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For those of you who haven't
been here, we've been looking at some studies in Christology,
the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the person and the work of
Christ. Who is He and what has He done? We've looked at a number of things
the last time we were together. We looked at the deity of Christ,
His true and perfect deity from the scriptures, going through
a number of things, a number of testimonies, a number of obvious
witnesses to that blessed truth that Jesus Christ is God Most
High. We come now to the study of the
incarnation of Christ and His true humanity. So we want to
look at Philippians 2, 5 to 11. It's more of a starting verse,
but we're going to have occasion to come back to it time and again
throughout the study this evening. So this is Philippians 2, 5 to
11. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God
did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming
in the likeness of men. and being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point
of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has
highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those
in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Well, hopefully
you see there, just by a reading of those verses, that this passage
is rich with Christ. It's when we come to a study
of Christ, eventually and often, Philippians 2, 5 to 11, must
be an address of Holy Scripture that we go to. And notice it
has his deity there. It has his humanity and incarnation
there. It has his work. and it has his
exaltation and honor and glory clearly there in the text. It
is rich with Christological data, and I don't mean that to sound
low and mundane. I mean that to sound rich. There
is much Christology, much glorious Christ to be availed of in only
those six verses. Seven verses, I guess. And so,
What we want to look at this evening is the true or the incarnation
of Christ and his true humanity. I just want to read a couple
quotes from creeds throughout the years of Christendom. The
importance of the Incarnation and the true humanity of Christ
is clear from the Bible to be sure, and we're going to get
there and stay there for most of this evening, but church history
demonstrates the importance of Christians affirming, confessing,
and glorying in the Incarnation of Christ and His true humanity. First, the Nicene Creed in 325,
that is the year 325. Reads this way, speaking of Christ,
who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and
was made man. It was important that the church
confess the incarnation and the true humanity of Christ. Why?
Because for us men and for our salvation he came down and was
incarnate and was made man. the incarnation of Christ is
absolutely vital, of course, for the salvation of sinners. The Constantinopolitan Creed
of 381 reads this way, rehearsing the Nicene Confession, who for
us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was
incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made
man. You see it's very close and affirms
the same truth and yet adds a little bit of more information with
regards to the role of the Holy Spirit and of course the Virgin
Mary. The Chalcedonian Creed of 451
reads this way, We then, following the Holy Fathers, the Nicene
and the Constantinopolitan Fathers and those sorts of things, We
then, following the Holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men
to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same
perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood. truly God and truly
man, of a reasonable soul and body, consubstantial, coessential,
that means of the same substance, consubstantial with the Father
according to the Godhead, and consubstantial, that is again
of the same substance, with us according to the manhood, in
all things like unto us without sin, begotten before all ages
of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter
days for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the
Mother of God, according to the manhood." Again, that's the Chalcedonian
Creed of 451. And then lastly, the Athanasian
Creed, of the late 5th century. Furthermore, it is necessary
to everlasting salvation that he, that is the Christian, 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 man of 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." So very simply, the Christian Church
recognized that we must affirm as Christians the Bible discloses
concerning the true and perfect deity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
as well as the true and perfect manhood. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then our confession of faith,
it must be noted here, before we move on to some biblical testimony,
it must be noted that our confession of faith, which comes 1,300 years
after these confessions, They are rehearsing and appropriating
and echoing these confessions that we already just stated in
the 4th and 5th centuries. Our confession reads, The Son
of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, did take upon
Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common
infirmities thereof, yet without sin. being conceived by the Holy
Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, with the Holy Spirit coming
down upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowing her.
And so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed
of Abraham, and David according to the scriptures. So all of
that to simply highlight the necessity, the absolute necessity
that Christians affirm and confess with great joy the incarnation
of Christ and his true humanity. We've already noted last time
that we likewise affirm his true and perfect deity, but this evening
we're focusing on his humanity. And we're going to go to a number
of places in scriptures other than Philippians 2, but Philippians
2 included, that speak to these two wonderful truths of His incarnation
and His true humanity. In fact, in the Bible, Those
creedal declarations are reflections, no doubt, of the biblical testimony
to the importance of the Incarnation and the true humanity of Christ.
If we think of passages of Scripture, like 1 Timothy 1.15, this is
a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. It's a beautiful statement. It's a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptance, I think sometimes we sort of move on to what the
saying is, that Christ came into this world, sinners to save.
