INCARNATION
One of the books that influenced me the most is J.I. Packer’s
KNOWING GOD. I would like to share with you a few words from his work. As it is
Christmas, we are not to simply celebrate a birth of a baby, but the
incarnation of God.
“The baby born at Bethlehem
was God made man.
The Word had become flesh: a real human baby. He had not
ceased to be God; He was no less God ten than before; be He had begun to be man…
The mystery of the incarnation is unfathomable. We cannot
explain it; we can only formulate it…
The New Testament does not encourage us to puzzle our heads
over the physical and psychological problems that it raises, but to worship God
for the love that was shown in it….
The key text in the New Testament for interpreting the
incarnation is not, therefore, the bare statement in John 1:14, ‘the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us’, but rather the more comprehensive statement
of 2 Corinthians 8:9, ‘ye know that grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that,
though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his
poverty might become rich.’ Here is stated, not only the fact of incarnation
only, but also its meaning; the taking of manhood by the Son is set before us
in a which shows us how we should set it before ourselves and ever view it—not simply
as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
Source: J.I. Packer, KNOWING GOD, [IVP, Downers Grove IL
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