Dr Paul Allen

What is the incarnation? What do Christians mean by incarnation? The incarnation comes from Latin and means “in the flesh.” Put briefly, the incarnation is the doctrine that God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, became truly human without ceasing to be truly God. In Jesus Christ, we have two natures, divine and human, united in one and the same person, the Son of God. Jesus is not half-God and half-man, nor a blend of God and man, but both truly God and truly man. The importance of the hypostatic union Related to the doctrine of the incarnation is the hypostatic union. The term hypostatic union comes from the Greek word hypostasis, often translated into English as person. Thus, the “hypostatic union” refers to the union of a truly human nature and a truly divine nature in the one person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why does this matter?  In the fifth century, some taught that the incarnation meant a divine person taking on a human person, resulting in two persons in Christ lo...

If I were to say, “You are so condescending” or “You’ve got a condescending manner,” I don’t think you would take it as a compliment. The way that we normally use the word condescending is similar to the way we normally use the term patronizing: it’s a pejorative term. The Collins English dictionary speaks of being condescending as “showing your disapproval of the fact that they talk or behave in a way which shows that they think they are superior to other people.” However, I want us to think for a moment of our “condescending God” because when we use the term “condescension” of God, we are coming very near to the wonder and glory of who God is and the beauty of the gospel. And this will inevitably lead us to worship Him. God is, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He made heaven and earth, and He works all things according to the power of His will. He is holy, holy, hol...

Santa Claus.  What should Christian parents do with Santa Claus ? What should we do with old St. Nick? As you know, there’s a fourth century Greek historical figure named Saint Nicholas . But most parents are concerned about the mythic, white-bearded, red-suited, reindeer-flying Santa Claus — that guy.  What do you think about Christian parents who allow their children to believe Santa Claus is bringing them gifts on Christmas ?  After Easter , Christmas should be the happiest day of the year in Christian worship. The reason I say “after Easter” is that Good Friday and Easter is the goal of Christmas. The death and resurrection, the salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus , is the goal of Christmas. Christmas is not the goal of Easter. Christmas is a means. The salvation of sinners on Good Friday and Easter is the goal. “The salvation of sinners on Good Friday and Easter is the goal of the incarnation on Christmas.” Jesus came at ...

The glory of Christmas is that it is not the beginning of Christ. Long before that first Christmas, his story had begun — not just in various prophecies, but in a divine person. Christmas may be the opening of the climactic chapter, but it is not the commencement of Christ. Christmas does indeed mark a conception and a birth. We rehearse Mary’s magnificent song of submission, and the shepherds’ visit to pay homage to her newborn son, and read she “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke  2:19 ). For mere humans, no doubt, such is the stuff of our origins. Prior to earthly beginnings, we simply did not exist. But it is not so with the Son of God. His “coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). Unlike every other human birth, Christmas is not a beginning, but a becoming. Christmas isn’t his start, but his commission. He was not created; he came. No other human in the history of the world shares in this peculiar glory. As remar...

What we celebrate at Christmas is not so much the birth of a baby, as important as that is, but what's so significant about the birth of that particular baby is that in this birth we have the incarnation of God Himself. An incarnation means a coming in the flesh. We know how John begins His gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So in that very complicated introductory statement, he distinguishes between the Word and God, and then in the next breath identifies the two, "The Word was with God, and the Word was God." And then at the end of the prologue, he says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Now in this "infleshment," if you will, of Christ appearing on this planet, it's not that God suddenly changes through a metamorphosis into a man, so that the divine nature sort of passes out of existence or comes into a new form of fleshiness. No, the incarnation is not so much a s...

Why the God-Man: The Mystery of the Incarnation Jesus is the eternal Word of God in human flesh. In the opening of John's gospel, we learn that the Son of God became something He was not—a man. At the same time, He remained what He always was—the second person of the Trinity. As the God-Man, Jesus is one person with complete yet distinct divine and human natures. The biblical account of the incarnation raises one of the most important questions ever to be asked: Why the God-Man? This is the central role of the incarnation - understanding the person and work of Christ. You understand that and you will understand Christmas. Beginning with Moses: Christ in All the Scriptures The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God. Although it consists of a collection of sixty-six writings by multiple authors spanning hundreds of years, it is one book with one message of salvation. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals how God saves sinners through His one and o...

The Bible is the Word of God . Yet, within the conservative school there is a divergence of opinion regarding what is involved in inspiration. Thus there are the following conservative theories of inspiration: a) The Verbal Dictation Theory. This theory states that every word, even the punctuation, is dictated by God , much as a business executive would dictate a letter to his secretary. This is often called “mechanical inspiration” or “verbal dictation.” Fundamentalists are often accused of subscribing to this method of inspiration, but only a small percentage of them actually do. The great weakness of this theory is that it eliminates any possibility of a personal style in the writings of the divinely chosen author—a phenomenon which is clearly observable. b) The Inspired Concept Theory. In an endeavor to compensate for the dangers of the Verbal Dictation Theory, some conservatives have adopted the idea that God gave the thoughts to the men chosen, and left them to ...

English: Ascension of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) That question comes up every year at Christmastime . In the first place, there's no direct biblical commandment to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25. There's nothing in the Bible that would even indicate that Jesus was born on December 25. In fact, there's much in the New Testament narratives that would indicate that it didn't occur during that time of year. It just so happens that on the twenty-fifth of December in the Roman Empire there was a pagan holiday that was linked to mystery religions; the pagans celebrated their festival on December 25. The Christians didn't want to participate in that, and so they said, "While everybody else is celebrating this pagan thing, we're going to have our own celebration. We're going to celebrate the thing that's most important in our lives, the incarnation of God , the birth of Jesus Christ . So this is going to be a time of joyous festivi...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. [ 2 Corinthians 11:14] Both shepherds and wisemen were challenged by the concept of the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ . During the next meditations we will consider the historical development of the doctrine of Christ . In our day there is an emphasis on having a personal encounter with Jesus. The important truth in this emphasis is that Jesus Christ is indeed a person, and we need to know him personally. It is one thing to know about someone, and it is something else to know that individual personally. At the same time, if all we have is some kind of personal experience, how do we know that we have encountered the real Jesus Christ? We read that Satan poses as an angel of light. Perhaps we have entered into a personal relationship with a demon posing as Jesus. This is an important question because liberalism, modernism, and neo-orthodoxy have e...

English: Charles Wesley (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Is your all-time favorite Christmas carol is Charles Wesley's , Hark! the Herald Angels Sing ?  I trust you will see why as we move through its stanzas and consider its message. While you may be used to the three-stanza version found in most hymnals (e.g., Psalter Hymnal #339; Trinity Hymnal #203), I will use a five-stanza version my congregation sings every Christmas Eve at our service of lessons and carols. The fact of the Incarnation of the Son of God is for us a powerful invitation to worship him. This is what the first stanza is all about. The angels sing, "Hark! The herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King; peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!" Because of their cry, we are invited to echo back: "Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies; with th'angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem!" The second stanza is a meditation on why the a...