But consider that introductory statement for a moment. It is
a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus
came into this world, sinners to save. It brings to the fore
the importance of the doctrine of the Incarnation. and the true
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is unto the end of our
salvation. We think of a passage such as
1 Timothy 3.16. There we read the language, and
it's introduced by the language of, by common confession, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. There is, by common confession,
a doctrine that is professed by the minds and the hearts and
the mouths of Christians, and it is this, that God was manifested
in the flesh, seen by angels, justified in the Spirit, believed
on in the world, and received up in glory. We have that wonderful
statement here in Philippians 2, 5 to 11, specifically the
stuff of beginning in verse 7, made himself of no reputation,
taking the form of a bondservant. This is the stuff that is to
melt the Christian heart to the point of adoration and worship
of the one who would give himself for guilty sinners. Truly God
and truly man, yet one Christ. And so we want to look first
off at the incarnation of the Son of God then. The incarnation
of the Son of God. What is meant by the incarnation? In fact, I think we have probably
a very simple and a very clear definition given to us by the
Apostle John in his gospel, don't we? This was actually part of
the text that we read last time when we were looking at the deity
of Christ. But notice what we have in John
1.14. We have, in essence, a definition
of what the incarnation means. John has already written in verse
1 of John 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God, His deity. His true and essential
deity, coessential with the Father. He is of the same essence as
the Father, truly God. But now notice in John 1, 14,
and the Word became flesh. That is a definition of the incarnation,
and the Word became flesh. The incarnation simply means
the enfleshment, to come in the flesh. And so we have the doctrine
that this One who is, yes, distinct from the Father, the Word, nevertheless
is coessential with the Father and the Spirit, having true and
full and essential deity, He, in the fullness of the times,
became flesh, the text says, and dwelt among us. That is what
the incarnation is, the Son of God becoming flesh. Again, if
you turn, we already referred to it, but you can turn there
now to 1 Timothy. We have some of the same language
there. by the Apostle Paul now, the Apostle Paul rehearsing the
same blessed doctrine in 1 Timothy 3 at verse 16. That verse, or the text that
says here, at least in the New King James, and without controversy,
James Renahan has noted, and I believe it's in another translation,
that it can be translated by common confession, but we have
in 1 Timothy 3.16, and without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.
We have here, in essence, an early Christian creed, if you
will, brought to the fore by the Apostle Paul in order to
highlight this blessed truth and this blessed mystery. The
incarnation of Christ unto the salvation of sinners, God was
manifested in the flesh. And so, that is essentially what
it means, the Word became flesh. That's what we mean when we speak
of the incarnation. This is Birkhoff. When we are
told that the Word became flesh, this does not mean that the Logos
ceased to be what he was before. As to his essential being, when
he says the Logos, he's talking about that which we read in John
1, the Word. The Word became flesh. another
term speaking of the Word of God as it is Christ Jesus the
Lord. As to his essential being, the
Logos was exactly the same before and after the Incarnation. He
acquired an additional form without in any way changing his original
nature. So that's what we need to highlight
when we say the Word became flesh. We are saying that the word became
flesh, but we're not saying that the word changed into flesh.
We're saying that he took to himself man's nature. And that's
what Berkhoff is getting at there. He acquired an additional form
without in any way changing His original nature. So the Word
became flesh, is what we mean by the incarnation. And in so
doing, He acquired an additional form. He didn't change His existing
one. The Word remained the Word, yet
He took man's nature to Himself. And we'll hopefully open up this
a little bit more and clarify things as we move along. If you
want to make a note, if anything comes to your mind as we work
through this, if anything's not clear, if you have questions
afterwards, by all means feel free to ask away. Very briefly,
when we talk about the Incarnation, we must note that Jesus is not
the Father incarnated. Jesus is not the Spirit incarnated,
and Jesus is not the Trinity incarnated. Jesus is the Word
who became flesh, the Son of God. We have, remember, how many
persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons in the
Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And these
three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and
in glory. So the Son, the second of the
blessed triune God, the brightness of the Father's glory and the
express image of His person comes in time and in history, taking
to Himself man's nature with all the properties and infirmities
thereof, yet without sin. So it is the Son of God who is
incarnate, as John clearly brings out in his gospel. Now, we could
say that the incarnation is seen or contains three Three things
to consider, and we'll go to the Bible to see these things.
