The Baptist Faith And Message Article 2B Part 2
There is a lot to discuss here concerning God the Son. There is a lot of territory that has been controversial throughout the ages. And it is no wonder that things would be this way, for one of the more difficult things that one could ever think through is how God the Son became man.
But we must think through that carefully because, if not we will not understand how it is that God the Son could take on human flesh and accomplish salvation for us.
Here is the statement from the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
God the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.
In His incarnation as Jesus Christ
As Herschel Hobbs put it, “He who always was God Himself became a flesh-and-blood man that He might redeem men from sin.”[1] That is what is meant by the word “incarnation”. It is God the Son putting on human flesh.
Or, as Athanasius put it in the mid 300’s AD,
“The Word perceived that corruption could not be got rid of otherwise than through death; yet He Himself, as the Word, being immortal and the Father’s Son was such as could not die. For this reason, therefore, He assumed a body capable of death….For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Saviour of all, the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.”[2]
Again, this is the discussion that we have from John 1.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:1-5, 14-18 ESV)
The Word, who is Jesus Christ did something extraordinary. The self-existent God took on human flesh and dwelt among us. And this man was Jesus Christ.
He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
If any of you grew up in a more high church tradition then this phrasing should be very familiar to you. It is taken almost directly from the Apostles’ Creed. We know that it existed sometime around the 4th Century AD and was recited by believers before they were baptized. It was a summary statement used early on to summarize the teaching of the Apostles.
We have all read the Christmas story. And in it there is a discussion about how God the Son would take on human flesh.
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And 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 bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be borne will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:26-36 ESV)
There is a lot of mystery here. And this is an act in history that is beyond our comprehension. But we can look at this text and see that God the Son took on human flesh through Mary, His mother. And this would be a work of the Holy Spirit.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] Herschel H. Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message, Convention Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1971 p. 41.
[2] Athanasius, On The Incarnation, St. Vladamir’s Seminary Press, 1944, Crestwood, NY, 1977, p. 35