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The Incarnation
Christology · Doctrinal study

The Word Made Flesh

Why the eternal Son became a man without ceasing to be God, and what He came to do.

Theologica Editorial13 min read
Overview

God Was Manifest in the Flesh

Every Christmas the world sings about a baby. Scripture asks us to look closer. The child in the manger is the eternal Son of God, who made the stars that shone over Bethlehem. Paul calls this the mystery of godliness:

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”1 TIMOTHY 3:16 · KJV

The incarnation is where the doctrine of God and the Gospel meet. If the Son did not truly become man, He could not die for men. If the One who became man were not truly God, His death could not save. The incarnation holds both truths together in one person, Jesus Christ.

We believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and that He is God come in the flesh. We believe He came to make God known, to redeem sinners, and to reign over God's kingdom. And we believe that in becoming man He never gave up any attribute of His deity. He veiled them; He did not lay them aside.

The greatest act of humility

The incarnation is the greatest act of humility the world has ever seen. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

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Further reading

For Deeper Study

  • On the IncarnationAmazon AthanasiusThe fourth-century classic on why the Word became flesh, by a bishop of the state church who defended Christ's deity from Scripture.
  • Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man)Amazon Anselm of CanterburyRoman Catholic. The medieval classic on why the Saviour had to be both God and man. Read it for that insight, not for its view of satisfaction.
  • The Virgin Birth of ChristAmazon J. Gresham MachenPresbyterian. The thorough 1930 defense of the virgin birth against liberal denial.
  • The Person of ChristAmazon Donald MacleodFree Church of Scotland (Reformed). A careful study of the incarnation, with a chapter weighing kenotic theology on Philippians 2.
  • Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.

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The Deity of Christ

Jesus Christ is eternally and fully God: the uncreated Son, one in nature with the Father and personally distinct from Him.

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