The Incarnation’s Deathblow to the Deification of Man

The Theology of the Incarnation is expressed in two ways:

Jesus is actually 100% GOD.
Jesus is actually 100% MAN.These are Theological statements that become foundational Doctrines of the Christian Religion.
First: Jesus is 100% GOD.

In Hebrews 1:8 God the Father Calls Jesus the Son, GOD.

Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.

Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.

Joh 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell…

Second: Jesus is 100% Man

Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…

Lu 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Mt 1:18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise…

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The Incarnation of the Son of God is one of the central points of the whole of Scripture – along with the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost – in order to explain clearly and more fully the Theological Thrust of Who Jesus is, Creeds and confession were written. These are considered the official Dogma’s of the Church.

Herman Bavinck comments in his work on Reformed Dogmatics,

“The doctrine of Christ is certainly the central point of the whole system of dogmatics. All other dogmas either prepare for it, or are inferred from it. In it, as the heart of dogmatics, pulses the whole of the religious ethical life of Christianity. It is the mystery of godliness. From this ministry all Christology has to proceed…”

This is the point Paul was making when he declared to Timothy,

1Ti 3:16 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.

Bavinck continues,

“If, however, Christ is the incarnate Word, then the incarnation is the central fact of the entire history of the world; then, too, it must have been prepared from before the ages and have its effects throughout eternity.”

According to Bavinck, the Incarnation is not only one of the centrals point of man’s salvation; it is the central point of the World – the entire created order. Therefore, it is essential that its doctrine is clearly spelled out in creeds and confessions. The Incarnation gives meaning to the world and all that therein is, and therefore requires a clear statement concerning it so that there is no misunderstanding as to what the Church is to believe.

Without the reality and manifestation of the Incarnate Christ, the world would remain in darkness and void of meaning. It is then, therefore, no wondering why, in the very beginning of the Book of Genesis (Which is the Book of Beginnings) God declares the centrality of the Incarnation in metaphorical symbolism. As early as Genesis 1, where God declares Himself as the Beginning of all that exists, He is in fact inserting Himself into the history of mankind. From Eternity where there was no created world, God creates the World and then injects Himself into the WORLD as Part of the human race. Its sole purpose is to redeem that which He had created from doom and destruction. This was always God’s Intention even before the world was created and before Adam rebelled. This is why the initial description of the created world was a formless void of darkness. Even here – at this point of Creation – God explains that without LIGHT there will always be darkness and a world of formless void. It was the LIGHT that gave meaning to the created order.

And so, it is only when He contrasts the Darkness with the LIGHT, by injecting Himself as LIGHT, in Genesis 1, do we realize that He is intentionally inserting Himself into both Creation and into the affairs of men and nations in a very particular way – even to the extent as to become man – In order to give meaning to man and the created order.

Borrowing from Genesis 1, John Contrasts Light with Darkness in John 3:19-21,

Joh 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Now while the First chapter of Genesis only hints as to the incarnation, Genesis 3 makes God’s intention perfectly clear that Salvation will come through the seed of the Woman, confirming His plan visa vie The Incarnation. Note the reference to the Incarnation.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

This too John understood clearly when he wrote,

Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Dr. Rushdoony Explains John’s declaration

“John sums up the glory of the incarnation: God the Word was made flesh; he dwelt among us, and his glory, the glory of God the son, was manifest. God the son became man; the new man is the head of a new creation. Because he is the fullness of grace and truth, there can be no truth apart from the word, nor any grace from any other man, [pagan] god, or religion. The word dwelt is literally Tabernacle or tented. For a lifetime, God the son was on earth. His stay was temporary, but his incarnation is an eternal reality. John, in telling us that Jesus is the glory, has in mind the presence of God in the holy of holies. That presence is now made flesh in Jesus. The words made flesh are literally became flesh. The word did not temporarily inhabit or possess a child; he became one. He is truly man, and he is the [new] Adam or head of God’s new human race; it is in Him and into this new humanity that we are born again.”

