CHRIST’S BECOMING MAN
Westminster
Shorter Catechism 22
Quest.
How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
Ans. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.
Introduction
One thing that sets Christianity apart from every other philosophy and religion in the world is its claim that the Man Christ Jesus is God. The divinity of Jesus Christ has been a stumbling block to humanity since He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
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Even in
Christian circles the doctrine of the two natures of Christ is not without
controversy. But for the record, Christ Jesus is One Divine Person with two
distinct natures forever. We’ve already looked a little at this when we looked
at WSC 21.
In the
following I’d like us to have a look at what it means when we say that Christ,
the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable
soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin
Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.
We see that the catechism states that Christ, the Son of God, became man. Then it tells what it means by Christ’s becoming man, i.e., taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul. Then it tells us how Christ took to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul – i.e., He was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost. Then it tells us where He became man – i.e., in the womb of the virgin Mary. Then it tells us how He entered this world as man – i.e., He was born of her. And finally, the catechism tells us what kind of man He was – i.e., yet without sin.
Becoming
Man
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Eve was
made from the man’s rib. “Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He
made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she
was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:22-23). “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she
conceived and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have acquired a man from the LORD” (Gen.
4:1).
So, we
see from Scripture the origin of man, which is that Man was made by the Triune
God, and in His Own image and likeness. He was made male and female with the
ability to reproduce. To reproduce, the husband would intimately “know” his
wife. The woman would conceive and then give birth to an image and likeness of
themselves – who themselves are the image and likeness of God. So, when we talk
about Christ’s becoming man we are talking about a conception occurring in the
womb of the Virgin Mary. We are talking about Christ’s true body and reasonable
soul being formed. And we are talking about Jesus being born in the usual way.
But there
are two things notably different about Christ’s becoming man.
1. He was conceived by the Holy
Ghost without a human father.
2. He was without sin.
What man
can say that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit without a human father and was
formed without sin? The Psalmist speaks for all of us, does he not, where he
says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived
me” (Psa. 51:5).
None of
us was conceived by the Holy Ghost without a human father, and none of us was
conceived apart from sin. But what about Adam? Who was Adam’s father? The
Triune God! We know that the Holy Spirit is the Person in the Godhead who forms
and even reforms. Therefore, He is the One who formed Adam from the dust of the
earth. The Father speaks and the Spirit brings forth what His Word wills. “The
Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; these three are one” (1 John 5:7b).
So,
Christ, the Son of God, the Word, the Word of God, is to become man. This is
what the Father has spoken. And is this not what the angel Gabriel said to
Mary?
Now in the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin
betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s
name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly
favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’ But when she
saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting
this was. Then the angel said to her. ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have
found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring
forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His
father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His
kingdom there will be no end.’ Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be.
Since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:26-35.
So, God
sent His angel Gabriel to Mary. Mary had never intimately “known” a man, which
is to say that she was a virgin. But even so, she was going to conceive and
give birth to a Son, a baby man. The Holy Spirit was going to form this man in
her womb. For, He was going to come upon Mary and overshadow her.
So, we see then, that Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, has much in common with the first Adam. Like Adam, as to His humanity, God is His Father. But unlike Adam, Jesus has a mother; her name is Mary.
Being
Conceived
For now,
there are three things we need to note about Jesus:
1. He was conceived or formed by the
Holy Spirit.
2. He was conceived by the Holy
Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
3. The power of the Holy Spirit overshadowed or covered Mary.
So, we
see then, that Christ, the Son of God, took to Himself a true body and a
reasonable soul. He did this by being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost.
He did this in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was to be born of her, i.e.,
Mary was to bring Him forth, i.e., give birth to Him.
Because
the Holy Spirit had overshadowed Mary, somehow He was without sin. In other
words, unlike the Psalmist and the rest of us, Christ was not conceived in sin
and brought forth in iniquity. Now, this was not because Mary was not a sinner
like the rest of us. But rather it was on account of the special overshadowing
of the Holy Spirit. Christ was “that Holy One who is to be born [who] will be
called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). In simple terms, Christ’s becoming a man
was miraculous.
