Sorry for the massive delay, school started and a lot of other stuff was going on, but now things have settled a little bit so I am trying to get back on track.
I am still going through the incarnation, and today I am going to talk shortly about the virgin birth.
This is a doctrine that many liberals would dismiss because it seems too miraculous but I believe we must contend for it. Here I will talk about some implications of the virgin birth and then why we must hold to this doctrine.
1. The virgin birth sets apart Jesus as unique.
No one had ever had a virgin birth apart from Jesus. He is the only fulfillment of prophecy (Is. 7:14). From His birth Jesus was set apart, different, marked off as unique. He is the Only Begotten. The virgin birth is Jesus' glory alone.
2. The virgin birth reveals the miraculous and mysterious.
It is the prelude to the life of Jesus, it announces that this baby is miraculous. From beginning to end, His birth and resurrection is miracles-filled and points to the power of God. It is also a introduction to the mysterious, His birth is a paradox, a pregnant virgin. Jesus was confounding, darkness does not know or understand Him (John 1). The virgin birth was the perfect introduction to the perfect Saviour.
3. The virgin birth reveals the will of God
Jesus was not conceived by human will nor human consent. God directed and ordained it. God announced to Mary that she will be with child, He did not ask for her permission. The virgin birth is a sign of the loving desire of the sovereign God to save His people.
4. The virgin birth highlights the hypostatic union
The mystery of the God-Man is clearly depicted in the virgin birth. Jesus is God because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He is Man because He was in Mary's womb.
5. The virgin birth provided the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45)
Just as the first Adam came to be through God apart from man's will, so too was Jesus born apart from man's will. Adam was made without corruption, Jesus was never corrupted. Jesus is truly the only seed of the woman (Gen 3:15), man had no part in His birth. Just as Adam was tempted, so too was Jesus yet He was without sin (Heb 4:15). Adam brought death but Jesus brought life.
Why we must contend for the virgin birth?
If there is no virgin birth, then there is no fulfillment of prophecy. Then Jesus is not the Messiah.
If there is no virgin birth, then Mary is a liar and brought up Jesus as a liar.
If there is no virgin birth, the the Scriptures are mistaken.
If there is no virgin birth then we are fooled into believing a false gospel.
Let us reflect on the uniqueness of Christ, the mystery of His life, the beauty of God's pursuit for His people, and the life that is gained through the blood of Jesus.
Showing posts with label Incarnation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Incarnation. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Incarnation - Hypostatic Union
Now back to our discussion of the incarnation.
Hypostatic Union is a term that talks about the relationship between the God nature of Jesus and the man nature of Jesus. That is, the union between the God nature and the human nature in the person of Jesus. Jesus was 100% man, 100% God. This article gives a few example where Jesus is presented as God and as man.
Chalcedonian Creed
The doctrine of hypostatic union was established in the Chalcedonian Creed in 451 A.D. as a response to heresies surrounding the nature of Jesus. Here is the English translation of it.
The creed states that Jesus is "truly man and truly God", the two natures are to be acknowledged
"inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably". What does this mean? There is distinction between the man nature and the God nature, however, the distinction does not separate the two. Jesus is not two persons but one. The two natures are not to be confused with one another, they do not change nor are they divisible or separated. Jesus is one person with two natures.
Why does it matter?
Many cults would distort this truth by either emphasizing one nature of Jesus over the other, or simply removing one nature from Jesus. One example are the JWs who focuses on the humanity of Jesus and sees that Jesus is a created being and not God. Therefore, we must know and contend for the truth about the person of Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, this doctrine is absolutely necessary. Jesus must be fully man for Him to be our representative (Rm 5), our sympathetic high priest (Heb 4), and our sacrifice (Heb 10). On the other hand, Jesus must be fully God to forgive our sins, to overcome death, and to give us life. Only God has the power and He is the only one mighty to save. Without the union of the God and man nature in Jesus our faith could not be realized.
A Glorious and Mysterious Union
The hypostatic union is a profound mystery. How can one person possess fully two natures? It is as mysterious and important as the Trinity; how can one God be three persons? Mind cannot fathom the fullness of it. Yet just as the Trinity is glorious, so too is the union of the two natures in the person of Christ. In this union, Jesus is infinitely above us and at the same time similar. He is familiar with our trials, joys, temptations, pains, weaknesses and emotions of man and have the power to not only comfort and counsel us but to deliver and save. The man Jesus lived the life we could not lived, die the death that we should have died and rose again to now mediate between God and man. The God Jesus worked out our salvation, overcame death, and gave to us redemption, forgiveness, justification, and eternal life.
