INCARNATION
GOD SENT HIS SON, TO SAVE US
by J.I. Packer
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. JOHN 1:14
Trinity and Incarnation belong together. The doctrine of the Trinity declares that the man Jesus is truly divine; that of the Incarnation declares that the divine Jesus is truly human. Together they proclaim the full reality of the Savior whom the New Testament sets forth, the Son who came from the Father’s side at the Father’s will to become the sinner’s substitute on the cross (Matt. 20:28; 26:36-46; John 1:29; 3:13-17; Rom. 5:8; 8:32; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; 8:9; Phil. 2:5-8).
The moment of truth regarding the doctrine of the Trinity came at the Council of Nicaea (A.D.325), when the church countered the Arian idea that Jesus was God’s first and noblest creature by affirming that he was of the same “substance” or “essence” (i.e., the same existing entity) as the Father. Thus there is one God, not two; the distinction between Father and Son is within the divine unity, and the Son is God in the same sense as the Father is. In saying that Son and Father are “of one substance,” and that the Son is “begotten” (echoing “only-begotten,” John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18, and NIV text notes) but “not made,” the Nicene Creed unequivocally recognized the deity of the man from Galilee.
A crucial event for the church’s confession of the doctrine of the Incarnation came at the Council of Chalcedon (A.D.451), when the church countered both the Nestorian idea that Jesus was two personalities—the Son of God and a man—under one skin, and the Eutychian idea that Jesus’ divinity had swallowed up his humanity. Rejecting both, the council affirmed that Jesus is one divine-human person in two natures (i.e., with two sets of capacities for experience, expression, reaction, and action); and that the two natures are united in his personal being without mixture, confusion, separation, or division; and that each nature retained its own attributes. In other words, all the qualities and powers that are in us, as well as all the qualities and powers that are in God, were, are, and ever will be really and distinguishably present in the one person of the man from Galilee. Thus the Chalcedonian formula affirms the full humanity of the Lord from heaven in categorical terms.
The Incarnation, this mysterious miracle at the heart of historic Christianity, is central in the New Testament witness. That Jews should ever have come to such a belief is amazing. Eight of the nine New Testament writers, like Jesus’ original disciples, were Jews, drilled in the Jewish axiom that there is only one God and that no human is divine. They all teach, however, that Jesus is God’s Messiah, the Spirit-anointed son of David promised in the Old Testament (e.g., Isa. 11:1-5; Christos, “Christ,” is Greek for Messiah). They all present him in a threefold role as teacher, sin-bearer, and ruler—prophet, priest, and king. And in other words, they all insist that Jesus the Messiah should be personally worshiped and trusted—which is to say that he is God no less than he is man. Observe how the four most masterful New Testament theologians (John, Paul, the writer of Hebrews, and Peter) speak to this.
John’s Gospel frames its eyewitness narratives (John 1:14; 19:35; 21:24) with the declarations of its prologue (1:1-18): that Jesus is the eternal divine Logos (Word), agent of Creation and source of all life and light (vv. 1-5, 9), who through becoming “flesh” was revealed as Son of God and source of grace and truth, indeed as “God the only begotten” (vv. 14, 18; NIV text notes). The Gospel is punctuated with “I am” statements that have special significance because I am (Greek: ego eimi) was used to render God’s name in the Greek translation of Exodus 3:14; whenever John reports Jesus as saying ego eimi, a claim to deity is implicit. Examples of this are John 8:28, 58, and the seven declarations of his grace as (a) the Bread of Life, giving spiritual food (6:35, 48, 51); (b) the Light of the World, banishing darkness (8:12; 9:5); (c) the gate for the sheep, giving access to God (10:7, 9); (d) the Good Shepherd, protecting from peril (10:11, 14); (e) the Resurrection and Life, overcoming our death (11:25); (f) the Way, Truth, and Life, guiding to fellowship with the Father (14:6); (g) the true Vine, nurturing for fruitfulness (15:1, 5). Climactically, Thomas worships Jesus as “my Lord and my God” (20:28). Jesus then pronounces a blessing on all who share Thomas’s faith and John urges his readers to join their number (20:29-31).
Paul quotes from what seems to be a hymn that declares Jesus’ personal deity (Phil. 2:6); states that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9; cf. 1:19); hails Jesus the Son as the Father’s image and as his agent in creating and upholding everything (Col. 1:15-17); declares him to be “Lord” (a title of kingship, with divine overtones), to whom one must pray for salvation according to the injunction to call on Yahweh in Joel 2:32 (Rom. 10:9-13); calls him “God over all” (Rom. 9:5) and “God and Savior” (Titus 2:13); and prays to him personally (2 Cor. 12:8-9), looking to him as a source of divine grace (2 Cor. 13:14). The testimony is explicit: faith in Jesus’ deity is basic to Paul’s theology and religion.
The writer to the Hebrews, purporting to expound the perfection of Christ’s high priesthood, starts by declaring the full deity and consequent unique dignity of the Son of God (Heb. 1:3, 6, 8-12), whose full humanity he then celebrates in chapter 2. The perfection, and indeed the very possibility, of the high priesthood that he describes Christ as fulfilling depends on the conjunction of an endless, unfailing divine life with a full human experience of temptation, pressure, and pain (Heb. 2:14-17; 4:14-5:2; 7:13-28; 12:2-3).
