Incarnation (Christianity)
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In the incarnation, as traditionally defined by those Churches that adhere to the Council of Chalcedon, the divine nature of the Son was united but not mixed with human nature[3] in one divine person, Jesus. This is central to the traditional faith held by most Christians. Alternative views on the subject (see Ebionites and the Gospel of the Hebrews) have been proposed throughout the centuries, but all were rejected by Nicene Christianity.
The incarnation is commemorated and celebrated each year at Christmas, and reference can also be made to the Feast of the Annunciation; "different aspects of the mystery of the incarnation" are celebrated at Christmas and the Annunciation.[4]
Etymology
The noun incarnation derives from the ecclesiastical Latin verb incarno, itself derived from the prefix in- and caro, "flesh", meaning "to make into flesh" or, in the passive, "to be made flesh". The verb incarno does not occur in the Latin Bible but the term is drawn from the Gospel of John 1:14 "et Verbum caro factum est" (Vulgate), King James Version: "and the Word was made flesh".
Description and development of the traditional doctrine
Incarnation refers to the act of a
Ignatius of Antioch taught that "We have also as a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin."[7] Justin Martyr argued that the incarnate Word was pre-figured in Old Testament prophecies.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses the Incarnation in paragraphs 461–463 and cites several Bible passages to assert its centrality (Philippians 2:5–8, Hebrews 10:5–7, 1 John 4:2, 1 Timothy 3:16).[8]
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is a statement of belief originating in two ecumenical councils, the First Council of Nicaea in 325, and the First Council of Constantinople in 381. As such, is it still relevant to most Christian churches today.[9] The Incarnation is always professed, though different Rites use different translations. The Roman Catholic Church's current translation is: "For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man."[10]
Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed includes the article of faith "He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary."
Ecumenical councils
Eventually, the teachings of Alexander,
The most widely accepted definitions of the incarnation and the nature of Jesus were made by the
Effect
The incarnation implies three facts: (1) The divine person of Jesus Christ; (2) The human nature of Jesus Christ; (3) The hypostatic union of the human with the divine nature in the divine person of Jesus Christ. Without diminishing his divinity, he added to it all that is involved in being human.[15] In Christian belief it is understood that Jesus was at the same time both fully God and fully human, two natures in one person.[2] The body of Christ was therefore subject to all the bodily weaknesses to which human nature is universally subject; such are hunger (Matthew.4:2), thirst (John 19:28), fatigue (John 4:6), pain, and death. They were the natural results of the human nature he assumed.[16] Approaches such as Nestorianism, Ebonism, Arianism, Appoliniarianism, and Eutychianism have attempted understanding of the two natures of Christ; some of them have been condemned traditionally as heretical.[17] In A Kryptic Model of the Incarnation, Andrew Loke evaluates many of these attempts and suggests a possible Divine Preconscious Model (DPM) that postulates that at the Incarnation, Christ's mind included the divine conscious and the divine preconscious along with a human preconscious.[18]
The incarnation of Jesus is also one of the key factors which, alongside humans made in the image and likeness of God, forms Christian Anthropology. Specifically, incarnation is vital for understanding the concept of
Modern Protestantism
The link between the incarnation and the
Hymns and prayers
Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic
The significance of the incarnation has been extensively discussed throughout
O only begotten Son and Word of God,
Who, being immortal,
Deigned for our salvation
To become incarnate
Of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary,
And became man without change;
You were also crucified,
O Christ our God,
And by death have trampled Death,
Being one of the Holy Trinity,
Glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit—
Save us!
Additionally, the
Let all mortal flesh be silent,
and stand with fear and trembling,
and meditate nothing earthly within itself:—
For the King of kings and Lord of lords,
Christ our God, comes forward to be sacrificed,
and to be given for food to the faithful;
and the bands ofangelsgo before Him
with every power and dominion,
the many-eyedcherubim,
and the six-wingedseraphim,
covering their faces,
and crying aloud the hymn,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.[23]
West Syriac Churches
The West Syriac Churches – Syriac Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox, Syro-Malankara Catholic, Syriac Catholic and Maronite Catholic – principally celebrating the
I exalt Thee, Lord and King,
Only-begotten Son and Word
of the heavenly Father,
immortal by nature, Thou came down by grace
for salvation
and life for all human race; was incarnate
of the holy
glorious, pure Virgin
Mary, Mother of God
and became man without any change;
was crucified for us.