Only the Godman can sympathize with us and save us. Only the Godman can be the sacrifice and the priest. All in all, the mystery of the incarnation and the glorious reality of the hypostatic union should lead us to behold Jesus Christ in awe and exalt Him in our worship. That only in this Godman can we be truly rescued from the wrath of God. Praise Him!
Hypostatic Union is a term that talks about the relationship between the God nature of Jesus and the man nature of Jesus. That is, the union between the God nature and the human nature in the person of Jesus. Jesus was 100% man, 100% God. This article gives a few example where Jesus is presented as God and as man.
Chalcedonian Creed
The doctrine of hypostatic union was established in the Chalcedonian Creed in 451 A.D. as a response to heresies surrounding the nature of Jesus. Here is the English translation of it.
The creed states that Jesus is "truly man and truly God", the two natures are to be acknowledged
"inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably". What does this mean? There is distinction between the man nature and the God nature, however, the distinction does not separate the two. Jesus is not two persons but one. The two natures are not to be confused with one another, they do not change nor are they divisible or separated. Jesus is one person with two natures.
Why does it matter?
Many cults would distort this truth by either emphasizing one nature of Jesus over the other, or simply removing one nature from Jesus. One example are the JWs who focuses on the humanity of Jesus and sees that Jesus is a created being and not God. Therefore, we must know and contend for the truth about the person of Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, this doctrine is absolutely necessary. Jesus must be fully man for Him to be our representative (Rm 5), our sympathetic high priest (Heb 4), and our sacrifice (Heb 10). On the other hand, Jesus must be fully God to forgive our sins, to overcome death, and to give us life. Only God has the power and He is the only one mighty to save. Without the union of the God and man nature in Jesus our faith could not be realized.
A Glorious and Mysterious Union
The hypostatic union is a profound mystery. How can one person possess fully two natures? It is as mysterious and important as the Trinity; how can one God be three persons? Mind cannot fathom the fullness of it. Yet just as the Trinity is glorious, so too is the union of the two natures in the person of Christ. In this union, Jesus is infinitely above us and at the same time similar. He is familiar with our trials, joys, temptations, pains, weaknesses and emotions of man and have the power to not only comfort and counsel us but to deliver and save. The man Jesus lived the life we could not lived, die the death that we should have died and rose again to now mediate between God and man. The God Jesus worked out our salvation, overcame death, and gave to us redemption, forgiveness, justification, and eternal life.
Only the Godman can sympathize with us and save us. Only the Godman can be the sacrifice and the priest. All in all, the mystery of the incarnation and the glorious reality of the hypostatic union should lead us to behold Jesus Christ in awe and exalt Him in our worship. That only in this Godman can we be truly rescued from the wrath of God. Praise Him!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Incarnation - The Word became flesh
So after much discussion on the Holiness of God and the sinfulness of man we finally made our way into the meat of the Gospel. We left off with a problem. Man is sinful and God is Holy. Man deserves hell. That's where the Gospel comes in. The Gospel is the good news about the redemptive plan of God that is realized in Jesus Christ. We saw this a little bit in Gen 3:15, when God said that the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent's head.
For the next couple of entries we will talk about the incarnation.
The incarnation is simply God became flesh, more specifically the second person of the Godhead, the Son.
This is most clear in the first chapter of John which the passage we are looking at in this entry.
The Word...
John 1 begins from the very beginning of time and for vv 1-5 it is clear that the Word is God, John is saying that the Word is the same God that created the universe in Genesis (v3. all things came into being through Him). The Word was not only God but also had a relationship with God (v1-2), He was with God. Lastly, the Word was not just a thing but a person, the Word is referred to as He not it.
...Became Flesh
The climax of the passage is found in v14 when John declared that the Word became flesh! God, who was from the very beginning, became flesh and dwelt among men. Furthermore, v17 clears up who this Word is. He is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word that is from the beginning. Jesus is God in flesh.
So what does it mean that the Word became flesh? Did the Son ceased to be God when He took on flesh? Or did He temporarily lose His God status to become man? The answer is No! God the Son did not cease to be God when He became flesh. He was fully God and fully human in the person of Jesus. The nature of God was united with the nature of man in the person of Jesus Christ. We will talk more about it in the next entry, as I don't want to go outside of this text in John 1 here.
Why did the Word become flesh?
