God with Us and Like Us

In the last question, we learned that the Redeemer of God’s elect is Jesus Christ who is both God and man. Most Christians are used to this idea, but it’s not so simple as it first seems. This is actually one of the deepest questions of the Christian faith. In fact, what we believe about this is one of the things that makes us Christian (as opposed to some other religion). So the Catechism gives us a little help in wrapping our minds around this.

Q. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.

The answer to this question divides into two parts. First, the Catechism talks about the ways that Christ is like us; in particular, it reminds us that Christ took to himself (1) a true body and (2) a reasonable soul. The body part is pretty easy for us to wrap our heads around. We know that Christ took on flesh and blood. The fullness of deity dwells in him bodily (Colossians 2:9). Is a human body a complete human? No! The body is only one part of us, we also have souls; therefore, in order to take on a full human nature, Christ must have a human soul as well.¹ This is what Paul means when he says that Christ took on the “form” of a servant (Philippians 2:7). The word “form” is an extremely important word, but without getting into all the details, it’s sufficient to note that the form Paul is talking about is a human soul.

So Christ took on a body and soul just like ours, but he didn’t receive that body and soul like we do in the normal processes of human reproduction. Instead, his becoming man was miraculous. We are conceived through the union of man and woman, but it is through this normal course of life that Adam’s sin is imputed to us. This is, of course, why Jesus had to be born of a virgin. Christ, in order to maintain his perfection, couldn’t be born in the natural way.

Instead, he was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). As an aside, this fact is an evidence of the divine personhood of the Spirit: God is the only Creator, and the Spirit engages in creation ex nihilo, out of nothing, by creating a child in Mary’s womb. This miraculous birth, on one hand, protects Christ’s human nature from the stain of original sin, but it also makes a way for us to be freed from sin as well. Christ’s birth by the Holy Spirit is a reminder to us of our need to be reborn. When we are born again, we are born, “not of blood nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). We are born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5).

So Christ’s becoming man achieves two big things for Christians. First, the fact that he takes on a human nature means that he is able to be our Redeemer who redeems our fallen nature. And second, his manner of birth, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the model for our manner of regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Updates

Next week, we have two special events coming up:

1. First, we’ll have an Ash Wednesday Service at 6 PM on March 5. Just as last year, there will not be an imposition of ashes. You can find the explanation here.

2. Then, on Saturday at 9 AM, Rev. Ron Horgan will be joining us to give an evangelism seminar with lunch to follow. Ron will also be preaching on Sunday.

Your friend in Christ,
Reid