Quotations concerning the Incarnation

From the Scriptures

"When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." [Gal. 4:4-5]

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." [I Tim. 3:16]

From the Patristic Fathers

There is one Physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and not born, who is God in man, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first able to suffer and then unable to suffer, Jesus Christ our Lord.

               --St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians (circa A.D. 110)

Let us believe, then, dear brethren, according to the tradition of the Apostles, that God the Word came down from heaven into the holy Virgin Mary, in order that, taking flesh from he and taking also a soul, I mean a rational soul, and thus becoming all that man is except in regard to sin, He might save the fallen and confer immortality on such men as believe in His name.  In all this, the word of truth is demonstrated to us: namely the Father is one, and His Word, through whom He created all things, is present with Him.

               In later times, as we said before, the Father sent for this Word for the salvation of men.  The Law and the Prophets announced this Word as one who was destined to come into the world.  And in just the way in which it was announced of Him, did He come and manifest Himself, made a new man of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit.  As the Word, He had from the Father what is Heavenly, just as from the old Adam he had what is earthly, having become incarnate through the Virgin.  He came forth into the world and, in the body, showed Himself to be God, although it was as perfect man that He came forth.  For He was made man, not in appearance nor in seeming, but in truth."

   --St. Hippolytus, Rome, Against Heresy of a Certain Noetus (circa A.D. 200-210)

There are some who demand an explanation of how God is mingled with man so as to become the one person of Christ, when this is a perfectly unique occurence.  As if they themselves could explain something that happens every day, how the soul is mingled iwth the body so as to form the onen person of a man!  Just as the soul emplys the body in the unity of a person to form a man, so too God makes use of  man in the unity of a person to form Christ.

  --St. Augustine of Hippo, Letter of Augustine to Volusian (A.D. 412)

The Word of God, as God, is ever Most High; as Man He is exalted.  As God He is in want of nothing: as Man He is said to receive.  As God He is adored by all; now as Man He accepts adoration....He that subjects Himself to humanity certainly cannot reasonable be blamed for not refusing to bear those things also that pertain to humanity.  and it is proper to mans nature to receive  from God, in accord with the famous saying: 'What have you that you did not receive?' (I Cor. 4:7)  As man, therefore He accepted by grace what as God he had by nature.

  --Treasury of the Holy Trinity (A.D. 423-425) St. Cyril of Alexandria

From contemporary scholars

Thus in the Incarnation there was begun the personal union of the divine person of the Son of God with the human nature, and thus there are in Christ Jesus two natures, divine and human, but only one person - the Son of God.  Confessional Lutheranism has always taught that at the moment of our Lord's conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary the human nature of Christ shared fully in the Tritarian life of God. (See Luther, LW, 37:229, 232)  By virture of the personal union of the divine Son of God with the Person of Jesus Christ, the God-man, rules the wrold and fills all things.  The human nature is not absent from this universal rule, but shares fully in it.

  --David P. Scaer, Christology, Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics, Vol. VI, 1989, p. 24

Martin Luther

“This same picture may be applied to God.  God, too, in His majesty and nature, is pregnant with a Word or a conversation in which He engages with Himself in His divine essence and which reflects the thoughts of His heart.  This is as complete and excellent and perfect as God Himself.  No one but God alone sees, hears, or comprehends this conversation.  It is an invisible and incomprehensible conversation.  His Word existed before all angels and all creatures existed, for subsequently He brought all creatures into being by means of this Word and conversation.  God is so absorbed in this Word, thought, or conversation that He pays no attention to anything else.” (LW 22:10)

Meditation XIV

the mystery of the incarnation

Christ’s Cradle glows with a Heavenly Light.

