Raised in Splendor: The Hope of GloryNäide

Conformed to the Glorified Human Nature of the Son

Along with the idea of the final stage of salvation, we add that we will be conformed to the glorified human nature of the Son. If we think about 1 John 3:2, we see the overlap of the final stage and the idea of what our glorification will be like. John tells us earlier in this same verse that “what we will be has not yet been revealed.” But we do know that when we see Him as He is, we will be like Him. We think again of Paul’s statement in Philippians 3:21, that our bodies in their current humble condition He will transform “into the likeness of his glorious body.”

However, a glorified body is not all there is to glorification: it is the aspect of salvation that signifies the final full conforming to the image of the Son.

The Scriptures also declare that we currently “have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). We must see this aspect of our current condition as true, but not fully formed, in the sense that because we have not yet reached glorification, our minds are still weighed down with our unredeemed flesh. Progress as we might in our sanctification and growing as we might in our holiness and Christlikeness, we still await the finality of glorification. What has changed now is that we see the world through the “lens of Christ,” if you will.

The Lord Jesus Christ: Two Natures, One Person

Here we must take a bit of an aside to explain something about the dual natures of the incarnate Christ. In the incarnation, the eternal son of God assumes a human nature to become like us, to live a perfect life as a human and die the death that we deserve, and He was raised again to show His victory over sin and death and to be the first fruits of a human resurrection that will set the pattern for the rest of the redeemed (1 Cor. 15:1–23).

Therefore, the incarnated Son of God has two natures, one human and one divine, but He is only one person; He is truly God and truly man. The eternal Son of God has always existed as just that, the eternal Son. Theologians talk about the Son being eternally begotten from the Father meaning that the Father communicates the divine essence to His Son from eternity. We must be careful here in understanding this “begottenness” of the Son as an eternal reality. By virtue of this truth, the Son is and has always been of the same essence as the Father. The Father, the Son (and the Spirit) share the exact same nature. However, in the Son coming to the earth in the incarnation, He assumes a second nature, a truly human nature. This happens via the miraculous work of the triune God in the virgin birth through Mary. Jesus assumes a human nature and takes on all the qualities of true humanity without sin (Heb. 4:15).