on, flesh, to become human.  In the Incarnation the Word, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus, took on flesh and became a human being.
Another important piece of the doctrine of Incarnation that John lifts up is what is called the pre-existence of Christ, the belief that Jesus has existed as the Son of God from the beginning of time prior to taking on flesh and being born in Bethlehem.  John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
It is here that we begin to see the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each fully and equally God, that they are unified, and yet they are distinct from one another.  We will say more about this in a future article.
So we see that the Word, Jesus, the Son, is God and is with God the Father (as is the Holy Spirit) before the creation of the universe in eternity past.  It is the Son who became incarnate, who took on flesh, who became a human being.  As John says, “The Word became flesh and lived among us.”  Jesus is God in the flesh.  God became a human being.  Jesus is fully God and fully human.
If you have a hard time getting your head around all of this, you are not alone.  It took the early church a long time to figure out what Jesus and the biblical author meant.  In fact many of the things we take for granted about what we believe about Jesus were not settled until the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451 which declared that Jesus had two natures, one human and one divine, "united with neither confusion nor division."  So that you can impress, or bore, your friends this is called the “hypostatic union.”
Another passage of Scripture that is very important to understanding incarnation is Philippians 2:5-8, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”
In closing we need to ask why this is so important and what difference does it make to us?  I think the best passage to answer this question is Hebrews 4:14-16, “Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”