Let us for a little while withdraw our minds from temporal things and contemplate the mystery of our Lord’s birth.  The Son of God came down from heaven, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:5).  God became man, that man might become a partaker of divine grace and of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  Christ chose to be born into the world in the evening of the world’s life, to signify that the benefits of His incarnation pertain not to this present life, but to eternal life.  He chose to be born in the time of the peaceful Augustus, because He was the blessed peacemaker between man and God.  He chose to be born in the time of Israel’s servitude, because He is the true liberator and defender of His people.  He chose to be born under the reign of a foreign prince, seeing that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).  He is born of a virgin to signify that He is born in the hearts of spiritual virgins only (2 Corinthians 11:2), that is, in those who are not joined to the world or to the devil, but to God by one Spirit.  He is born pure and holy, that He might sanctify our impure and defiled birth.  He is born of a virgin espoused to a man, that He might set forth the honor of marriage as a divine institution.  He was born in the darkness of the night, who came as the true light to illumine the darkness of the world.  He who is the true food of our souls is laid in a manger.  He is born among the beasts of the stall, that He might restore to their former dignity and honor sinful men, who through their sins had made themselves little better than the beasts.  He is born in Bethlehem, the house of bread, who brought with Himself from heaven the bread of life for our souls.  He is the first and only-begotten of His mother here on earth, who according to His divine nature is the first and only-begotten of His Father in heaven.  He is born poor and needy (2 Corinthians 8:9), that He might prepare the riches of heaven for us.  He is born in a mean stable, that He might lead us back to the royal palace of His Father in heaven.  He is sent from heaven as the messenger of redemptive grace, because no one on earth knew its exceeding greatness.  It is with good reason that He, a heavenly messenger, should bring us the tidings of those heavenly blessings that are reserved for us at His right hand above.  The angelic hosts rejoice at the birth of Christ because, through the incarnation of the Son of God, they can have us poor mortals as the companions of their blessedness.  This great wonder is first announced to shepherds, because as the true Shepherd of souls He has come at that time to bring back His lost sheep into His fold.  The glad tidings of great joy are proclaimed to the despised and lowly, because no one can become a sharer of that joy, who is not lightly esteemed in his own eyes.  The nativity is announced to those watching their flocks by night, because only those can become partakers of this great gift to man whose hearts are watchful toward God, and not those who are fast asleep in sin.  And now the multitude of the heavenly host, who had so sorely grieved over the sin of our first parent, shout aloud for joy.  The splendor of our Lord and King appears in the heavens, whose lowliness upon the earth looked so mean in the eyes of men.  The angel bids the shepherd, “Fear not,” because of the birth of Him who should remove from us every cause of fear.  Good tidings of great joy are announced, because the author and giver of all joy was born into the world.  They are bidden rejoice, because the enmity between God and man, the real cause of all our sorrow, was removed.  “Glory to God in the highest,’ they sang, because by the willful transgression of His command our first parent sought to rob God of His glory.  The birth of Christ brought true peace to men, who before this were the enemies of God, were at war with their own consciences, and at variance among themselves.  True peace was thus restored to earth, because he was overcome who had led us captive at his will.

Let us now go with the shepherds to the manger of Christ, that is, His Church, and as He lay in that manger in swaddling clothes, so in the sacred scriptures, we shall find our Saviour.  Let us also with a lively recollection of the words of this mystery, like Mary, the blessed mother of our Lord, keep pondering them continually in our hearts (Luke 2:19).  Let us with glad voices join in the angel’s song, and render unto the Lord the thanks due unto His name for His marvelous benefits to us.  Let us rejoice and shout for joy with the whole multitude of the heavenly host.  For if the angels rejoiced so greatly on our account, how much more ought we rejoice, to whom this Child is born, to whom this Son is given (Isaiah 9:6).  If the Israelites lifted up their voices in jubilant shouts when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to them (2 Samuel 6:16), which was a type and shadow of the incarnation of our dear Lord, how much more ought we rejoice, since our Lord Himself hath come down to us, in the assumption of our human nature.  If Abraham rejoiced to see the day of the Lord (John 8:56), when the Lord assuming at that time bodily shape, appeared to him, what ought we to do, seeing that our Lord hath taken on our nature into a perpetual and indissoluble union with Himself?  O let us admire the marvelous goodness of our God, who, when we could not ascend to Him, hesitated not to descend to us.  Let us stand in wonder at the marvelous power of our God, who was able to unite in one two natures so diverse as the divine and human, so that one and the same Person is both God and man.  Let us admire the marvelous wisdom of our God, who could devise a scheme for our redemption, which neither angels nor men could have devised.  Infinite good was offended; an infinite satisfaction was required.  Man had offended God, from man the satisfaction for sin must be required.  But finite man could not possibly render an infinite satisfaction, nor could divine justice be satisfied but on the payment of an infinite ransom.  For this reason God became man that, for man who had sinned, He might render a perfect satisfaction for sin, and as God who was infinite He might pay an infinite price for our redemption.  Well may we wonder at this stupendous reconciliation of divine justice and mercy, which no one, before God was manifest in the flesh, could have devised, nor after he was so manifested, could fully comprehend.  Let us stand in wonder at this mystery, but let us not too curiously pry into it. 

Let us desire reverently to study it, although we cannot fully understand it.  Rather let us confess our ignorance than deny the power of God.

Sacred Meditations, Johann Gerhard.  Translated from the Latin by C.W. Heisler, 1896.  Compiled by Matthew Harrison, 1991.  Printed by Concordia Theological Seminary Press.