Incarnation

“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 1:14). The Incarnation—from Latin incarnatio, “being made flesh”—stands as Christianity’s most audacious claim: that the eternal, infinite, transcendent God entered human history as a human being in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Not merely appearing as human, not temporarily inhabiting a human body, but truly becoming human while remaining fully divine. This doctrine, articulated in the formula that Christ is “truly God and truly man,” distinguishes Christianity from all other monotheistic faiths and defines the Christian understanding of salvation, revelation, and the very nature of God.

The Biblical Witness

The Prologue to John’s Gospel

The Fourth Gospel opens with the most explicit statement of the Incarnation:

“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… 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 1:1-3, 14).

The Greek logos (“Word”) carries philosophical weight from both Jewish Wisdom literature and Greek philosophy—the divine reason, the creative principle, the self-expression of God. John declares this eternal Word became (egeneto) flesh (sarx)—not appeared as flesh, not seemed to be flesh, but actually became it. The verb indicates genuine transformation, real entrance into human existence.

The Philippians Hymn

Paul (or an early Christian hymn he quotes) presents the Incarnation as divine self-emptying:

“[Christ Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

The “form (morphē) of God” suggests the very nature or essence of deity. Christ did not relinquish divinity but added humanity, taking “the form of a servant,” entering the human condition from conception to death. The descent is complete: from divine glory to human slavery, from eternal life to mortal death, from heavenly throne to Roman cross.

Hebrews: Fully Human

The Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes the completeness of Christ’s humanity:

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil… Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:14, 17-18).

Christ shared fully in human nature—flesh, blood, temptation, suffering, death. Only by becoming truly human could he represent humanity, experience human weakness, and offer acceptable sacrifice. His humanity is not deficient but complete, lacking only sin.

The Annunciation Narratives

The Gospel birth narratives present the mechanics of the Incarnation:

“The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God’” (Luke 1:35).

The virginal conception signifies divine initiative—this is God’s act, not human achievement. Mary’s question “How will this be?” receives the answer: the Spirit’s creative power. The child is both “son of Mary” (truly human) and “Son of God” (truly divine).

Historical Development of the Doctrine

Early Controversies and Heresies

The early church struggled to articulate the mystery of the Incarnation, rejecting various inadequate formulations:

Docetism (from Greek dokein, “to seem”):

• Christ only seemed to be human
• Divine being appearing in human form
• Rejected because it denies real Incarnation, making salvation impossible
• “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2-3)

Ebionism:

• Jesus was merely human, adopted by God
• Denied pre-existence and divine nature
• Rejected Christ’s deity

Arianism (4th century):

• Christ is the highest creature but not truly God
• “There was when he was not”
• Condemned at Council of Nicaea (325)

Apollinarianism:

• Christ had human body but divine mind/spirit
• Incomplete humanity
• Rejected because what is not assumed is not healed—Christ must be fully human to save humanity

Nestorianism:

• Christ is two persons (divine and human) loosely united
• Mary is mother of the human Jesus but not of God
• Rejected at Council of Ephesus (431), which affirmed Mary as Theotokos (God-bearer)

Eutychianism/Monophysitism:

• Christ’s human nature absorbed into divine nature
• One mixed nature after union
• Rejected at Council of Chalcedon (451)

The Council of Chalcedon (451)

The Fourth Ecumenical Council formulated the orthodox definition:

“We confess one and the same our Lord Jesus Christ… truly God and truly man… consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood… acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way abolished because of the union, but rather the characteristic property of each nature being preserved, and concurring into one Person and one Subsistence.”

The Chalcedonian Definition affirms:

1. One person (hypostasis/prosopon)
2. Two natures (divine and human)
3. Without confusion (not mixed into third nature)
4. Without change (neither nature altered)
5. Without division (not separated into two persons)
6. Without separation (permanently united)

This paradoxical formula preserves both full deity and full humanity in one person. The union is called the hypostatic union—two natures united in one hypostasis (person).

Later Refinements

Third Council of Constantinople (681):

• Affirmed two wills (divine and human) in Christ
• Rejected Monothelitism (one will only)
• Christ’s human will freely submitted to divine will

Medieval Scholasticism:

• Aquinas and others explored the metaphysics of the union
• How can infinite God unite with finite humanity?
• Anhypostasia: Christ’s human nature has no independent personal existence, only in union with the divine person

Reformation:

• Luther emphasized the “wonderful exchange”—Christ takes our sin, we receive his righteousness
• Calvin stressed the extra calvinisticum—the Son’s divine nature not confined to human nature
• Both affirmed Chalcedonian orthodoxy

Why the Incarnation?

