Paul and the Incarnation

Incarnation literally means “becoming the flesh.” Paul saw this event from two sides: the side of God and the side of Jesus.

The side of God:

  1. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did:] sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3)
  2. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)
  3. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
  4. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)

The side of Jesus: the sacrifice of Christ did not begin on earth, but in eternity.

  1. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9). This is called the kenotic theory of the incarnation, more fully described here:
  2. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)

The strange thing about this kenotic theory is that is baffles the mind yet moves the heart:

  1. God is omniscient, yet it is clear that in His earthly life there were things of which Jesus did not know (Mark 13:32)
  2. God is omnipotent, yet it is clear that there were things which Jesus in His earthly life could not do. He would even tire and needed sleep (John 4:6, Mark 4:38)
  3. God is omnipresent, yet it is clear that during His earthly life Jesus was bound by the laws of time and space.
  4. We can say that His metaphysical attributes (above) were emptied, but not His moral attributes of goodness, justice and love. This theory sets out to explain the unimaginable love of God for man.

Paul stresses the reality of the incarnation: directing his teaching against the heresy of docetism, that Jesus only appeared to be a man but in reality He had no human body at all.

  1. Concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, (Romans 1:3)
  2. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did:] sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3)

Docetism: (dokein – to seem) tried to honor the divinity of Jesus by teaching that Jesus was merely a phantom figure. Paul insisted that Jesus had a human body, if He was ever to redeem sinful man. To Paul, we are saved as much by the life of Jesus as we are by His death.

The efficacy of the life of Jesus in the work of salvation:

  1. For since by a man [came] death, by a man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22)
  2. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like [that which came] through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment [arose] from one [transgression] resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift [arose] from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:12-21)

Solidarity of a people: always a member of a family, clan or a nation. a person existed not as an individual but as a unit in a society. A vivid example is in Joshua 7 (defeat at Ai as the result of one man’s disobedience after Jericho, AND the entire family being put to death by the act of one man in the family).

Paul’s argument that all men sinned in Adam:

  1. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned– (Romans 5:12)
    • Death is the consequence of sin.
    • Adam broke the positive command of God.
  2. For until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Romans 5:13-14)
    • If there is no law, there is no sin, a breach in the law
    • Between Adam and Moses, no sin existed, but men died
  3. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17) The answer is that men died because they had all sinned in Adam.

The other side of the argument: Into this world Jesus brings the perfect righteousness and perfect obedience of God.

  1. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19)
  2. By this perfect obedience, the evil chain of sin and death is broken and a new holiness enters in. Just as the solidarity of mankind is involved in the sin of Adam, the solidarity of mankind is involved in the holiness of Christ. For this argument to be valid, the incarnation must be absolutely real. Jesus must be just as human as was Adam.

The flaw is this: our connection with Adam is a physical one where we can neither choose nor reject. Our connection with Christ is a spiritual one, it is by no means an inevitable relationship, it is something which we can either accept or reject.

Basically, no man can reasonably be condemned because he is physically connected to his ancestors, but any man must bear the responsibility for accepting or refuting his connection with Jesus.

Paul argument has an eternal truth: man is involved in a situation from which he cannot free himself, and that Christ liberated him from that tragic and impotent situation.

This material is from William Barclay, the Mind of St. Paul, 1975.

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