Christ
sinlessness is spoken of in Hebrews, “For such a High Priest was fitting for
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become
higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). Those words “holy”, “undefiled”,
“separate from sinners” prove that, even though Christ is truly man, He was
without sin from the moment of conception.
So then
we see that Christ was flesh and blood like the rest of us – yet without sin. “Inasmuch
then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise
shared in the same” (Heb. 2:14). And we see that He has a soul like us – yet
without sin – “Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even
unto death!” (Matt. 26:38). And we see that He had a body like us – yet without
sin – “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering
You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.’” (Heb. 10:5). And
Hebrews 10:10, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all.” The Apostle John says it plainly, “The Word became
flesh” (John 1:14). And Paul the Apostle says, (“But when the fullness of the
time had come, God sent forth His son, born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4).
Adam was
formed from the dust of the ground. Christ’s humanity was formed from the
substance of Mary, i.e., the same dust as Mary. So, Christ’s becoming a man
doesn’t mean that Christ became two persons, i.e., a Divine Person and a human
person. But rather Christ, by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable
soul, became a Divine Person with two distinct natures forever.
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Think
about it, Christ had anguish of soul before He experienced the physical
pain of the cross. Then He experienced torment of soul as well as the physical
torment of being nailed to the tree! But again, God feels no pain — Christ
suffered only in His humanity on the cross. When He cried, “My God, My God, why
have You forsaken Me?” He was experiencing torment only in His human nature.
God
cannot and does not feel pain, just as God cannot die. To be sure, it was
Christ the Person who suffered and died on the cross. But He suffered and died
only as to His human nature and not His Deity.
Dr
Francis Nigel Lee put it well when he wrote,
Well now. If God died when Christ died, just because Christ was and is God – then God is unresurrectably dead. Because Christ was 3/3ds and not just 1/3rd of God. Nay more. If God died when Christ died, then the Father and the Spirit died when Christ died. For all three are equally God. Then there could have been no God to resurrect Christ. Then were we yet in our sins, and our faith in vain! But now – Christ has risen! For God raised Him up. Therefore God did not die when Christ did. Christ did not suffer in His Deity, nor is He to be worshipped in His manhood but only in His (divine) Person.[1]
Born
Without Sin
Let’s
move on and ask a “why” question. Why would the Son of God become also man?
What is it all about? Well, I suppose the short answer to that is sin – our sin!
He needed to become man in order to take away the sins of men. All the
sacrificed blood of bulls, and goats, and sheep added together could not atone
for our sins. Animals are not the image and likeness of God – only man is. Therefore,
only a man can redeem men. But only a perfect image and likeness of God, i.e.,
a man who has not been tainted and tarnished by sin, can pay for the sins of
men.
If Christ
was a sinner or even part of, or included in, sinful humanity He’d have to pay
for His own sin before He could pay for anyone else’s. And a sinful Saviour
could have no access to God on account of His own sin. So, when Christ became man,
He united Himself to “redeemed” man, or “to-be-redeemed” man, and not to cursed
humanity. In other words, and in simple language Christ Jesus Himself was one
of the elect, chosen by God before the foundation of the world. Note the word “chosen”
used by Matthew, speaking of Christ and quoting Isaiah where God says, “Behold!
My Servant whom I have chosen” (Matt. 12:18). That word “chosen” is the same
word for “elected”.
The
people who ridiculed Christ as He hung on the cross said, “He saved others; let
Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35). So make
no mistake about it, the Man Christ Jesus was chosen by God. And like us He was
chosen or elected before the foundation of the world. But in the fullness of
the time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman.
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So, you
need to be in Christ before you can be a true son of Abraham. Therefore, Christ
is united only to the elect and redeemed humanity – the new or renewed
humanity. He was to be the Seed of the woman, not the seed of the Serpent (Gen.