O Christ, our God,
Who by Thy death trampled and slaughtered our death,
Who are One of the Holy Trinity,
worshipped and honored with
the Father and the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us all.[24]
Alternative views
Michael Servetus
During the Reformation,
In describing Servetus' theology of the Logos, Andrew Dibb (2005) comments: "In Genesis God reveals Himself as the Creator. In John He reveals that He created by means of the Word, or Logos. Finally, also in John, He shows that this Logos became flesh and 'dwelt among us'. Creation took place by the spoken word, for God said 'Let there be...' The spoken word of Genesis, the Logos of John, and the Christ, are all one and the same."[26]
Condemned by both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches on account of his heterodox
English Arians
Post-Reformation Arians such as William Whiston often held a view of the incarnation in keeping with the personal pre-existence of Christ. Whiston considered the incarnation to be of the Logos Who had pre-existed as "a Metaphysick existence, in potentia or in the like higher and sublimer Manner in the Father as His Wisdom or Word before His real Creation or Generation."[28]
Jacob Bauthumley
Jacob Bauthumley rejected that God was "onely manifest in the flesh of Christ, or the man called Christ". Instead, he held that God "substantially dwells in the flesh of other men and creatures" rather than solely Christ.[29]
Socinian and Unitarian
Servetus rejected
Oneness Pentecostalism
In contrast to the traditional view of the incarnation cited above, adherents of Oneness Pentecostalism believe in the doctrine of Oneness. Although both Oneness and traditional Christianity teach that God is a singular Spirit, Oneness adherents reject the idea that God is a Trinity of persons. Oneness doctrine teaches there is one God who manifests Himself in different ways, as opposed to a Trinity, where God is seen as one being consisting of three distinct persons.[34]
To a Oneness Pentecostal, Jesus is seen as both fully divine and fully human. The term Father refers to God Himself, who caused the conception of the Son in Mary, thus becoming the father of the child she bore. The term Son refers to the fully human person, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost refers to the manifestation of God's Spirit inside of and around His people. Thus the Father is not the Son – and this distinction is crucial – but is in the Son as the fullness of His divine nature.[35] Traditional Trinitarians believe that the Son always existed as the eternal second person of the Trinity; Oneness adherents believe that the Son did not come into being until the incarnation, when the one and only true God took on human form for the first, last and only time in history.[36]
Jehovah's Witnesses
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus to be the only direct creation of God through whom God created everything else.[37][13] His incarnation is considered to be temporary, after which Christ, accordingly, resumed his spiritual and angelic form. Christ is not seen as divine or co-equal with God the Father.[37] After resurrection, Jesus is seen as assuming temporary human forms, though resuming his spirit form eventually.[38]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism)
According to
- "I do not ask for these [disciples] only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."[42]
This conception of the Godhead differs from the
- "Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually. But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God...For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil...Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ."[43]
Notes
- ^ The Seven Ecumenical Councils, from the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vols. 2–14 (CCEL.org) Contains detailed statements from each of these councils. The First Council of Nicaea, Council of Ephesus and Council of Chalcedon are the "First", "Third" and "Fourth" Ecumenical Councils, respectively.
- ^ (Syr.): A responsory, originally to a psalm, where each verse of a psalm had a response in poetic form. The text of this ma‛neetho dates back to the 6th century and is attributed in later sources to St. Severus, the Patriarch of Antioch (c. 465–538). The Byzantine Orthodox rite also has a similar hymn called a troparion and is attributed there to Emperor Justinian (c. 483-565)
References
- ^ McKim, Donald K. 1996. Westminster dictionary of theological terms. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 140.
