The Christmas Incarnation of Jesus

The reason we rejoice at Christmas is that the baby born to Mary and Joseph on that very first Christmas was no ordinary child. As Matthew records,this baby was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy..."The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,and they will call him Immanuel-which means,"God with us"(Matthew 1:22-23). The ultimate self revelation of God to human kind,Jesus the Christ was and eternally is God incarnate(literally,"in human flesh").

Although John's Gospel does not include a narrative of the birth and infancy of Jesus,the doctrine of the Incarnation is aptly summed up in John's introduction:

"In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God,and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,the glory of the one and Only,who came from the Father,full of grace and truth(1:1-14). The clear testimony of Scripture is that,in the Incarnation,Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man;that is,he existed as the perfect unity in one person of a divine and a human nature.

Paul eloquently expressed the profound truth of the Incarnation in his letter to the Colossians."He is the image of the invisible God,the first born over all creation...For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,and through him to reconcile to himself all things,whether things on earth or things in heaven,by making peace through his blood,shed on the cross(Colossians 1:15-19-20).

As the "God-Man",the spotless "Lamb of God"(John 1:29)lived a perfect sinless human life and died a sinner's death to sufficiently atone,once for all,for the sins of humanity(Romans 5:1-21;Hebrews 10:11-18).

Furthermore,it is crucial to point out that though the God-Man is fully human,he is not merely human. Though he took on all the essential properties of human nature,he did not take on that which is non-essential(sinful inclinations). Indeed,as Adam was created without a proclivity toward sin,so the Second Adam(Christ)was untainted by original sin. As with his moral perfections,Jesus'other divine attributes(omniscience,omnipotence,omnipresence,and so forth)were not undermined in the Incarnation.

Finally,while Jesus Christ voluntarily refrained from exercising certain attributes of deity,he did not divest himself of a single attribute(Philipians 2:1-11) With respect to his omniscience(all knowingness),for example,his human nature may have served as a filter limiting his knowledge as a man(Mark 13:32). Nonetheless,Jesus divine omniscience was ever accessible at the will of the Father.

In sum,there is no incoherence in the biblical teaching that Jesus became and will forever remain one person with two distinct natures(God in human flesh). It is this miraculous incarnation of God that you and I along with Christians around the world celebrate this Christmas.


God bless everyone!