And the first one is this, it is assumption. That simply means
that Christ assumed, Christ took to Himself man's nature. We see this in the book of Hebrews. You can turn there to Hebrews
chapter 4. In the incarnation, we have the
reality that Christ assumed man's nature. He took to himself man's
nature. Excuse me, I think the text I
wanted was actually Hebrews 2. I always get Hebrews 2, 14 to
17, and Hebrews 4, 14 to 16 confused. This is Hebrews 2, beginning
in verse 14. Inasmuch then as the children
have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in
the same, that through death he might destroy him who had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. Now notice, for indeed he does
not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of
Abraham. Therefore, in all things, he
had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation
for the sins of the people. That really is our study tonight
in a nutshell. the incarnation of Christ taking
to himself man's nature for our salvation. Whenever we study
something like this, remember, when we study the person of Christ,
it is not an exercise in cold speculation or examination of
data. It is a worshipful and doxological
exercise, because we're studying the stuff of the Son of God coming
down from heaven, to take man's nature to save guilty sinners
like us. It's truly, hopefully, a blessing. It's a blessing shrouded and
veiled and limited by the limitations of the instructor and the one
preaching. But nevertheless, hopefully, a study in Christ
is for you a study that brings yourself to sing the praises
of the riches and the excellencies of such a Savior, who would take
man's nature upon Himself, who would be made like His brethren,
like us, that He might make propitiation, that is, that He might be a wrath-bearing
sacrifice for guilty sinners. What a glorious truth we have
in the Incarnation. of the Son of God. Hopefully
you see that there, this language of assumption, taking to himself
man's nature. We see it first off in the language
where he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid
to the seed of Abraham. That could be read as, or understood
as, or interpreted as, he does not take on the nature of angels,
but he does take on the nature of the seed of Abraham. He didn't
take on angelic nature and redeem angels. He took to himself man's
nature. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. He took to Himself man's nature
that He might be made like His brethren so that He might save
us from our sins." It's truly a blessed thing. He assumed the
assumption. He assumed man's nature in order
to redeem us from our sins. If you go back to Philippians
that we started out by reading this evening, you see there the
same blessed truth. Philippians, this language of
assumption in Philippians 2. It's what we read in that middle
portion of the Carmen Christi, the hymn to Christ as to God.
Notice verse 7, but made himself of no reputation, taking the
form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. We see
it. Pretty much a three-fold reiteration
of that blessed truth. He made himself of no reputation,
taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of
man. He assumes man's nature. for
the purpose of saving man. This is John Owen, the eternal
Word, the Son of God, was not made flesh, not made of a woman,
nor of the seed of David by the conversion of his substance or
nature into flesh, which implies a contradiction. And besides,
is absolutely destructive of the divine nature. You see that
if the Son of God changed into flesh, losing that which He was,
and putting on something new, then that would be destructive
of the divine nature, because the divine nature is immutable. He could no otherwise therefore
be made flesh or made of a woman, but in that our nature was made
his by his assuming of it to be his own. The same person who
before was not flesh, was not man, was made flesh as man, in
that He took our human nature to be His own. And therein we
should see the height of condescension. Calvin said, he descended from
so great a height to come into our lower shame and ignominy
in order to give himself for guilty sinners. Gil on Philippians
2 says, take these two things, the form of God and the form
of a servant, and admire the amazing stoop. A stoop, a condescension. Christ in taking to himself man's
nature engages in the highest act of condescension. A true
act and a perfect act of condescension. The second thing that we would
need to note at the point of the incarnation, besides assumption,
Christ taking to himself man's nature, is the virgin birth.
The virgin birth. Notice in Matthew 1. Turn there
with me. So we have the reality of Christ
taking to himself man's nature. And then we have something of
the manner in which this is brought to bear, if you will, by the
Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary and the virgin birth. Notice
in Matthew 1, In verse 18, now the birth of
Jesus Christ was as follows, after his Mary mother was betrothed
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Spirit. See, this is stressing the virgin
birth. This is stressing the reality
that before they came together, she was found with child, and
this child was of the Holy Spirit. Notice the language is when we
get to verse 22, "...so all this was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they
shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with
us." is the blessing of Christians everywhere. God with us. The
truth of the Incarnation. He truly did come as promised. Remember that Isaiah 9, 6 promised
that we sang before we began our study. Unto us a child is
born. Unto us a son is given. The government
will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. What
a wonderful thing that we have with regards to our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is God with us. He is God
with us. He took to Himself man's nature. We have the virgin birth brought
forth that this child was of the Holy Spirit. And if we turn
to the book of Luke, we have some additional information There,
supporting information, but additional information with regards to what's
going on with the infant Christ, who is truly God and truly man. Notice Luke 1.35. Actually, we
can back up to... Well, we'll back up to Luke 1,
26. Now, in the sixth month, the
angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin, betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the
house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come
in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord
is with you. Blessed are you among women.
But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered
what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her,
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And
behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a
son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and
will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will
give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be
no end. Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since
I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said
to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also that Holy
One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. wonderful
language there. I mean, time does not allow us
to explore the blessed connections there to Old Testament promise
and revelation, the Davidic covenant, and all these wonderful things
that we have in there. But notice what we have with
regards to the virgin birth and the incarnation. The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow
you. Bavink writes this with regards
to what that means, having a child conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Scripture attributes the conception of Jesus to the Holy Spirit,
or to the power of the Most High. The Holy Spirit, the author all
physical, psychic, and pneumatic life, is the efficient cause
of the conception. The activity of the Holy Spirit
with respect to this conception did not consist in the infusion
of any heavenly or divine substance in Mary, but in a demonstration
of power that made her womb fertile in the act of overshadowing.
