Bible Study Lessons
The following bible study lessons are available:
The Incarnation
Apostles' Creed. It emphasizes that Jesus Christ, the "Son of God, was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, and died, and rose from the grave . . ."
Nicene Creed: “We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man
Calcedon Creed: Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man, with a rational soul {meaning human soul} and a body. He is of the same reality as God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same reality as we ourselves as far as his humanness is concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these "last days," for us and behalf of our salvation, this selfsame one was born of Mary the virgin, who is God-bearer in respect of his humanness.
We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ-Son, Lord, only-begotten -- in two natures; and we do this without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them into two separate categories, without con- trasting them according to area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the "properties" of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one "person" and in one reality {hypostasis}. They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word {Logos} of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us; thus the Symbol of Fathers {the Nicene Creed} has handed down to us.
1. Definition of Incarnation
That act of grace whereby Christ took our human nature into union with his Divine Person, became man. Christ is both God and man. Human attributes and actions are predicated of him, and he of whom they are predicated is God. A Divine Person was united to a human nature ( Act 20:28; Rom 8:32; 1Cr 2:8; Hbr 2:11-14; 1Ti 3:16; Gal 4:4, etc.). The union is hypostatical, i.e., is personal; the two natures are not mixed or confounded, and it is perpetual.
The assuming flesh. Its only use in theology is in reference to that gracious, word incarnation does not occur in the Bible. It is derived from the Latin in and caro (flesh), meaning clothed in flesh, the act of voluntary act of the Son of God in which He assumed a human body. In Christian doctrine the Incarnation, briefly stated, is that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became a man. It is one of the greatest events to occur in the history of the universe. It is without parallel.
2. N.T. reference
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:1 and 14).
The angel announced to Mary and Joseph that the holy child who would be born of Mary would be conceived by the Holy Spirit (see Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 2:26-38).
In Genesis 3:15 it is stated that Jesus would be the child (seed) of a woman. This is fulfilled in Galatians 4:4; Luke 2:7; Revelation 12:5. Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. While the concept of virginity is not mentioned here, the fulfilment of prophecy is clear and when linked with the other passages of Scripture becomes a key passage. God tells us early in redemptive history that He would take the initiative and provide for mankind a redeemer and he would not simply come down out of heaven but would be born by a woman.
In Isaiah 7:14 we find 'Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.' This portion of Scripture is fulfilled in Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:26-35. The purpose of the prophecy as revealed in Isaiah 7:14 was that the virgin birth was a sign to the people that Jesus Christ could be recognised as 'Immanuel' or 'God with us'. This sign was given by the Lord himself to us that we might know who He is.
He also fulfils the verses in Psalm 132:11 and Jeremiah 23:5 in which Jesus is prophesied to be the heir to the throne of David. It is recorded in fulfilment in Matthew 1:1,6 and Luke 1:32,55.
Mankind was foretold of the miraculous events surrounding the birth of Jesus. He was virgin born.
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The Apostle Paul wrote, ''And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh ..." (I Timothy 3:16).
Paul writes, “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law” (Gal. 4:4)
3. Meanings
A. “Only-begotten”
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We can only rightly understand the term “the only begotten” when used of the Son, in the sense of unoriginated relationship. “The begetting is not an event of time, however remote, but a fact irrespective of time. The Christ did not become, but necessarily and eternally is the Son. He, a Person, possesses every attribute of pure Godhood. This necessitates eternity, absolute being; in this respect He is not ‘after’ the Father” (Moule).
B. “First-born”
It is used of Christ in Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18; Hebrews 1:6; and Revelation 1:5.. “Firstborn” is the Greek prototokos (from protos, first, and tikto, to beget), but this word may mean (a) first in time, or (b) first in priority. The point and focus of the word must be taken from the context in which it is used.The word for “Deity” is theotetos, a strong word (used only here in the NT) for Christ’s essence as God. The full deity of Christ is nonetheless in bodily form—a full humanity (cf. Col. 1:22). Both Christ’s deity and humanity were challenged by this early Gnostic-like heresy. Those heretics diminished Christ to an angel whose “body” was only apparent, not real. Paul affirmed here that Christ is both fully God and truly man (cf. 1 John 4:1-6).22
4. Incarnation in the Old Testament
A. Rabbinic response to the Incarnation
1. God can’t be a man
2. God doesn’t have a son
3. Incarnation has pagan origins, not Jewish
1. From this, we learn that G-d is NOT a man. When G-d appeared before Moses prior to the delivering of the Ten Commandments, G-d made His presence known amidst a cloud of smoke. If He were a man, why didn’t the Holy One, Blessed be He, take on physical form and appear as a man? The answer is amazingly simple: G-d is infinite, and incorporeal. To take on physical form would limit the limitless, and He would not take on physical form because that might have led the Israelites to idolatry.