Christian theology has articulated multiple purposes for the Incarnation:

Revelation of God

“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18).

God reveals himself not merely through words or visions but by becoming human. In Christ, the invisible God becomes visible, the unknowable becomes knowable, transcendence enters immanence. Jesus declares, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The Incarnation is God’s definitive self-disclosure.

Redemption and Atonement

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Substitutionary atonement: Christ, as both God and man, offers acceptable sacrifice for sin. As man, he can represent humanity; as God, his sacrifice has infinite value.

Christus Victor: Christ enters human flesh to engage and defeat the powers of sin, death, and Satan from within the human condition.

Moral influence: Christ’s incarnate life and death demonstrate God’s love, transforming human hearts.

Satisfaction: Christ’s obedience as man satisfies divine justice, repairing the offense of human disobedience (Anselm).

Recapitulation: Christ recapitulates (sums up) humanity, succeeding where Adam failed, offering perfect obedience (Irenaeus).

All theories agree: salvation requires the Incarnation. Only God can save, but humanity must be redeemed from within—thus God becomes man.

Theosis/Divinization

“He became what we are that he might make us what he is” (Athanasius).

Especially in Eastern Orthodoxy, the Incarnation enables theosis—human participation in divine nature. “For this reason the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of Man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God” (Irenaeus). Not that humans become God in essence, but that they share in divine life and glory through union with Christ.

Healing Human Nature

“What is not assumed is not healed” (Gregory Nazianzen).

Christ assumes complete human nature—body, soul, mind, will—to heal it. The Incarnation is therapeutic: by uniting divine and human natures, Christ heals the fracture caused by sin, restoring humanity to its intended communion with God.

Example and Model

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

The incarnate Christ provides the pattern for human life—humility, obedience, love, self-sacrifice. He shows what authentic humanity looks like when lived in perfect relationship with God.

The Paradoxes and Mystery

The Incarnation confronts reason with apparent contradictions:

Infinite and Finite

How can the infinite God who fills heaven and earth be contained in a human body? How can omnipresence localize in Palestine?

Christian response: The Incarnation is addition, not subtraction. The Son does not cease being infinite but adds finite humanity. The divine nature remains unlimited while the human nature experiences limitations.

Eternal and Temporal

How can the eternal, timeless God enter time, be born, grow, age?

Christian response: God enters time without ceasing to be eternal. The Son experiences human temporality in his human nature while remaining eternal in his divine nature.

Immutable and Mutable

How can the unchanging God change? (God became flesh—isn’t that change?)

Christian response: The divine nature does not change; the change is in the addition of human nature. The union is a new reality, but God’s essence remains constant.

Impassible and Suffering

Classical theology affirms God is impassible (incapable of suffering). Yet Christ suffered. How?

Christian response: Christ suffers in his human nature. Whether God suffers in his divine nature is debated, with some modern theologians arguing the Incarnation reveals divine vulnerability and others maintaining traditional impassibility.

Omniscient and Limited Knowledge

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32).

Christ claims ignorance. How can God not know?

Christian response: Christ knows all things in his divine nature but experiences genuine human limitations in his human nature, including limited knowledge. The Son freely accepts these limitations in the Incarnation.

Omnipotent and Weakness

Christ grows weary, sleeps, thirsts, dies. How can God be weak?

Christian response: Divine omnipotence is not abolished but concealed, exercised through human weakness. The cross reveals power in weakness, strength in vulnerability.

Non-Christian Perspectives

Jewish Rejection

Judaism rejects the Incarnation as fundamentally incompatible with monotheism:

Theological objections:

• God is incorporeal—“God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19)
• Divine transcendence cannot be compromised
• Idolatry to worship a human being
• God does not share glory with another

Scriptural objections:

• Christian proof texts misread or taken out of context
• Prophecies do not predict divine Messiah
• Jesus did not fulfill messianic expectations (no world peace, no ingathering of exiles, temple not rebuilt)

Philosophical objections:

• Logical impossibility of Chalcedonian claims
• Contradictory attributes cannot cohere in one being
• Either God or man, not both

Islamic Rejection

Islam honors Jesus (Isa) as a prophet but emphatically denies the Incarnation:

“They say, ‘Allah has taken a son.’ Exalted is He! Rather, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. All are devoutly obedient to Him” (Quran 2:116).

“It is not [befitting] for Allah to take a son; exalted is He!” (Quran 19:35).