So that's what it means when we come to Luke 1, 35, and we
read, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. It's not that there's some sort
of divine material infused into the womb of Mary, but rather
it is simply and majestically this, that it is in a demonstration
of power that her womb is made fertile in the act of overshadowing. And so, the assumption of human
nature, the virgin birth, and then thirdly, the union of the
two natures in the one person of Christ is in view with regards
to the incarnation. Christ is always, Jesus Christ
our Lord, is always fully God and fully man, yet one blessed
and saving Christ. Now, we want to note something
with regards to the incarnation, lest we not give it enough attention,
and that is simply the condescension of the Incarnation, we've already
noted that, but what a blessed condescension. That simply means,
you've heard that word before hopefully, condescension, sometimes
it's used negatively like, oh, don't you be so condescending.
But with regards to the Incarnation, the doctrine or the phrase condescension
means so much and it is absolutely so glorious. The Son of God,
taking man's nature, coming in the form of a bondservant and
giving himself for guilty sinners. Hopefully you see the condescension
in that. You can turn to a passage in
2 Corinthians to see how Paul speaks with regards to the condescending
act of Christ in the Incarnation, coming to give himself for guilty
sinners. 2 Corinthians 8. Notice what we have there, and
specifically in verse 9, See that blessed truth with regards
to the incarnation and the condescension, Christ coming from the pinnacle
of glory to the lowest ignominy. Ignominy means shame. So He comes
from the pinnacle of glory, the praise of angels, that Isaiah
6 reality where the seraphim fly day and night singing, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, and He comes into our lower world,
our lower shame, in the form of a bondservant. It is Christ,
who was rich, taking on poverty, becoming poor, so that we, through
His poverty, might become rich. It's a glorious truth. Thomas
Watts, and Jim has read this before to you, It's a quote from
Thomas Watson on this very point, and it is rich with the truth
of our condescending son of God. That man should be made in God's
image was a wonder, but that God should be made in man's image
is a greater wonder. That the ancient of days should
be born, that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in
the cradle, that he who rules the stars should suck the breast,
that a virgin should conceive, that Christ should be made of
a woman, and of that woman which himself made, that the branch
should bear the vine, that the mother should be younger than
the child she bear, and the child in the womb bigger than the mother,
that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God."
It's a glorious doctrine that we have in the incarnation of
the Son of God. Absolutely glorious. I believe,
I think it was Calvin, but he said there are two main doctrines
of absolute glorious mystery that we have in the Christian
faith. God in Trinity and the incarnation of the Son of God. Those two doctrines are absolutely
glorious and we can know them, but we cannot reach out the hand
of comprehension and grasp those truths to full knowledge. They surpass knowledge. We can know the truths and yet
we can only adore the God who is incomprehensible. It's a beautiful
thing that we have in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is Ryle. It's a wonderful quote. It speaks
to the condescension and highlights the humility in that condescension. This is what he says. He was
not born under the roof of his mother's house. but in a strange
place and at an inn. When born, he was not laid in
a carefully prepared cradle. He was laid in a manger because
there was no room in the inn. We see here the grace and condescension
of Christ. Had he come to save mankind with
royal majesty, surrounded by his father's angels, it would
have been an act of undeserved mercy. Had he chosen to dwell
in a palace with power and great authority, we should have had
reason enough to wonder. But to become poor as the very
poorest of mankind and lowly as the very lowliest, this is
a love that passeth knowledge. You appreciate that blessed truth.
You see, if Christ did come in royal majesty, dwelling in a
mansion in the hills of Jerusalem, that would still be an act of
condescension. That would still be an amazing
stoop. But he's God in a feed trough. He's wrapped in swaddling
cloths in a place reserved for livestock to drink water out
of and eat seed out of. In His earthly ministry, He's
rejected by His own that He came to minister to. The foxes have
their holes and the birds of the air have their nests, but
the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. He comes and He
engages in an amazing stoop to redeem guilty sinners from their
sins. And we ought to note, before
we move on to His humanity, divine love and the incarnation. the Bible clearly brings out
that the incarnation of the Son of God is an instance of the
surpassing love of God. Hopefully a verse like John 3.16
clearly speaks that to you, doesn't it? Remember what we have in
John 3.16 with regards to the love of God and the taking on
of flesh of the Son of God. Remember, this follows after
all the stuff of John 1.1. It follows after the stuff of
John 1.14. In John 3.16, we have Christ speaking to Nicodemus. He's talking about salvation.