On a slightly different note, didn’t Jesus refer to himself quite often as the Son of Man? Aren’t we to learn from Psalm 146 that there is no help to be had from the Son of Man? There’s a reason why Jesus called himself this. Jesus was a Jew, and as such, there are things that Christians who deify him will miss. It is quite likely that Jesus was trying to prevent his followers from deifying him.
What reason is there to think that Jesus is G-d? What reason is there to think that ANY man is G-d? So a man shows you signs and wonders, and a couple of people claim he rose from the dead. How do you test a man to know that he’s G-d? What could Jesus possibly have done to prove He was G-d, especially given the text of the New Testament, which makes it plainly clear that he was subordinate to G-d? That which is subordinate to G-d must be SEPARATE from G-d.
Numbers 23:19 G-d [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (KJV)
Psalms 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, [nor] in the son of man, in whom [there is] no help. (KJV)
Deuteronomy 13:1 The entire word that I command you, that shall you observe to do; you shall not add to it and you shall not subtract from it. [2] If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, [3] and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying "Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we shall worship them!" [4] do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for HASHEM, your G-d, is testing you to know whether you love HASHEM, your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. [5] HASHEM, your G-d, shall you follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments shall you observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave. [6] And that prophet and that dreamer of a dream shall be put to death, for he had spoken perversion against HASHEM, your G-d Who takes you out of the land of Egypt, and Who redeems you from the house of slavery to make you stray from the path on which HASHEM, you G-d, has commanded you to go; and you shall destroy the evil from your midst. (Artscroll)
So, what are the lessons gleaned here? First off, we are to never alter the precepts of the Torah, we are never to add to it nor subtract from it. Secondly, we are not to follow gods that we did not know. Did my ancestors from 2,500 years ago or earlier know Jesus as G-d? Did they pray to Jesus as Lord and Messiah? Of course, not. Jesus had not been born yet. The point is that we did not know a G-d in the form of man and since it was something we did not know, as verses 3 and 4 show, we are not to listen to these teachings.
2. Can God have son?
The answer to the question "What is his name?" is given in the Scriptures, where we are informed that only God, the creator of heaven and earth, is in complete control of the forces of nature. Following this question a second question is asked: "What is his son's name?" As the first question is readily answered through a reading of the Scriptures, the source of all true knowledge, so, too, the second question is to be answered by studying the same source. We thus obtain the answer by studying such verses as Exodus 4:22: "Israel is My son, my firstborn"; Deuteronomy 14:1: "You are the children of the Lord your God"; and Hosea 2:1: "It will be said to them: 'You are the children of the living God.'" Consequently, it is Israel that is the name of His son, His firstborn. True, we find elsewhere in the Bible that David and Solomon stand in a filial relationship with God (Psalms 89:27-28, 1 Chronicles 22:10, 28:6). Indeed, this will also be true of the future Messiah. But the right to this title is due, in the final analysis, to the fact that they are the representatives or personifications of Israel as a whole. Hence, it is Israel that is the sole bearer of the august title of the "son" or "firstborn" of God.
3. Pagan origins of Incarnation
Osiris,2 the father of Horus, was another virgin-born god of ancient Egypt. His Sufferings, Death, and Resurrection were celebrated in an annual mystery-play at Abydos, on about March 25, an approximation of the Vernal Equinox, i.e. Easter. The Pharaoh Amenhotep III, of the seventeenth dynasty, was hailed as the son of the virgin Mutemua. His birth is pictured on the inner walls of the Temple of Amen in Thebes. "In this picture," declares the Egyptologist Samuel Sharpe
Another great pagan christ was Krishna3 of India. In the sacred books of India it is recorded that Krishna was born of the virgin Devaki, that his nativity was heralded by a star, and that though of royal lineage, he was born in a cave.
Adonis14 or Tammuz of Babylonia was also born of a virgin. He died a cruel death, descended into hell, arose from the tomb and ascended to heaven.
B. Our Response to the Rabbis
1. God did revealed Himself as a man
a. God wrestles with a man who is God
Gen 32:24 |
Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. |
Gen 32:25 |
When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. |
Gen 32:26 |
Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." |
Gen 32:27 |
So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." |
Gen 32:28 |
He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." |
Gen 32:29 |
Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. |
Gen 32:30 |
So Jacob named the place Peniel, for {he said,} "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." |
b. Jacob sees a man who is to be worshipped
Jos 5:13 |
Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" |
Jos 5:14 |
He said, "No; rather I indeed come now {as} captain of the host of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" |
Jos 5:15 |
The captain of the LORD'S host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. |
2 God does have a Son
a. The idea of a son
[Genesis 3:15] A seed would come forth from the woman to bruise the serpent’s head.
