Did God become man?
WHETHER THE LORD Jesus Christ is God or not is one of the frequent subjects of discussions about Him. Among the proponents of the Jesus-is-God doctrine is a church that claims apostolicity or continuity of the Church established by Christ in the first century.[1]
Ironically, its dogma on the alleged deity of Christ traces its foundation not from Christ or His apostles, and definitely not from the Bible, but from a Roman emperor, who believed in the sun god[2] and who presided over the council of Nicaea, ordering the Catholic bishops to endorse Christ as God[3] Held in the year 325 more than 200 hundred years after the Bible had been written, the apostles already dead, and Christ had already ascended to heaven that council defined as an article of the Catholic faith that Jesus is truly God.[4]
It is also of significance to mention that more than a hundred years after the Council of Nicaea elevated Christ to being God, another Catholic dogma about Christ was formulated; this time, it was endorsed, in the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451, that Christ has two natures: divine and human.[5] This alleged dual-nature of Christ, called “the hypostatic union,”[6] purports “to finally settle the issue of the two natures of Christ and how to word the doctrine of Incarnation.”[7]
The word “incarnation,” which cannot be found in the Bible, is used by the proponents of that doctrine to denote that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. But is there truth in this Catholic belief that Christ is God Who took a human form?
GOD DOES NOT CHANGE
That Christ became man is against biblical teaching on the nature of God. There is nothing in the Bible that mentions or even implies that He changes Himself from God to man. But, rather, it is an outright contradiction to God’s pronouncement that
“I am the LORD, I do not change”
(Reference: Mal. 3:6 New King James Version)
Furthermore, God turning Himself into a man is definitely not a Christian thought. The apostles said, thus:
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
(Reference: James 1:17 NKJV, Emphasis Mine)
The claim that God’s divinity is intact even if He takes a human form, as implied by the alleged dual nature of Christ (God and man), clearly opposes what God Himself said:
“I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.”
(Reference: Isa. 43:10, GNT, Emphasis Mine)
Clearly, God did not take the human form nor made Himself God and man at the same time. God is God and not man. On the other hand, man is not and cannot be God:
“Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the LORD GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.”
(Reference: Ezek. 28:2 King James Version, Emphasis Mine)
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself declares in no uncertain terms what His nature or state of being is:
“I am a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.”
(Reference: Jn. 8:40, GNT)
Therefore, since Christ is a man, then He is definitely not God. Christ’s being a man eradicates any possibility of Him being God. The very fact that Christ declared He ‘heard the truth from God” already disqualifies Him from being the true God. Furthermore, it cannot be that Christ is both man and God.
WHAT 'BECAME FLESH'
Theologians who uphold the teaching that Christ is God Incarnate also quote verses from the Bible to substantiate their claim. Among these are John 1:1 and 14, which state:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
(Reference: Jn 1:1,14 KJV)
They interpret these verses by saying that Christ has already existed in the beginning, and He (the supposed second person of the so-called Trinity) had been with God in the beginning. And Christ was God. And Christ Who was God became man.
Let us examine their claim.
Does John 1:1 say that Christ was already existent in the beginning? No, it does not. What was there at the time, according to the verse, was the “Word” or logos in Greek. Notice that a footnote (Douay-Rheims) on John 1:1 says that the “Word” is a “form of intellectual emanation from the Father.”
Hence, the Word, in the beginning, was the plan of God concerning Christ (I Pet. 1:20). There was no Christ yet in existence, but He was already in the foreknowledge of God even before the foundation of the world, as Apostle Peter made it clear:
“Foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifested in the last times for you.”
(Reference: I Pet. 1:20 Douay-Rheims Bible, Emphasis Mine)
John 1:1 also states, “the Word [plan] was with God” as God is the One Who laid out the plan. It also states that “the Word is God” because “no word from God shall be void of power” (Luke 1:37 American Standard Version). God is powerful and so is His word.
In verse 14, it is stated that what was made flesh was the Word or Logos and not God Himself. In fact, when the Word or plan was fulfilled, the one and only God still remained ― He is the Father, not the Son Who is Christ (John 17:1, 3). Hence, John 1:14 states that the Word was made flesh because God’s word or plan came into fruition ― Christ, a human being, was born (Matt. 1:18, 20; Gal. 4:4; Gen. 6:3). Christ is the fulfillment of the Word or plan of God. Christ is the Savior Whom God has promised since the beginning. For this reason, Christ introduces Himself as a man sent by God:
“I am a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God…
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were really your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority; God sent me.”
(Reference: John 8:40, 42 NCV, Emphasis Mine)
It should be noticed that not only did our Lord Jesus Christ identify Himself as man in nature or state of being, but He also proved that He differs greatly from God. He was sent by God. God, Who sent Christ, is different from Christ Who was sent.
Therefore, the teaching that Christ is God incarnate is just a product of a wrong interpretation of the Bible verses. It is sheer contradiction to the Bible itself to teach that Christ already existed before the foundation of the world.
NOT A CHRISTIAN BELIEF
Belief in a deity manifesting as a human being is a pagan concept, such as what was held by certain people whom the apostles encountered and immediately rebuked:
“And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, ‘Stand up straight on your feet!’ And he leaped and walked. Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language,’ The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’ And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.”
(Reference: Acts 14:8-12 NKJV)
Because of the miracles performed by the apostles, some people wrongly inferred that Apostle Paul and his co-messenger, Barnabas, were gods who came down as humans, as Gentiles (Greeks and Romans) believed about their mythological gods and goddesses. Now, if the apostles were mistaken then for gods who took on human form, it is not surprising that there are those who have mistaken Christ as God. Lamentably, this belief emanated from pagans who, according to the apostles, despise God and should not be imitated (Rom. 2:24; Eph. 4:17-19).
The question now is: Would you also uphold a pagan-rooted belief about Christ that He is God Who became man?
References
1. The Faith Explained, p. 164
2. The Jesus Establishment, pp. 163–164
3. Challenge Of A Liberal Faith, p. 64
4. The Apostles Creed, p. 206
5. The Church In History, p. 33
6. The Faith Explained, pp. 73-74
7. https://worldhistory.org/Council_of_Chalcedon/
IN CONCLUSION
1
The Question On Christ's Nature
Fundamental Beliefs of The "Iglesia Ni Cristo" (Church Of Christ)
Reach Out