He's talking about the kingdom of God coming to men, or the
seeing of the kingdom of God by virtue of divine regeneration,
bringing dead sinners to life. You cannot see the kingdom of
God unless you are born again. We have that glorious declaration
in verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And then
we have that flagship verse, if you will, of the saving work
of Christ by the love of God. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." You see, the coming of
Christ, His incarnation, His taking to Himself man's nature,
is such that it is a demonstration, a paramount demonstration of
the love of God. Notice as well, by that same
author in 1 John, Perhaps not a verse that is so
well known, and certainly not as John 3.16, but in 1 John 4. At the point of the incarnation
and the love of God, we have this glorious statement by the
Apostle there. This is 1 John 4. Notice what
we have there, beginning in verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and
knows God. He who does not love does not
know God, for God is love. Verse nine, in this, the love
of God was manifested toward us that God has sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. What
a beautiful statement. That is a statement, again, that
ought to cheer the heart of everyone in this room who has been made
alive by the power of God. In this, the love of God was
manifested toward us that God has sent His only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through Him. We see the
incarnation here, His only begotten Son, into the world, sent by
God. We have the purpose for that
blessed incarnation that we might live through Him. And we see
that it is a demonstration of the surpassing love of God. The
love of God was manifest toward us. What a blessed doctrine we
have in the incarnation of the Son of God. Well, moving on then
now to the humanity of Christ. The humanity of Christ. Obviously,
by a study of the Incarnation, we've already noted that that
means that He took to Himself man's nature. And so we want
to rehearse where the Bible absolutely affirms and demonstrates and
argues for the full and perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
save for sin, of course. So what do we mean when we say
the humanity of Christ? Remember, we did this with the
deity of Christ, and it's a good exercise in rehearsing what the
humanity of Christ first doesn't mean. And so when we say the
humanity of Christ, we don't mean that He is man and not God. We've already studied, for those
who were here last time, and for those who weren't, if you're
a Christian, you know this already to be sure, that Christ is God. He is the second of the triune
God, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of
His person who upholds all things by the word of His power. Christ
is fully God. So when we say the humanity of
Christ, we're not saying that He is man and not God. Secondly,
we're not saying that he's partially man. He's not some sort of half-god,
half-man, god-man that is the savior for sinners, because such
an individual could not be a savior for sinners. He is not partially
man. Thirdly, by the humanity of Christ,
we're not saying that he came in the semblance of a man, or
just in the appearance of a man, but wasn't truly man. Christ
wasn't the phantom who feigned humanity, but rather He truly
was man. He took to Himself man's nature. He was, the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us. Lastly, we're not, or actually
not lastly, we're not saying by His humanity that He is fully
man with no exceptions. In other words, there is one
exception, and that is, He is without sin. Our confession again
says that the Son of God took to Himself man's nature with
all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof,
yet without sin. And so He is holy, harmless,
and undefiled, the perfect, sinless man who came into this world,
sinners to save. And lastly, when we talk about
the humanity of Christ, we're not saying that He came in the
body of a man. We're not saying that it's just
God in a flesh suit, as one man has said, where the Son of God
animates, if you will, a human body that doesn't truly have
a human soul. Christ takes to himself man's
nature, body and soul. with a reasonable soul and body,
and human body, the creeds of old said. So what do we mean
then? We mean simply what we already
rehearsed from the Confession. We're going to get to the Bible
testimony in a moment, but the Son of God did, when the fullness
of time was come, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential
properties and common infirmities thereof yet without sin. He is,
the confession goes on to say, very man and truly man. And so that's what we mean when
we talk about the humanity of Christ, body and soul. He is
truly man yet without sin. So where do we go in the Bible
to see this? We're going to spend time more
in some places than others, but first off we want to note, and
this is seven things with regards, seven biblical proofs for the
true and full humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first
is this, that the humanity of Christ is proved by the simple
accounts of His birth. We have the birth narratives
that are in there, recording the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is truly man because we have
the birth narratives. He's held by his mother, he's
held by others at his birth. But the genealogy, the pregnancy
of Mary, and the birth all argue for the true and full humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, the humanity of Christ
is proved by explicit statements of his humanity. explicit statements
of His humanity. You can turn first to Acts chapter
2. There are explicit statements
of His humanity, and the first, not the first, but the first
that we're going to look at is in Acts 2 and verse 22. Men of Israel, hear these words,
Jesus of Nazareth, a man, attested by God to you by miracles, wonders,
and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves
also know." The language there is clear. His true humanity,
men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man. Notice
as well in the book of Romans, and this is getting here now
to the point where it is a rehearsal of Christ's true humanity as
important for man's salvation. If Christ is not truly man, then
man is not truly saved by him. The old boys would say something
