What is the Incarnation, and why is it important?
The word incarnation comes from a Latin word that means “to be made flesh” (John 1:14). The Incarnation is the Christian belief that Jesus was the Son of God and son of man — truly human and truly divine. From eternity, the Son entered history and took on the nature of flesh from a virgin human mother and His divine Father. This is important because it is God’s design for the redemption of humanity. Incarnation is God’s act to restore people into a relationship with God and to grow them into the likeness of Jesus, the firstborn of God (cf. Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18; Hebrews 1:6; 12:23; Revelation 1:5).
The doctrine of the Incarnation originates in John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The preexisting Word is identified as the one who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14), Jesus the Christ. The divine actions of Jesus recorded in the Gospels serve as evidence of His preexistence, such as forgiving sins, building His own church, and being worshipped alongside the Father. Likewise, Jesus’ own claims and references to His divine origin and preexistence serve as key evidence.
The Incarnation tangibly reveals God to humanity and demonstrates His intention for humanity. The Incarnation was necessary because, through the first Adam, created in the Garden of Eden, sin corrupted humanity. A sentence of death was pronounced upon all under the headship of the first Adam. The apostle Paul explains, “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45).
The apostle continues in the next three verses: “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly” (vv. 46-48).
God’s justice and salvation of humanity required one who did not carry the headship of the first Adam as his father, but a sinless person in the flesh to fulfill the death sentence pronounced upon humanity through the first Adam. Jesus’ divine nature and human nature — the Incarnation — did that. As a man, Jesus would bear the judgment for humanity. He, without sin, became the substitute for the guilty, to stand in our place (cf. Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Further, the Incarnation positions Jesus to be both our Mediator and High Priest who overcame human sin and weakness and sympathizes with human struggles, as the book of Hebrews describes. The Incarnation establishes God’s permanent and eternal dwelling place with humanity. The first advent of Jesus the Christ by divine conception, His sinless life, His substitutionary atoning sacrifice, and His glorified resurrection are followed by His second advent to establish the glorified residence of God with humanity.
Finally, the Incarnation demonstrates a profound act of love and self-emptying sacrifice to show how much the physical world and human existence matter. It is through the Incarnation that humanity can see more clearly the character of God as Creator and Redeemer (cf. Isaiah 9:6; John 14:9; Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-3).
— Elder Chip Hinds
