Importance of Incarnation
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- 3 min read
(By Heather Marshall)
Did you know that the truth of the incarnation is foundational to our Christian faith?
The incarnation refers to Jesus being fully human, just like us, and also fully God — one hundred percent God and man. The moment we celebrate at Christmas is depicted in nativity scenes in our homes and in the Christmas carols we love to sing.
The CSB Study Bible commentary describes the incarnation this way: “In Christian theology, the term refers to the supernatural act of God effected by the Holy Spirit, whereby the eternal Son of God took into Himself a complete human nature apart from sin. As a result of that action, the Son of God became the God-man forever, the Word made flesh.”
Is it any wonder that the incarnation is a truth that Satan seeks to deny and destroy?
The denial of this truth was occurring when the apostle John wrote the book of 2 John. He warned the Christians, “Many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body” (2 John 1:7 NLT).
One reason for this denial was the Greek philosophical influence of the time. Many people in the ancient world believed that the spirit was good, while matter or the physical body was inferior or even evil.
Thus, the idea that God would take on a real human body felt impossible or offensive to them. The belief was that divinity shouldn’t mix with flesh.
I am so thankful that Jesus was fully God and fully human because if He weren’t:
Humanity would not be truly represented.
Sin would not be truly paid for.
Resurrection would not be bodily.
Salvation would become abstract instead of being historical.
There are practical implications for us relating to Jesus, the Son of God, taking on a human body.
As Bible teacher Lisa Whittle explains, “Christ’s embodiment affirms our worth as humans, which changes the way we affirm our bodies.” God values the human body so much that His Son took on a human body. This means that we need to value our bodies as well. We are not an afterthought and should not treat our bodies that way.
Instead, we can genuinely embrace self-care — not the worldly view of self-care that focuses solely on doing what feels good to us, but rather honoring ourselves as God’s precious creation and worshiping our Creator.
Godly self-care can look like going for a prayer walk, stretching to worship music, or practicing deep breathing through breath prayers.
Another implication of Christ becoming human is that it shows us what true love is and demonstrates how to share that love in a truly embodied way.
2 John 1:6 says, “Love means doing what God has commanded us, and He has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.”
Although demonstrating love through actions is important, if I’m honest, I have sometimes tried to love others from the perspective of Christian duty — doing love instead of embodying it. I often performed love rather than living it out from the depths of my heart.
But when I consider how Jesus embodied love by taking on a human body and suffering in that body on the cross, I am more inclined to love others out of the love that I have received from Christ. “We love each other because He loved us first” (1 John 4:19 NLT).
A third truth we can learn from Christ’s incarnation, as it relates to our bodies, is that we can have hope in suffering. This hope helps us approach our bodies with gentleness and grace amidst ongoing and unwelcome inadequacy and pain.
Because Jesus suffered and experienced pain as a human, He can relate to us in our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). Most importantly, because He came into the world as a human and died in our place on the cross, we can live with the hope of eternal life. We have a glorious future ahead of us, a day when pain and suffering will be no more.
As we consider the importance of Christ’s incarnation, here are some practical questions to ask ourselves (from Body and Soul by Lisa Whittle):
Am I practicing true self-care by worshiping God in my body, or am I demanding my body perform for me?
Am I embodying Christ’s love, or performing love as a task?
Am I looking to Christ for hope in my body struggles, or seeking to handle body struggles alone?
The truth of Christ’s incarnation inspires us to recognize our humanity and the significance of our bodies. Jesus, fully God and fully man, highlights our worth and serves as a model for love and compassion. In our struggles, we find comfort in His understanding of our pain. Embracing the hope of His incarnation empowers us to love others genuinely and care for ourselves with grace.