3:15; Gal. 3:16). Therefore, there are two humanities, i.e., the elect and the
non-elect. And we won’t know until the last day which is which. We can only
presume now. But make sure that you are one of the elect by repenting
and believing in the Gospel!
But the
point I make is that Christ’s becoming man was for the salvation of His people,
not every single human being. “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall
call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt.
1:21). Who are His people, the people He is going to save? They are the true
sons of Abraham, those who believe in the Saviour, those who are elected in
Christ.
The
writer to the Hebrews records the Man Christ Jesus as saying, “Here am I and
the children whom God has given Me” (Heb. 2:13b). Which children are those?
Hebrews 2:16b, “He does give aid to the seed [or descendants] of Abraham.” Who
are the true seed or descendants of Abraham? Again, “only those who are of
faith are sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7).
So then,
it’s important to know that Christ’s true body and reasonable soul are not
something that was stashed in heaven and brought out in the fullness of time.
Christ’s humanity was not from all eternity which humanity would appear on earth
in the fullness of the time. No, the Word became flesh the moment He was
conceived by the Holy Ghost to develop in Mary’s womb and be born in the usual
manner.
And it’s also important to note that Christ’s humanity is united only to the true descendants of Abraham. He is not united to Cain who slew righteous Abel. He is not united to Judas Iscariot. He is not united in His humanity to any of those whom God has bypassed. He is not united as to His humanity to any seed of the serpent or son of Hell. But He was and still is united by His humanity to all of God’s elect. And He became united to God’s elect only when He was conceived by the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Mary, who was virgin at the time.
Conclusion
Christ’s
becoming Man was to reconcile the elect of God to God and Christ needed to be
both God and Man in order to complete the transaction. In other words, God and
Man are reconciled in Christ on account of His two natures, the human and the
divine. But before this reconciliation could totally be accomplished Christ had
to pay the debt God’s elect owed to God.
That’s
what Christ’s entering into the Holy of Holies, i.e., entering into the
presence of God with His own shed blood, is all about. His shed blood is the
proof that our sins are paid for because His shed blood is proof that He is
truly man. It is this blood that proves that He is connected to the elect of
God.
We are
crucified with Him because we are in Him (Gal. 2:20). We are in Him because we
are the true Seed of Abraham through faith. And we are the true sons of Abraham
because He, by His Spirit, is in us. This isn’t mumbo-jumbo! It’s true because
Christ Jesus is God and Man in One Divine Person forever.
He has
taken to Himself our humanity. And He dwells in us by His Divinity — even His
Spirit, the Holy Ghost. As our Mediator He is able to approach the Triune God
because He is God – God the Son. And He is able to represent us to God because
He became a Man like us without sin. He became the Mediator of the elect only
by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul. His appearances to His
elect in the Old Testament were in anticipation of His incarnation. Therefore,
Christ’s becoming Man was God’s means of rescuing His chosen people, even you
and me as true believers.
It was
God laying His hand upon us – a hand that we could feel and touch – a hand that
could feel pain – a hand that could bleed – a hand that could be nailed to a
cross for our sins! It had to be a holy hand, a hand without spot or stain – a
hand that hadn’t shed innocent blood. It had to be a hand attached to a true
body with a reasonable soul. Otherwise, the whole man could not be saved but
only that aspect of man Christ was.
So,
Christ was truly man, fully and completely man. And as such He is able to save
the whole man! Therefore, trust in Him alone for your salvation, for He is the
beginning of the new humanity. And He alone is the Saviour of the new humanity.
And we become part of that new redeemed humanity through believing in Him.
So then,
we’ve considered something of Westminster Shorter Catechism 22 which asks: How
did Christ, being the Son of God, become man? To which the answer is given:
Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body and a
reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of
the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.
Quoted from my Growth Enhancer book. See Amazon for you copy: Growth Enhancer: Enlarging Westminster Shorter Catechism 1-28 : McKinlay, Neil Cullan: Amazon.com.au: Books
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