And The Word Became Flesh
December 24, 2005 8:26 am
I love how Christmas reminds us of the incarnation - a hefty theological word meaning that Jesus, while fully God, the second person of the Trinity, took on flesh and became fully man. How could Jesus be fully God and fully man? This question has puzzled theologians for centuries. J.I. Packer explains in Knowing God:
“But in fact the real difficulty, the supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us… is in the Christian message of Incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man… that he toook humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as he was human.” (pg. 53)
So what do we do with this knowledge? Dr. Packer continues,
“How are we to think of the Incarnation? The New Testament does not encourage us to puzzle our heads over the physical and psychological problems that it raises, but to worship God for the love that was shown in it. For it was a great act of condescension and self-humbling.” (p. 58, emphasis mine)
Let’s thank God for the truth revealed in John 1:14 and other verses like it:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(Hat tip: Brian Chesemore for the idea for this post.)
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