In our last post we began to do a "flyover of the incarnation', noting the pre-existence of the Son of God. In that last post we considered how the Son of God existed eternally in the Trinity, evidently by His historical appearances throughout the Old Testament, and expectantly in the prophetic predictions that looked forward to His eventual incarnation.
When we talk of the incarnation, we first remind of ourselves of the definition we proposed at the beginning of the last post, namely: The Son of God’s entry into time and space to add unto His Person a human nature, endowed with mind, emotions, will, and body.
In today's post, we move onto part two of our "flyover" of the doctrine of the incarnation, namely the incarnation its.
The incarnation's cause and effect
To help simplify in our minds and hearts what
took place, we can note the incarnation’s cause and then its effect. Let me say
one more thing before moving forward. No theologian can explain how the
incarnation happened (the mystery of how total humanity was united by the Holy
Spirit to the Person of the Son in the virgin’s womb). All we know is that the
incarnation did indeed occur.
A. Event of the incarnation: hypostatic union (cause).
When we talk of the event of the incarnation in which our Lord participated, we first note the cause of it. Theologians refer to the moment of the Son’s Person united with a human nature as the “hypostatic union”. Theologian Wayne Grudem offers this summary statement of the doctrine: “The union of Christ’s human natures in one person”.
John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue in their volume “A Systematic Summary of Biblical Truth – Biblical Doctrine”, page 931, give a further description of the hypostatic union:
“The union of Jesus’ Divine and human natures in one person, without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation.”
The word “hypostatic” refers to the Divine Person of the Son, having already the eternal Divine essence He shares with the Father and the Spirit. In fact, that Greek word “hypostasis” is found in Hebrews 1:3, which describes the Son in relationship to God the Father: “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”
One of the key verses that capture the moment of the hypostatic union or the Son’s adding of a human nature to His Divine Person is Hebrews 10:5 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me”. The hypostatic union, or union of a human nature to the Person of the Son, wherein was already His eternal Divine nature, is the cause of the incarnation’s event. What then is the result?
B. Effect of the incarnation: virgin birth (effect).
As the Son participated mysteriously yet wondrously of the union of a human nature to His Person, we understand the Holy Spirit to be the key Agent that made such a union possible. Notice John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The conception and birth of the incarnated Son as a baby in the virgin’s womb and from it is what we mean by the effect. We can never peer into the mystery of how true humanity was united to total deity in the Person of the Son by the Spirit. The hypostatic union is veiled in mystery, stated as doctrine yet not fully comprehended. The virgin birth on the other-hand made visible, plain, and historic this wondrous miracle.
Closing thoughts:
We see then the participation of the Son in His incarnation. We’ve already observed the Son’s existence preincarnation from eternity. In the final post of this short series, we will discover what other truths result from the incarnation of the Son of God.
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