The Nature Of ChristSampl

The One Who Added Humanity to Himself.

Now that we know that Jesus was with God before creation, we are once again assured of His divine origin. But our God didn’t stay in heaven. The One who was God became human. This is something that had never happened in history before and will never happen again. It is completely unique. The divine Son of God added humanity to Himself, or, as John phrased it, "the Word became flesh". 

It is important that we know what happened at this moment. The Son of God didn’t cease to be God, but He added humanity to Himself. In theology, this event is referred to as the ‘incarnation’. The incarnation means that God took flesh and blood upon Himself. He added humanity to Himself without ceasing to be God. This is shown in Colossians 2:9 where Paul states that the WHOLE fullness of God dwelt in Christ, bodily. However, reading Philippians 2:6-7 may leave you confused on this point.  It says that Jesus emptied Himself, right? Well, it is important that we see what Paul is talking about when he is making this bold statement:

Paul encourages his readers to be humble just like Jesus was. Paul doesn’t say that Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity. If He did, so He would cease to be God, and no longer be a sufficient sacrifice for us. He emptied Himself, not by losing anything, but by adding humanity to Himself. He stopped using His authority and rights as God for His own advantage and, temporarily, covered them up.  In this way, He was covering His divine glory and subordinating Himself to the Father.

In summary, Jesus was not simply the divine God before creation. He also added humanity to Himself - not losing His divine nature, but existing as both 100% God and 100% man while on Earth. This is a great mystery to be grasped.  More importantly, it is a mystery that leaves us in awe and praise for our God.  He is a God who didn’t stay in heaven, but came down to carry our sins to the cross.