Reasons:

• Shirk (associating partners with Allah)—the unforgivable sin
• God is absolutely transcendent, incomparable
• Jesus was created, a prophet, the Messiah, but not divine
• The crucifixion was apparent, not real (docetic view)
• Christians corrupted the original message

Islam views the Incarnation as a Christian innovation, departure from Jesus’ pure monotheism.

Theological Implications

Sacramental Principle

If God can unite with matter in the Incarnation, matter is not inherently evil or merely neutral but capable of bearing divine presence. This grounds:

• Sacraments: Physical elements (water, bread, wine) can convey grace
• Iconography (Eastern Orthodox): Christ’s incarnation validates depicting God
• Incarnational spirituality: The material world is the arena of God’s activity

Human Dignity

“The glory of God is man fully alive” (Irenaeus).

If God became human, humanity has profound dignity. Human nature is not contemptible but noble enough for the Son to assume. This grounds:

• Human rights
• The body’s value (against Gnostic/dualistic depreciation)
• The goodness of creation
• The resurrection of the body

Divine Vulnerability

The Incarnation reveals God’s self-giving love. God does not remain aloof but enters into human suffering, experiencing rejection, pain, death. This shapes Christian understanding of:

• God’s nature as love
• Divine empathy and compassion
• God’s solidarity with the suffering
• The costliness of redemption

The Possibility of Union with God

If divinity and humanity can unite in Christ, human deification (theosis) becomes possible. Believers are united to Christ, participating in his divine-human life. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

Modern Questions and Challenges

Historical Jesus vs. Christ of Faith

Critical scholarship distinguishes the historical Jesus (a first-century Jew) from the Christ of faith (divine Son of God). Did Jesus claim divinity, or did the church later project it onto him?

Conservative response: The New Testament witnesses to Jesus’ divine identity from the earliest strata.

Liberal response: The Incarnation is theological interpretation, not historical fact, but still meaningful as symbolic truth.

Religious Pluralism

If God is incarnate in Jesus alone, what of other religions? Is Christianity’s claim to unique revelation arrogant?

Exclusivist: Christ alone is God incarnate; salvation is only through him.

Inclusivist: Christ is uniquely incarnate, but God’s grace may work through other traditions.

Pluralist: The Incarnation is one symbolic expression among many of divine-human encounter.

Feminist Critique

Did God become human or become male? Does the Incarnation privilege masculinity?

Response: God assumed human nature, not maleness per se. Jesus’ maleness is historical accident, not theological necessity. Yet the tradition has often conflated humanity with maleness, requiring correction.

Science and Miracles

Can modern people accept the virgin birth, the hypostatic union, the physical resurrection?

Response: The Incarnation is sui generis—unique, unrepeatable miracle. It’s not subject to scientific investigation but is a faith claim about God’s action in history.

Artistic and Devotional Expression

The Incarnation has inspired profound artistic expression:

Iconography: Eastern icons depict Christ as both divine (gold background, halo) and human (realistic features, suffering).

Christmas: Celebrates the moment of Incarnation, God entering the world as infant.

Crucifix: The suffering incarnate God, divine love meeting human sin.

Eucharist: The ongoing presence of the incarnate Christ in bread and wine (Catholic/Orthodox view).

Carols and Hymns:

• “Hark! The herald angels sing / Glory to the newborn King / Veiled in flesh the Godhead see / Hail the incarnate Deity”
• “O come, O come, Emmanuel / And ransom captive Israel”

Significance

The Incarnation is not peripheral doctrine but the heart of Christianity. Remove it and the entire structure collapses:

Without the Incarnation:

• Christ is merely a good teacher or prophet
• His death is martyrdom, not atonement
• Salvation is self-achieved, not divinely accomplished
• God remains distant, unknowable
• Christianity becomes one philosophy among many

With the Incarnation:

• God enters history definitively and personally
• Revelation is not just words but a Person
• Salvation is divine gift, not human achievement
• The chasm between Creator and creature is bridged
• Human nature is dignified, matter is sanctified
• Suffering is not meaningless—God has experienced it
• Hope is grounded—if God became human, humans can become like God
• Love is embodied—“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)

The scandal of particularity—that the infinite God became this particular man, born of this woman, in this place, at this time—offends philosophical sensibilities and religious presumptions. Yet Christianity stands or falls on this claim. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” The ancient formula remains: God became what we are that we might become what he is. In the Incarnation, heaven touches earth, eternity enters time, and the impossible becomes gloriously, scandalously, savingly real.