like, if Christ was a phantom, then our salvation is a phantom
also. They would say things like, he
assumed the whole me so that the whole me might be healed,
that the whole me might be saved. We have here in Romans 5 an explicit
statement with regards to his humanity. Verse 15. but the free gift is not like
the offense, for if by the one man's offense many died, much
more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one
man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many." There again, a clear statement
with regards to his humanity, referring to Christ, in this
case, offsetting Adam, or being compared with Adam. By Adam we're
thrust into sin and depravity. By Adam we're thrust into condemnation
for sin, just judgment for violation of the law of God. But by Christ,
the second Adam, we are saved by believing in Him. In Christ,
all who are in Him shall live while in Adam. all who are in
Him will die. But the argument here is that
the Bible clearly uses the language of the man, Christ Jesus. As well, if you turn to 1 Timothy
2, you can note there, and then we won't turn to some of the
other passages, we'll just make a note of them, but we want to
note there in 1 Timothy 2.5, the language there is with regards
to the mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ, The language
in 1 Timothy 2.5 is that there is one God and that there is
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And there the language is stressing
his full humanity because of the fact that he comes to give
himself as a substitute for guilty sinners. For man to be saved,
for men who have all the essential properties and common infirmities
thereof, man's nature with sin, we need the one who took upon
that same nature yet without sin in order to save us from
our sins and the curse of Adam. Some other passages that speak
to that, Hebrews 2, 14-17, Hebrews 4, 14-16, and we've already noted,
of course, Philippians 2, 5-11. Now, thirdly, the humanity of
Christ is proved by the fact that He grew in wisdom, understanding,
and obedience. You can turn to Luke 2 for a
moment. While you're turning there, I'll
just... Let's reread that point. The humanity of Christ is proved
by the fact that He grew in wisdom, understanding, and obedience. Notice what we have in Luke chapter
2, and specifically in verse 40.
And the child, speaking of Jesus, grew and became strong in spirit,
filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Notice as well in verse 52, and
Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God
and men. It's a proof of his humanity
because deity need not grow in wisdom. A deity needs no help
in moving from some place where there is lack to some place where
there is now gain. Jesus Christ in his divinity,
in his deity, is perfect. He is absolute. He is immutable. So here we have this narrative
concerning the person Christ Jesus at the point of His humanity
and the languages that He grew and became strong in spirit,
filled with wisdom. And then maybe even with more
clarity or more to that point, Jesus increased in wisdom and
stature and in favor with God and men. Another verse that would
speak to this is in Hebrews 5, 8, where Christ learned obedience. It's not that Christ was ever
disobedient, but as He grew in His life and in His ministry,
He grew in wisdom by the Spirit, and He grew in His life of obedience
unto death upon the cross of Calvary. And so a proof of His
humanity is that He grew in wisdom, understanding, and obedience.
Deity need not do that. Humanity, of course, does grow
in those things. Turretin writes, we acknowledge
that Christ as God was indeed omniscient, but as man we hold
that he was endowed with knowledge, great indeed beyond all other
creatures, but yet finite and created, to which something could
be added and really was added. He grew in wisdom. Therefore,
these propositions can be true at the same time. A proposition
is simply a truth statement. A proposition would be, Jesus
Christ is God. Another proposition would be,
Jesus Christ is truly man. So, again, Turretin. Therefore,
these propositions, truth statements, can be true at the same time,
but in different respects. Christ was ignorant of the day
of judgment, and Christ was not ignorant of the day of judgment.
And so a proof of his humanity is again that he grew in wisdom
and understanding and obedience. Fourthly, the humanity of Christ
is proved by the fact that the Spirit is given to him. The Spirit
is given to him. Remember we said that the humanity
of Christ is not seen in that the Son of God just was inside
a human body with no soul or with no mind, but rather that
Christ is reasonable soul and body in his humanity. He took
to himself man's nature with all the essential properties
thereof, yet without sin. And so the humanity of Christ
is proved by the fact that the Spirit is given to him. In his
earthly ministry, as the God-man, the Spirit is given to him. We
see this in passages such as John 3. You can turn there. In fact, just after the portion
that we read, his engagement there, engaging Nicodemus and
discussing the reality, the realities of salvation, specifically salvation
by him. We see after that in John 3, Beginning in verse 33, John the
Baptist, or John speaking, excuse me, the Apostle John speaking
concerning Christ here. He who has received his testimony
has certified that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks
the words of God, for God does not give the spirit by measure. And Christ goes about and He
speaks the words of God by the Spirit given to Him by measure. There's an interesting passage
in Luke 4, interesting, but to this point in Luke chapter 4. And this is important because
it is a fulfillment of Isaianic prophecy regarding the Savior
of men, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would have the Spirit upon
Him. to bring about the salvation
of sinners and good to men. Notice in Luke 4 beginning in
verse 16, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord." You see, Jesus is standing up,
and He's speaking in their midst, this place in Isaiah that is
written concerning Him. And we see here, the Spirit of
the Lord is upon Him, because God has anointed Him with that
Spirit. We ask the question, does Jesus
as God need the Spirit? Well, no, of course not. But
Jesus, according to His humanity, to go about the world, to do
good among men, and to go about the business of giving His life