Never has there been any disagreement among the Christian community regarding the Incarnation. Every time there was a controversy or an issue of doctrine the Church fathers would convene and pound out the issue. One of the earliest issues faced was the Deity of Christ, and His Human nature by incarnation. The argument was NOT over the Incarnation itself, but rather some of the elements and particulars of the Incarnation. One of the issues concerning the Incarnation, and the fact that Jesus was indeed God, was debated, and then answered clearly at the council of Nicea in a document called the Nicene Creed.

Alister McGrath gives some historical background,

“The Nicene Creed is the longer version of the creed more strictly known as the Niceno-Constantino-politan creed, which includes additional material relating to the person of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. In response to the controversies concerning the divinity of Christ, this creed includes strong affirmations of his unity with God, including the expressions, ‘God from God’ and ‘being of one substance with the Father’. The development of creeds was an important element in the move toward achieving a doctrinal consensus within the early church.”

The Creed stated:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.

The early church had to deal with all kinds of debates and controversies ranging from the idea that Jesus couldn’t be human, or that He couldn’t be God, to the idea that a Trinitarian doctrine was not Biblical which was held by the Arians. Other dogmatic statements came from the Council of Chalcedon and the Athanasius Creed both dealing with the Humanity of Christ and the dual nature of Christ.

Chalcedon

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood;

Athanasius Creed

Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and made of the substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by the confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;

One of the early Church Fathers, Gregory of Nazianzus posited this in defense of the Incarnation.

“Do not let people deceive themselves and others by saying that the ‘Man of the Lord’ which is the title they give to him who is rather ‘our Lord and God’, is without a human mind. We do not separate humanity from the divinity; in fact, we assert the dogma of the unity and identity of the person, who previously was not just human, but God, the only son before all ages, who in these last days has assumed human nature also for our salvation; …in his flesh possible, in his deity impassable; in the body subject to limitation, yet unlimited in the spirit; at one and the same time earthly and heavenly, tangible and intangible, comprehensible and incomprehensible; that by one and the same person, a perfect human being and perfect God, the whole humanity, fallen through sin, might be re-created.”

These Christological debates over the Trinity of the Godhead, the Deity, Humanity and Incarnation of Christ, were plenteous during the early church period and had to be settled before the church could grow in faith and unity.

Bavinck observes,

“Only the theistic and Trinitarian confession of God’s characteristic essence opens the possibility for the fact of the incarnation; for here God remains who he is and can yet communicate himself to others. In a word, the Trinity makes possible the existence of a mediator who himself participates both in the divine and human nature, and thus unites God and humans.”

The Declared Beliefs of Christendom are the Foundation of Western Civilization’s Social order. Without these the Western world collapses, liberty is lost and tyranny destroys mankind. Why is this so? Or to be more precise, “Why is the Doctrine of God, and the Incarnation of Christ so critical to Western Civilization’s liberty and its Social Structure?” Because without the Incarnation man will declare himself God without limitation, confrontation or argument. If man can prove, as Nestorious tried in AD 431, that Jesus was simply a man that God simply put divinity in him, then God can put Divinity into any man. Man will be free to declare himself a GOD. BUT IF ONLY Jesus can be BOTH GOD and MAN, by virtue of His Divinity and Incarnation, then no human being can be both God and Man, BUT JESUS ALONE. The council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon made sure of this.

This is why Herod was so insistent upon finding the Incarnate Son of God. As the seed of the serpent, claiming himself to be as God, he wanted to destroy the seed of the woman. Think about what is happening today in our modern churches concerning a creedal testimony; There isn’t any. There is a glaring ignorance of our creedal heritage, and it is very often encouraged by so called Christian ministers who piously declare, ‘No Creed but Christ, No Law but Love’. These are words that will one day seal the doom of the church and bring the human race into extreme bondage since they have no creedal history to assist them in declaring “NO King but Jesus”. We must bring our nation back to its creedal roots. We must change the perception of the populace using every means available before we lose our history.