Page 6 - January 2023 - Truth & Tidings

hen God looked down from embodied in human flesh. Chapter one
heaven, He observed that the of the Gospel According to John identi-
Wentire human race was corrupt fies Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God
and no one was seeking God (Psa 14:2- and calls Him “the Word” – a distinctive
3). He created us in His image, and we
rebelled. Humanity was lost, blind and person within the Godhead (“with God”),
enslaved by sin. How did our merciful yet equally God (“was God”). Then John
God respond? He did so by becoming one testifies clearly to the incarnation: “The
of us, and humbly sharing in our flesh and Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
blood existence (Heb 2:14). Hold the truth We observed his glory, the glory as the
of the incarnation of Christ tenaciously, one and only Son from the Father” (Joh
but never get used to it. The source of life, 1:1,14). Notice that He was not dispos-
1
who upholds all things, was held in the sessed of divine glory, “for the entire
arms of His virgin mother and sustained fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in
at her breasts. When we cease to wonder,
we cease to worship, and it is a massive Christ” (Col 2:9), so that in the incarnation
wonder of divine grace that the Son of God He became what He never was before (a
became a man so that men and women man) without ceasing to be what He ever
could become sons of God. was (God). “Every other birth [concep-
The Meaning of “Incarnation” tion] is the creation of a new personality.
The English term comes from Latin It was not so with Jesus. There was a
words meaning “in” and “flesh.” In Divine Person already existing but now
Christian theology, then, the incarnation ¹ Bible quotations in this article are from the
refers to God’s “in-fleshing” – His being CSB.

6 TRUTH kTidings January 2023