for guilty sinners, requires the Holy Spirit to be given to
Him from on high in order to go about that particular task. This is Sinclair Ferguson on
this particular point. He writes, As Jesus' obedience
to the Father grew in harmony with his developing capacities
as a man and the demands of his ministry as the Messiah, so he
received the power of the Spirit's anointing for each step of the
way. Why are we going through this
exercise? Well, hopefully it's to glory in the incarnation of
Christ and His true humanity, but we need to grasp to the reality
of Christ's true humanity and all of its blessed facets because
Christ truly did become man. He really was man in order to
save guilty sinners. And we need to appreciate the
full breadth and the full weight of that. Christ didn't feign
humanity when He was going about the earth doing good. He actually
did grow in wisdom. He actually did become weary
and tired. He wasn't feigning that and faking
it as some of old vainly have imagined. That's what the old
boys would say. Some of old vainly imagined such and such. Well,
some of old vainly imagined that Christ was faking His growing
in wisdom. He was just doing that in order
to satisfy the inquiries and the gazes of men. He wasn't just
feigning those things, he really did become man. He took upon
him man's nature. The full appreciation of that
by the Christian student, and by that I mean every Christian,
is to be unto the joy of glorying in our salvation and praising
the God of heaven and earth. So again, Humanity of Christ
is proved by the fact that the Spirit is given to Him. And our
confession takes this up and rehearses some interesting language
from the Bible that sometimes we might ascribe to Christ and
His deity. but is ascribed to His humanity
and He being given the Spirit. And that is given in chapter
8 of our confession, the language bringing out some language of
John 3 and Colossians 2 and other things, but notice what the confession
says at this point, that a proof of the humanity of Christ is
again the Spirit given to Him. In chapter 8, in paragraph 3,
this is what we read, and this is rich with Bible. The Lord
Jesus, in his human nature, thus united to the divine, in the
person of the Son, note, was sanctified and anointed with
the Holy Spirit above measure, having in him all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all
fullness should dwell, to the end that being holy, harmless,
undefiled, full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly
furnished to execute the office of mediator and surety. You see
the importance of these two doctrines, the humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and this understanding that the Spirit is given to him
for, as the Confession says, his office as mediator and surety. It is by the Spirit that Christ
has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in him. It
is by the Spirit that He has in Him all the fullness dwelling,
the Father anointing Him with the Spirit unto that end. And
it is by the Spirit that He is holy, harmless, and undefiled,
and full of grace and truth. The Spirit is given to Christ
in order so that He might, as man, make salvation, make propitiation
for the sins of His people, and perfect His office of coming
into this world, sinners to save. So again, the humanity of Christ
is proved by the fact that the Spirit is given to Him. One other
passage that we could see here is Acts 13, excuse me, Acts chapter
10, where we see Christ going about and doing good by virtue
of the Spirit being given to Him unto that end. In Acts 10,
this is what we read in verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,
for God was with Him. The Confession says that God
the Father anointed Christ with the Spirit unto the end that
He would be holy, harmless, and undefiled. We see that Christ
is given the Spirit, or the reality of God the Father anointing Jesus
Christ with the Spirit is unto the end of the sinless humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is most certainly sinless
as God, but His sinlessness as man, remember, to be the substitute
for guilty sinners, His sinlessness as man is by virtue of the Holy
Spirit, making Him holy at the outset of His conception and,
of course, unto glorification. From cradle to grave, I think
Gil says, the Holy Spirit was working upon the humanity of
Christ, making him holy for every step of the way. So we have the
humanity of Christ then next proved, and this is something
that I admit I haven't emphasized enough until Don Lindblad's sermon
the other night. The humanity of Christ is proved
by his burial. I confess a lack of emphasis
on the burial of Christ. Very often when we talk about
the saving work of Christ, we talk about life, death, resurrection. Not that we don't know that He
was truly buried, and that He truly was buried, but nevertheless,
that is a proof, Luke 23, of His humanity. In other places
as well that speak to His burial, 1 Corinthians 15, but the humanity
of Christ is proved by His burial. Next, the humanity of Christ
is proved by His post-resurrection appearances. And I'm always blown
away, and hopefully you are too, by this one. By all of them,
hopefully. But the humanity of Christ proved by His post-resurrection
appearances. I absolutely love that scene
in Luke 24. Don't you? Where Christ appears
post-resurrection. He's been crucified upon Calvary's
tree. His disciples are in dismay because,
you know, unhelped yet by that full Bible study that Christ
would give them on Luke 24. They're in sorrow and they're
lamenting over the fact that their Savior has died upon Calvary's
tree and he's been placed in this tomb. Well, the one who
is victoriously marched forth from that tomb comes first to
those two disciples on the road to Emmaus and he shows them himself. And he teaches them from the
scriptures that this was promised to take place. Then we move to
the scene after that. And I absolutely love the condescension
and the mercy and the kindness of Christ in that instance. And
this is, to be sure, a proof of his humanity. They doubt it,
remember. They think him to be a specter,
a phantom there in Luke 24. What does he do? But he shows
them, he says, look at my wounds and see that it is I. He shows
them the wounds that are in His hands, this glorified, resurrected
Christ, still bearing the wounds of His victorious crucifixion.