So is this bad news that God became flesh or good news? It could be bad news in the sense that God came to administer pure justice and kill off all the unrighteous people. That would be very bad news. But the whole point of these entries are to talk about the Gospel, the good news, and in fact the incarnation is very good news for those who receive Him! In the Word was life and light, but the world did not receive Him. But the good news is that for those who do receive Him we can become God's children. That's great news!
Furthermore, the fullness of grace and truth (v14) is now among men because of the incarnation. And in His fullness we have all received grace upon grace, or as NIV would put it, one blessing after another (v16).
The incarnation also meant the realization of grace and truth in respect to the law of Moses (v17). V17 had always given me trouble. Here the Law seems to be contrasted with grace and truth, as if they are opposites. But the Law is true! How can it be oppose to grace and truth? What it is saying is that the Law was established through Moses and realized in Jesus. The Law is not on the opposite spectrum of grace and truth but it IS grace and truth and is realized in Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law. This is good news for us, because now we know what the Law is really about. Every time we read the OT and the 5 books of Moses we can now understand it in light of Jesus, He is the full embodiment of grace and truth.
Lastly, in the same line of thought, the incarnation allow us to know God. Jesus was the full, complete, perfect revelation of who God is, because He is God! The person of Jesus explains the Father, He makes the Father known (cf. Jn 14:7-9).
Because of the incarnation, the Word becoming flesh, we can now know the Father, know the Law, know grace and truth, experience true life and light, receive grace upon grace, and become children of God! The incarnation is truly good news and it's only the beginning of the whole Gospel.
Next we will talk shortly about the topic of hypostatic union. Big word, big concept! Stay tuned!
For the next couple of entries we will talk about the incarnation.
The incarnation is simply God became flesh, more specifically the second person of the Godhead, the Son.
This is most clear in the first chapter of John which the passage we are looking at in this entry.
The Word...
John 1 begins from the very beginning of time and for vv 1-5 it is clear that the Word is God, John is saying that the Word is the same God that created the universe in Genesis (v3. all things came into being through Him). The Word was not only God but also had a relationship with God (v1-2), He was with God. Lastly, the Word was not just a thing but a person, the Word is referred to as He not it.
...Became Flesh
The climax of the passage is found in v14 when John declared that the Word became flesh! God, who was from the very beginning, became flesh and dwelt among men. Furthermore, v17 clears up who this Word is. He is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word that is from the beginning. Jesus is God in flesh.
So what does it mean that the Word became flesh? Did the Son ceased to be God when He took on flesh? Or did He temporarily lose His God status to become man? The answer is No! God the Son did not cease to be God when He became flesh. He was fully God and fully human in the person of Jesus. The nature of God was united with the nature of man in the person of Jesus Christ. We will talk more about it in the next entry, as I don't want to go outside of this text in John 1 here.
Why did the Word become flesh?
So is this bad news that God became flesh or good news? It could be bad news in the sense that God came to administer pure justice and kill off all the unrighteous people. That would be very bad news. But the whole point of these entries are to talk about the Gospel, the good news, and in fact the incarnation is very good news for those who receive Him! In the Word was life and light, but the world did not receive Him. But the good news is that for those who do receive Him we can become God's children. That's great news!
Furthermore, the fullness of grace and truth (v14) is now among men because of the incarnation. And in His fullness we have all received grace upon grace, or as NIV would put it, one blessing after another (v16).
The incarnation also meant the realization of grace and truth in respect to the law of Moses (v17). V17 had always given me trouble. Here the Law seems to be contrasted with grace and truth, as if they are opposites. But the Law is true! How can it be oppose to grace and truth? What it is saying is that the Law was established through Moses and realized in Jesus. The Law is not on the opposite spectrum of grace and truth but it IS grace and truth and is realized in Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law. This is good news for us, because now we know what the Law is really about. Every time we read the OT and the 5 books of Moses we can now understand it in light of Jesus, He is the full embodiment of grace and truth.
Lastly, in the same line of thought, the incarnation allow us to know God. Jesus was the full, complete, perfect revelation of who God is, because He is God! The person of Jesus explains the Father, He makes the Father known (cf. Jn 14:7-9).
Because of the incarnation, the Word becoming flesh, we can now know the Father, know the Law, know grace and truth, experience true life and light, receive grace upon grace, and become children of God! The incarnation is truly good news and it's only the beginning of the whole Gospel.
Next we will talk shortly about the topic of hypostatic union. Big word, big concept! Stay tuned!
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