Not less significant is Peter’s use of Isaiah 8:12-13 (1 Pet. 3:14). He cites the Greek (Septuagint) version, urging the churches not to fear what others fear but to set apart the Lord as holy. But where the Septuagint text of Isaiah says, “Set apart the Lord himself,” Peter writes, “Set apart Christ as Lord” (1 Pet. 3:15). Peter would give the adoring fear due to the Almighty to Jesus of Nazareth, his Master and Lord.
The New Testament forbids worship of angels (Col. 2:18; Rev. 22:8-9) but commands worship of Jesus and focuses consistently on the divine-human Savior and Lord as the proper object of faith, hope, and love here and now. Religion that lacks these emphases is not Christianity. Let there be no mistake about that!
From: Concise Theology: A Guide To Historic Christian Beliefs
2 comments:
Simply pagan 'catholicism' is anti-messiah and because of her and her harlot 'christian' daughters "The Way of Truth is evil spoken of" ;-(
The Messiah bore witness unto "The Only True G-D".......
And Truth IS, as Paul testified, "G-D was in The Messiah", Paul did not testify that 'g-d was the messiah'.......
And Paul testified of "ONE G-D, Father of ALL".......
The Messiah testified of, "The Only True G-D" and The Messiah testified that He had a "G-D and Father", HE WHO IS The ONE and Only True G-D, Father of ALL.......
Paul testified, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in G-D, WHO CREATED ALL things by The Messiah".......(Eph3:9)
And The Father(Creator) spoke "Let there be Light" and "there was Light".......
LIGHT begot Light.......
The Messiah, "The Light which enlightens every man", was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......(Rev 3:14)
There is Only ONE True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE IS The G-D and Father(Creator) of The Messiah and His brethren.......
John 17:3 "And this is Eternal Life, that they might know YOU The Only True G-D, and The Messiah, Whom YOU have sent".......
Mark 12:32-33 "And the scribe said unto The Messiah, Well, Master, You have said The Truth: for there is ONE G-D; and there is NONE OTHER but HE. And to love HIM with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and to love his neighbor as yourself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices".......
Rom 3:30 "Seeing it is ONE G-D, WHO shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith".......
1 Cor 8:6 "But to us there is but ONE G-D, The Father, of WHOM are all things, and we in HIM; and one Master, The Messiah, by Whom are all things, and we by Him".......
Rev 3:14 The Messiah was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL".......
Eph 4:6 "ONE G-D, Father of ALL, WHO is above all, and through all, and in you all".......
John 4:24 "G-D is A SPIRIT: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in Spirit and in Truth".......
Luke 24:39 The Messiah testified after He was "raised from among the dead", "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, handle Me and see, for A SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH AND BONES, AS you see I HAVE".......
The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL can not die.......period.......
The Messiah died and "The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL raised Him from among the dead"....... And The Messiah's incorruptible body ascended into the clouds.......
James 1:13 "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of G-D, for G-D CAN NOT BE TEMPTED with evil, neither tempts HE any man".......
Heb 4:15 "For we do not have a High Priest(The Messiah) Who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, for He WAS in all points TEMPTED like we are, yet without sin".......
The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, HE CAN NOT BE TEMPTED with sin AS THE MESSIAH WAS.......period.......
(continued)
1 Tim 2:5 "There is ONE G-D, and one mediator between G-D and men, the man-The Messiah".......
James 2:19 "You believe that there is ONE G-D, you do well, yet the devils also believe, and tremble".......
John 20:17 "The Messiah said unto her, Touch Me not; for I have not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My G-D, and your G-D."
Mark 3:33-35 "The Messiah answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brethren"? And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whoever shall do The Will of G-D, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother"".......
Rom 8:29 "Whom G-D did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of HIS Son, that The Messiah might be the firstborn among many brethren".......
Hope is you are one of the brethren of The Messiah.......
The brethren of The Messiah know there is Only ONE True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......
And Truth is as The Messiah tesified, " My(Our) Father is greater than I".......(John14:28)
And Truth is as Paul testifed, "The HEAD of The Messiah is The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and The Head of the man is The Messiah, and the head of the woman is the man".......(1Cor11:3)
Those who would pervert The Order of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL will have to answer to HIM.......
For The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, "HE Created all things by The Messiah" and The Messiah was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......
Truth is "The Messiah is The Son of The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL".......
The Messiah testified that He had a "G-D and Father" and that His "G-D and Father" was also the "G-D and Father" of His Brethren.......
And The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, HE has no god, for HE IS G-D, and HE has no father, for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE has no brethren, for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL.......
Hope is there would be those who experience The Miracle that is receiving "the love of The Truth" for they will "experience The Messiah and The Power(Our Father) that raised Him from among the dead".......
The Faith of those who have received "a love of The Truth" is grounded in Miracles, not mere colored marks(words) written on a dead tree(page) and bound in a book.......
Thankfully The ONE and Only True G-D, Father of ALL, HE yet communes with HIS Children, HE yet reveals all things.......
Father Help! and HE does.......
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth.......
Truth is never ending....... francis
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