And He says, touch them, handle Me, and see that it is I. What a wonderful and merciful
instance of Christ there proving that he is the God-man, the one
who took to himself man's nature, yes, died upon a cross, but rose
again in power and victory for the salvation of sinners. He
doesn't stop there, though, does he? He goes on and he eats broiled
fish and honeycomb for them. I've always marveled at, time
and again, the Savior comes up against their doubts. And it
even says in the text, for joy, they still did not believe. They
were just rejoicing so much that they demanded more proofs of
the fact that this truly was Christ, resurrected from the
dead. And so he eats broiled fish and
honeycomb for them. And they worship Christ. It's
a beautiful, beautiful picture. Those post-resurrection appearances,
you can add to that list John 20, that whole section through
to John 20, 31, where Thomas lays his hand on the resurrected
Christ and casts his eyes upon the blessed Savior and sees that
it is truly God and truly man, yet one Christ who stands before
him with the wounds of the crucifixion, the blessed Savior. Lastly, under
the humanity of Christ then, we see that the humanity of Christ
is proved by apostolic reflection upon being with Christ. So the
apostles thinking back upon their time with the Savior, remembering
his glorious deeds before them and before even unbelieving men. And one of those passages that
we have of apostolic reflection upon being with Christ, and it's
glorious, is in 1 John 1. The apostle a beloved apostle
reflecting upon his time with the Savior. Remember, this is
the one that is written, in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us. Notice the wonderful language
of 1 John 1. speaking about seeing, speaking
about handling, speaking about the glorious Christ who is truly
God and yet also truly man. Notice 1 John 1.1, that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled concerning the word of life. The life was manifested
and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That
which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also
may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write
to you that your joy may be full. And you see, the reason John
is writing this is because some in their midst were affecting
them. Why did he write those words
to these recipients? Because there were those who
were anti-Christ, who were coming to them denying that Christ had
come in the flesh, stealing their joy from them. He writes that
their joy may be full, because our joy as Christians is seen
in the fact that the Son of God came and truly did take to Himself
man's nature. The Word did become flesh. And so for anyone to deny that
blessed truth of the Incarnation and the true humanity of Christ,
that's to steal joy away. from believers and so he says,
we have seen, we have looked upon, our hands have handled,
we have seen, we have heard the one who became flesh and dwelt
among us and saved us from our sins. What a glorious truth. Well, hopefully what this does
in only an hour, is it stresses the importance of the humanity
of Christ with regards to our confession as Christians. We
believe in one who is truly God and truly man, yet one Christ,
but nevertheless truly God and truly man. If we cast off the
humanity of Christ, we cast off our salvation, we cast off the
fullness of joy and the salvation that that God-man afforded for
us. We hold with great joy that the
Son of God truly did become man, because in that blessed Christian
truth, we have the salvation of our sins. The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, and that one later in his life gave
his life for guilty sinners and rose again in glorious victory.
Brethren, that blessed truth that He took on the form of a
bondservant, coming in the likeness of men, and was found in obedience
unto death upon Calvary's tree, hopefully is the stuff of solemn
and joyful reflection as you go about your Christian sojourn. This is the stuff of Christology
that we should fill our minds with. Not heavy and incomprehensible
words and nine-syllable words necessarily, but the reality
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was made man for our sakes. The rich became poor so that
we who are poor might become rich. Glorious incarnation and
the glorious truth. of the true humanity of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank you for this truth. We read from the Holy Scriptures.
We rejoice that the humanity of our Christ wasn't feigned
or faked or simply something that He came and appeared to
be man, but that He truly was man, that He did take to Himself
our nature with all our essential properties and common infirmities,
yet without sin, that He died upon Calvary's tree, that He
rose again on the third day in great power and great victory.
And we pray, Lord God, that You would help us by Your Spirit
and Word to be found so often reflecting upon the glorious
truths of Christ. And we pray that You would go
with us now, help us to live in light of the gospel, to conduct
ourselves in a manner worthy of it, that we might on this
upcoming Lord's Day all come together. in this place as a
church to sing your praises, to rejoice in Christ, and to
rehearse the blessed riches and excellencies of the gospel of
our Savior. And we do pray that you'd go
with us now and that everything that we do on the Lord's Day,
this upcoming, would be done unto the praise of your Most
High Name. And it's in Christ's name that we bring these things
to you in prayer. Amen.
