The Incarnation
The incarnation, the union of divinity and humanity, is at
the very beginning of the Christian faith. When God became man through
the virgin birth, God lowered Himself taking the very nature of a
servant (Phil 2:7), becoming fully human and fully God at the same
time. The incarnation
had to happen because humans are sinful and needed a perfect
sacrifice to make a payment for their sins, “Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst (1 Tim 1:15).”
Without God sending His son into the world, it would be impossible
for one to reconcile oneself with God because they can not do it
themselves because of each person’s sinful
nature.
The incarnation is not a mythological story but a historical
event and the beginning of Jesus as a human on this earth (Jn
1:14). Mary, who at the
time was a virgin. The Greek παρθένος
(parthenos) describes Mary as a virgin. She conceived of a
child by the Holy Spirit, a biological miracle, and gave birth to
Jesus. The uniqueness
of Jesus birth was a sign that he was both human and the long
awaited Messiah.
Second, the virginal conception of Mary points to Jesus’
holiness, deity, redemptive mission, and the reliability of
prophesy. Also, the
genealogies of Matthew and Luke point out that Jesus was fully human
as well. The purpose of
the incarnation and grace of God is laid out in Hebrews 2 because
Jesus had to taste death for everyone as their substitute and
faithful high priest destroying the power over death that the devil
had. It was also used to reveal God to everyone and provide an
example for every Christian to model
after.
For any person to be a true
Christian, he/she must accept as truth the incarnation because it is
the basis of believing in who Jesus is. This is why John wrote in 1
Jn 4:2-3 that to recognize the Spirit of God, one must acknowledge
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and that the denial of this
is the spirit of the anti-Christ (2 Jn 7). As a result of the
incarnation, history has meaning because God entered time and space
as a real human. It
also shows how much God cares for His creation that He would send
his son to this earth as an infant even though His creation has
sinned against him (Jn 3:16).
Last, it shows that earth is not our permanent home but
heaven is (Jn 17:14); therefore, it is everyone’s opportunity to
give glory to God and look forward to our being with Him in
heaven.
In ministry one can learn from the
incarnation by valuing every person he/she encounters. Christ came into the world
to live and die for every person who has sinned: the rich, poor,
unpopular, black, white, beautiful, talented, ugly, healthy, and
sick. The incarnation
shows that no matter how much one has sinned, Jesus came into the
world to die for them.
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