- ^ a b "Archbishop Justin addresses Muslim Council of Wales". The Archbishop of Canterbury. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ "Thomas Aquinas, "Of the Incarnation as part of the Fitness of Things", Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame". Archived from the original on 2015-06-22. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
- ^ "Advent Prayer and the Incarnation | EWTN". EWTN Global Catholic Television Network. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ Artermi, Eirini, The Religious Policy of the Byzantine Emperors from the 1st to 4th Ecumenical Council, retrieved 25 March 2015
- ^ "What do Christians believe about the Incarnation? Was Jesus really God? - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ "Philip Schaff: ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraphs 461–463.
- ^ "Compare Christian Denominations: Belief and Theology". Religion Facts. March 5, 2005.
- ^ "THE PROFESSION OF FAITH". Vatican.va.
- ^ "Catechism Credo". Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ "Evangelium Vitae (25 March 1995) | John Paul II". www.vatican.va. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ a b Marbaniang, Domenic (2011). "In Jesus Humanity and Divinity United". Revive. 4 (5): 3.
- ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church 85–90". Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ Packer, J. I. "Incarnate Forever". ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ Drum, Walter. "The Incarnation". The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 Octobrt 2016
- ^ Marbaniang, Domenic (May 2011). "In Jesus Humanity and Divinity United". Revive. 4 (5): 3.
- ^ Loke, Andrew (2016). A Kryptic Model of the Incarnation. Oxon: Routledge.
- ^ Athanasius, "Discourse I, Paragraph 39", Against the Arians, retrieved 2012-11-06
- ISBN 978-0-88141-133-1.
- ^ Trinität und Reich Gottes. Zur Gotteslehre 1980
- ISBN 9780060659066.
- ^ Divine Liturgy of St. James. Translated by James Donaldson. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.
- ^ "Margoneetho: Syriac Orthodox Resources". syriacorthodoxresources.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ 'De trinitatis erroribus', Book 7.
- ^ Andrew Dibb, Servetus, Swedenborg and the Nature of God, University Press of America, 2005, p 93. Online at Google Book Search
- ^ Cottret, Bernard (2000). John Calvin. Translated by McDonald, M. Wallace. Grand Rapids: W.B.Eerdmans. pp. 222–225.
- ^ James E. Force William Whiston, honest Newtonian 1985 p16
- ^ Bauthumley, Jacob (1650). The Light and Dark Sides of God, Or, A Plain and Brief Discourse of the Light Side. London, English Commonwealth. p. 11.
- ^ Restitución, p. 137.
- ^ George Huntston Williams The Radical Reformation
- Roland H. Bainton. The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century
- ^ A.D. Norris, The Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Christadelphian, Birmingham 1982
- ISBN 9781441214966. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ David K. Bernard (1994-09-30). The Oneness View of Jesus Christ (Kindle Locations 362-367). World Aflame Press. Kindle Edition.
- ^ Oneness doctrine is explained in detail in UPCI minister Dr. David K. Bernard's The Oneness of God Archived 2008-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, David K. Bernard (1994-09-30);The Oneness View of Jesus Christ (Kindle Locations 362-367). World Aflame Press. Kindle Edition; David S. Norris (2013-11-12). I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology (Kindle Locations 190-192). Word Aflame Press. Kindle Edition.
- ^ a b "Jesus Christ". Jehovah's Witnesses. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "After Jesus' Resurrection, Was His Body Flesh or Spirit?". Jehovah's Witnesses. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "Doctrine and Covenants 130". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ "The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent". Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ Golden, Elder Christoffel Jr. "The Father and the Son". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ "Bible Gateway passage: John 17 - English Standard Version". Bible Gateway. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ "Moroni 7". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "The Incarnation". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
External links
- 'De trinitatis erroribus', by Michael Servetus (Non-Trinitarian)
- On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. (Trinitarian)
- The Oneness of God Homepage of Dr. David K. Bernard. (Oneness)
- The Seven Ecumenical Councils, from the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vols. 2-14 (Trinitarian)
- [1] Archived 2013-09-05 at the Wayback Machine by Artemi Eirini