WHO WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
In the previous post, I wrote in support of the eternal divinity of Christ. In this one, I wish to talk about his becoming genuinely a human being, what Christians refer to as the incarnation, and which God did in order to rescue us from the power of sin and death.
Of course, Christ did not surrender his divinity upon becoming human, as the 16th century Reformer John Calvin says –
“Here is something marvelous: the Son of God descended from heaven in such a way that, without leaving heaven, he willed to be borne in the virgin’s womb, to go about the earth, and to hang upon the cross; yet he continuously filled the world even as he had done from the beginning.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. Book II, chapter iii, section 4)
The same point was made in the early centuries of Christianity, by the 4th century Church father, Athanasius of Alexandria, who said –
“The Word was not hedged in by His body, nor did His presence in the body prevent him from being present elsewhere as well. When He moved his body He did not cease also to direct the universe by His Mind and might. No, the marvellous truth is, that, being the Word, so far from being Himself contained by anything, He actually contained all things Himself. In creation He is present everywhere, yet is distinct in being from it; ordering, directing, giving life to all, containing all, yet is He Himself the Uncontained, existing solely in His Father.” (Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation, section 17)
So, the eternal Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, without in any way losing his divinity or his omnipresence, nevertheless assumed humanity, with all its limitations and became a man, with a full set of human emotions, thoughts, will and bodily functions.
So startling is this idea, that it shouldn’t surprise us to discover that it didn’t take long before people appeared within the Christian community who denied it. The Docetists (from the Greek dokein – to appear) thought in terms of spirit = good, matter = evil and couldn’t see how Christ could become one of us without being corrupted. They argued that Christ didn’t really become a human being but merely appeared to do so. A number of books of the New Testament argue against incipient forms of this teaching, most notably 1 John, 2 John and 3 John, Jude and 2 Peter. In 2 John 7, the apostle goes so far as to apply the term “antichrist” to those who deny that Christ is God come in the flesh.
Of course Docetism (based as it is upon a dualism between spirit and matter) has implications which extend far beyond denial of the incarnation, for example, if matter is not essentially evil (as the Docetists and their ilk argued) then God can use it to communicate his grace (e.g. through the fringe of a garment (Mark 6:56, see Mark 5:28-34), or through handkerchiefs and aprons (Acts 19:11), or even through the relics of a dead prophet (1 Kings 13:20-21)). What is more, if this is true, the God is not merely in the business of “saving souls” but saving all of us, and that surely has implications, both for the present and the future.
See other posts in this series on the Apostle’s Creed.