[Isaiah 7:14] A virgin would conceive and bear a son whose name is Immanuel—God with us. [Isaiah 9:6] A child would be born whose name would be called the mighty God, the everlasting Father.
b. The prophecies of the Son of God
1. Proverbs 30.
Who has ascended heaven and come down?
Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hand?
Who has wrapped the waters in his garment?
Who has established all the extremities of the earth?68
The obvious answer to these questions is God, God, God, and God. The creator and sustainer of this world is God. Now we have the fifth question.
What is his name...69 or his son's name, if you know it?70
In Jewish and biblical thinking the "name" of someone or something can be a term describing the character of that object or person. The author is asking here either, "What is God's personal name?" or "What is God's character like?" The answer to the fifth question would be either YHVH or other terms describing the character of God. There is a choice presented but the answer is straightforward.
However, the sixth question is not so straightforward.
It appears that God has a son, although his name or characteristics have not yet been revealed. Remember, God's revelation is progressive. It is disclosed step-by-step, over time, as the Bible unfolds. The full revelation about the Son of God will come through the prophets and culminate in the Brit Chadashah. Complex, indivisible unity in the Godhead remains a live option
2. Psalm 2
Psa 2:7 |
"I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. |
Psa 2:8 |
'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the {very} ends of the earth as Your possession. |
Psa 2:9 |
'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.' " |
Psa 2:10 |
Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. |
Psa 2:11 |
Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. |
Psa 2:12 |
Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish {in} the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! |
3. Daniel 7:14 – Son of man
Dan 7:13 |
"I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. |
Dan 7:14 |
"And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and {men of every} language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. |
3. Incarnation is presented in the O.T.
a. Isiaiah 7:14
'Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.'
b. In Genesis 3:15
the promise is given to Eve that One who should be her seed would finally undo the works of Satan. In the circumstances, it was very natural for Eve to suppose that this Promised Seed would appear at once and there is some evidence that she supposed this to have happened when her first child was born. This event is recorded in Genesis 4:1 and 2, and the Hebrew of the original is in some respects a little odd. Our text reads, "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel." Now in the original, Eve's statement, "I have gotten a man from the LORD," may be translated in several different ways. She may have said, "I have gotten a man with the LORD," i.e., with the help of the Lord perhaps. But she may also have said, "I have gotten a man, even the Lord." In any case, the word "LORD" is "Jehovah" in the Hebrew
c. Other pagan myths that apply to O.T.
1. The Flood story
Sumerian: (The Gilgamesh Epic). The gods had decided to destroy mankind. The god Enlil warned the priest-king Ziusudra ("Long of Life") of the coming flood by speaking to a wall while Ziusudra listened at the side. He was instructed to build a great ship and carry beasts and birds upon it.
Assyrian; The gods, led by Enlil, agreed to cleanse the earth of an overpopulated humanity, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god Ea in a dream. He and some craftsmen built a large boat (one acre in area, seven decks) in a week. He then loaded it with his family, the craftsmen, and "the seed of all living creatures."
2. Moses being sent away in a basket
Sargona, the king of Akkad am I,
My mother was a princess, my father I did not know.
My mother , the princess, conceieved me, in difficulty she brought me forth.
She placed me in an ark of rushes, with bitumen my exit she sealed up.
She launched me in the river, which did not drown me.The river carried me, to Akki the water-carrier it brought me...
Sargon, King of Accad about 2300 BC, as shown by his monuments yet existing, was also secretly born, was placed by his mother in an ark of bullrushes, just like Moses, and turned adrift on the Euphrates, where he was found by a kindly gardener(as also were Romulus and Remus, born of the god Mars and the vestial virgin, Rhea Silvia). It goes on to say that the gardener nurtured him until his birth was discovered; he became the beloved of the princess goddess Ishtar, who protected him, and he was raised by his valorous deeds to the throne of his country, becomig a great leader and saviour of his people.
"Krishna’s birth has similarities with that of Moses in that the blue baby’s life was threatened by the King of the time, his uncle, who wanted all male babies in the land to be slaughtered at birth. To avoid being killed, Krishna was wrapped up, and taken across the river to a village where he grew up in the family of the leader of some cowherds. He is generally shown playing a flute, as in the photograph of the Krishna puppet."
John 1:18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
In John 1:18, KJV (the King James Version) has huios, “Son,” in place of theos, “God,” and reads, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
Because to our mind the words “only begotten” suggest birth or beginning, some have tried to take the use of this designation of Jesus Christ to mean that Christ had a beginning, that He only became the Son of God. Such an understanding denies His eternality and also the concept of the trinity. So what does John mean by the term “only begotten?”
