PCEA

From Our Banner, October, 1967.

The Lord Jesus united two natures in His Person. There was the sinless human nature, and the perfect Divine nature. These natures were unchanged; the human nature was not deified, and the Divine nature was not humanised. The incarnation of the Son of God may rightly be regarded as the greatest miracle. The virgin birth of Christ was the Divinely ordained way whereby the incarnation was effected. This union of two natures in one Person is also a great mystery although it is in some sense paralleled in man, who is both soul and body. Unfortunately, to some minds, the mention of mystery suggests the idea of incredibility. Life and death are largely mysterious, but they are undeniable facts. We cannot fully understand life and death, and we cannot comprehend all that is implied in the incarnation of Christ.

There is, on the part of many professing Christians, either a denial of the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ, or an attitude of avowed indifference to it, despite the clear, repeated, and unambiguous references to it in the Old and New Testaments. This sceptical attitude to the virgin birth is convincing evidence that such persons are ignorant of the way of salvation set forth in the Scriptures.

If the doctrine of the virgin birth be rejected, there logically follows the rejection of the doctrine of the incarnation. If the incarnation of the Son of God did not take place, then Christ's work on behalf of men is invalidated. It was necessary that the Son of God should take to Himself our nature, in order that He should be qualified to perform an efficacious work for men. Thus we perceive that the doctrine of the incarnation is the keystone of the Christian Faith.

There are many prophetic statements in the Old Testament concerning the dual natures of Christ. For example, Isaiah wrote, &quotFor unto as a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father (i.e., 'the Father of eternity', indicative of His eternal existence), the Prince of peace." (Isaiah 9: 6.) Here Christ is the child born, the son given, and yet the, mighty God, the Father of eternity. The New Testament also bears consistent testimony to the same truth; e.g. Matthew quoted this prophecy of Isaiah, &quotand they shall call His name Emmanuel," and then added, &quotwhich being interpreted is God with us," i.e. God in our nature. The Apostles proclaimed the manhood and the Godhead of Christ. The Apostle Paul stated, "'In Him (Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Coloss. 2: 9.) Seeing that all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ, He certainly was not less than God. It is declared in this verse that the Divine fullness was in Christ bodily, that is, in His human body.

Some hold the kenotic theory, which is that the Son of God at His incarnation divested Himself of some of His attributes. The chief portion of Scripture to which resort is made to support this view is Phil 2: 5 to 8. A correct exegesis of this portion of Scripture furnishes convincing evidence that it teaches the very opposite, for it asserts that the Son of God retained all His Divine attributes when He assumed a human nature.

The kenotic and similar modernistic theories fail to do justice to the Person of Christ. In fact these views are similar to those of the Arians in the Fourth Century. At the Council of Nice. A.D. 325 and for 50 years, Athanasius was the stoutest opponent of the Arians. Bishop Handley Moule wrote of him, &quotHe saw that no compromise was possible if man's salvation was to be proclaimed and receivcd in its fullness&quot. The Arians were not prepared to say unequivocally and without qualification that Christ is God. Athanasius, contending for the infinite dignity and glory of Christ, declared, &quotWe are contending for our all." There are many Christians in our day who regard with unchristian tolerance those who minimise the infinite greatness of the Lord Jesus.

In reference to the Arian controversy, Dr. Moule wisely declared, &quota Saviour not quite God is a bridge broken at the farther end." The wide acceptance today of the tenets of modernism is having tragic effects for the faith of many in the Christ of the Scriptures is being undermined. Let us firmly grasp that the modernists' concept of Christ is dishonouring to the Lord Jesus, and finds no support in the Word of God.

He, Who is set forth in the Scriptures, is not a figment of human imagination, but is the historic Christ, an absolutely perfect Person of infinite greatness, whose words and works are of infinite value. It is this Christ, the real Christ, the Christ of history, who met all the Divine requirements on behalf of sinners. In this glorious One, God's people in all ages have trusted and rejoiced. His work and sufferings are of so great worth as to be the ground of the justification and eternal blessedness of millions upon millions of human beings. He, in His Person is, and ever was, infinitely greater than the whole human race.

Finally, the Word of God informs us of the stupendous fact that the Son of God still retains His human nature. He has now a glorified human nature, and we are informed in Scripture that ultimately the bodies of His people will be raised &quotand fashioned like unto His glorified body&quot. The Shorter Catechism declares very concisely and accurately concerning the Lord Jesus that He is &quotGod and man, in two distinct natures, and one Person forever."

The fact that the Lord Jesus ever retains His human nature, is surely a guarantee or pledge that He will never cast away His people, for they are indissolubly linked to Him, even as His human nature is forever united to His Divine nature.