JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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● Christ, who sustains life itself, is dependent upon the nourishment of a young peasant
girl.
● "Christ, the Infinite, is contained in Jesus, the finite."10
● Christ, who made all flesh, became flesh and will always remain flesh throughout
the aeons of eternity.
"All praise to Thee, Eternal Lord,
Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;
Choosing a manger for a throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone."
--Martin Luther
Is it any wonder that Paul calls this paradox a "mystery"?
It is vital, as this hymn points out, that the incarnation is understood as the whole event
of Jesus Christ, His life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension; not merely His birth. For His
life, His ministry, His death, His resurrection, His ascension—was carried out as a human being
as well as a divine being. He was as fully human as divine.
As we have already seen, how Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man is the problem of
problems. Such a mystery quickly shows us the bankruptcy of human logic. Therefore it is
important to remember that the early church first proclaimed the doctrine of the incarnation in
its common worship, not in theological speculation. Christian doctrine must always end in
doxology.
Paradox—seeming contradiction--is the inevitable result when we finite human beings try
to explain in human categories the mysteries of God's being. Trying to express God's nature in
human terms is like trying to draw a map of the surface of our globe on a flat sheet of paper.
There is bound to be distortion in every part. Yet even as we recognize the inevitable distortion,
the map does convey to us essential truth regarding this area of our world. Though we cannot
fully comprehend the incarnation, we can learn of its essential truth.
The reason for the mystery is that we have no analogies to it in our own nature or
experience. Illustrations of such matters are only partial and often confuse rather than clarify. It
is a truth of revelation which like many others must be accepted by faith, waiting the dawn of
eternity for fuller knowledge, for a full and complete explanation.
"I know not how that Bethlehem's Babe
Could in the Godhead be;
I only know the Manger Child
Has brought God's life to me."
--Farrington