“Only begotten” is the Greek monogenes, a compound of monos, used as an adjective or adverb meaning “alone, only.” Kittel writes: “In compounds with genes, adverbs describe the nature rather than the source of derivation (emphasis mine). Hence monogenes is used for the only child. More generally it means ‘unique’ or ‘incomparable.’”20 In the New Testament the term occurs only in Luke, John, and Hebrews, but an instructive use is found for us in Hebrews 11:17 where it is used of Isaac as the monogenes of Abraham. Isaac was not the only Son of the Patriarch, but he was the unique son of the promise of God. The emphasis is not on derivation but on his uniqueness and special place in the heart of Abraham.
Vine has an excellent summary of the use of monogenes in John 1:14 and 18:
With reference to Christ, the phrase “the only begotten from the Father,” John 1:14, R.V. (see also the marg.), indicates that as the Son of God He was the sole representative of the Being and character of the One who sent Him. In the original the definite article is omitted both before “only begotten” and before “Father,” and its absence in each case serves to lay stress upon the characteristics referred to in the terms used. The Apostle’s object is to demonstrate what sort of glory it was that he and his fellow Apostles had seen. That he is not merely making a comparison with earthly relationships is indicated by para, “from.” The glory was that of a unique relationship and the word “begotten” does not imply a beginning of His Sonship. It suggests relationship indeed, but must be distinguished from generation as applied to man.
We can only rightly understand the term “the only begotten” when used of the Son, in the sense of unoriginated relationship. “The begetting is not an event of time, however remote, but a fact irrespective of time. The Christ did not become, but necessarily and eternally is the Son. He, a Person, possesses every attribute of pure Godhood. This necessitates eternity, absolute being; in this respect He is not ‘after’ the Father” (Moule).
In John 1:18 the clause “The Only Begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,” expresses both His eternal union with the Father in the Godhead and the ineffable intimacy and love between them, the Son sharing all the Father’s counsels and enjoying all His affections. Another reading is monogenes Theos, ‘God only-begotten.’ In John 3:16 the statement, “God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son,” must not be taken to mean that Christ became the Only Begotten Son by Incarnation. The value and the greatness of the gift lay in the Sonship of Him who was given. His Sonship was not the effect of His being given. In John 3:18 the phrase “the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God” lays stress upon the full revelation of God’s character and will, His love and grace, as conveyed in the Name of One who, being in a unique relationship to Him, was provided by Him as the Object of faith. In 1 John 4:9 the statement “God hath sent His Only Begotten Son into the world” does not mean that God sent out into the world one who at His birth in Bethlehem had become His Son. Cp. the parallel statement, “God sent forth the Spirit of His Son,” Gal. 4:6, R.V., which could not mean that God sent forth One who became His Spirit when He sent Him.21
In Colossians 1:15, as verse 16 makes clear, it refers to Christ’s sovereignty expressing His priority to and pre-eminence over creation, not in the sense of time, the first to be born, but in the sense of (a) being the sovereign Creator, the One in Whom were the plans of creation as architect (“by Him all things were created” can also mean, “in Him …”), (b) by Whom all things were created as the builder (“all things were created by Him”), and (c) for Whom all things were created as the owner (“and for Him”). Colossians 1:15 is declaring Christ’s sovereignty as the Creator. We can see this meaning of prototokos to express sovereignty or priority in the Septuagint’s use of this word in Psalm 89:27 where the clause that follows explains the meaning of “firstborn” or prototokos. Psalm 89:27 reads, “I also shall make him My first-born, The highest of the kings of the earth.” Who is the firstborn? He is “the highest of the kings of the earth,” the sovereign Lord.
In the words of Colossians 1:18, “and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead,” it means first in time, the first one to rise in an immortal and glorified body. But even here, He is the first-born of the dead so that He might come to be pre-eminent in all things as the head of the body, the church (vs. 18b). The point is that prototokos can mean either first in time or first in priority and it is the context which determines the meaning. As the second Person of the Trinity, Christ is God and sovereign, but as the God-Man who died for our sins and was raised from the dead, He is the pre-eminent head of the body of Christ, the church. In Colossians 2:9, the Apostle confirmed this meaning when he wrote, “For in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.”
The word for “Deity” is theotetos, a strong word (used only here in the NT) for Christ’s essence as God. The full deity of Christ is nonetheless in bodily form—a full humanity (cf. Col. 1:22). Both Christ’s deity and humanity were challenged by this early Gnostic-like heresy. Those heretics diminished Christ to an angel whose “body” was only apparent, not real. Paul affirmed here that Christ is both fully God and truly man (cf. 1 John 4:1-6).22
