Advent: The Word Became Flesh Before Birth
Jesus humbly submitted Himself to begin in the earliest stages of human life, to be confined in a small space in amniotic fluid hidden from the world, and dependent upon nourishment and protection from a woman. This is simply about the incredible state of humiliation of Jesus Christ, “the Word,” that John wrote was “made flesh” for our redemption.
Celebrating Advent Sunday, my pastor preached on John 1: 1-14 focusing on “The Word Made Flesh.” The Gospel of John begins with this awesome truth: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” This is a mystery being revealed, as God said: “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness . . .” when creating man (Genesis 1: 26). The plurals “Us,” “in Our image,” and “Our likeness” represent a mystery alluding to a plurality as to who God is.
John continues in the 14th verse: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us . . .” Generally speaking, this causes us to think of the Word as the baby born in Bethlehem under unique circumstances.
Perhaps most are like me in thinking of that Word becoming flesh only after He was born. However, as my pastor continued to preach, my mind and spirit went where it has never gone before with regard to what happened to Mary: “What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:20). The Word that was conceived in Mary began as a zygote (an egg fertilized by the Holy Spirit—not a human sperm), developing into an embryo, and becoming a fetus. He was in one of those phases of development when Mary visited her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth was carrying John the Baptist who in the womb did something very unusual: “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. . . For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1: 41, 44).
John the Baptist, still developing in Elizabeth’s womb, leaped for joy! Why? Because God, His Lord and Savior—who was also developing in the flesh, had just entered their home in the womb of Mary; John was aware of God in the flesh. Is this not a mystery further startling our comprehension?
Thanks to sonograms and ultrasounds that show the phases of development of infants in the womb, we have an advantage today that previous generations didn’t have. Videos reveal the movements of infants, their knitted formation, their growth, and their beauty. We know how early a heartbeat begins, when hearing develops, how they exercise their limbs, suck their thumbs, can be treated surgically, and so much more.
Is it possible the “Word made flesh” took place before Jesus was born and while in the womb of Mary? Jeremiah 1: 5 supports this possibility: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you . . .”
Or, Psalm 139: 13-17: “For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. . . wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully formed in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my formless substance . . .”
Christ’s humility expressed in Philippians 2: 6-7 may have even begun before He was born: “. . . who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men…. Jesus humbly submitted Himself to begin in the earliest stages of human life, to be confined in a small space in amniotic fluid hidden from the world, and dependent upon nourishment and protection from a woman. This is simply about the incredible state of humiliation of Jesus Christ, “the Word,” that John wrote was “made flesh” for our redemption.
As we meditate during this Advent season, may we marvel on the awesome wonder that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ humbled himself in order to reconcile us to God.
“The Word made flesh” took place in a womb, and was then manifested in a manger. God’s ways are past finding out. “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Romans 11: 33). The incarnation is a mystery that keeps inspiring us to holy awe.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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Difficult Bible Passages: Malachi 2:10
The truth is, universalists, unitarians and other theological liberals will have to try to dig up other biblical texts than Malachi 2:10 to try to make this patently unbiblical case that all people simply by virtue of their physical birth are somehow children of God, united with Father God. Being created by God does not automatically make everyone his spiritual children.
No, we are not all children of God:
On a surface reading this verse does not appear to be all that problematic. But as with many passages in this series, it is the way it is so readily misused and abused by many others that causes the problem. The verse in question says this: “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?”
The misuse of this text comes about when cultists and heretics try to make the case that we are all not only God’s children by physical creation, but we are all also his children in a spiritual sense as well. Universalism is one of the names of this particular heresy – the idea that we are all saved, that there is no hell and final judgment, and that we are all doing just fine with God. See more on this theological error here: billmuehlenberg.com/2011/03/12/against-universalism/
There are several challenges that we can bring to bear in dealing with such a faulty understanding of this verse in particular and the whole of Scripture in general. The first thing to say is this understanding is only partly right. And that is how cults and heresies usually flourish: by using part of the truth, and twisting it as well.
We ARE all God’s children in the obvious sense that God created every single one of us. We all exist because God made us. So in that sense, sure, everyone is a child of God. But Scripture also uses this notion of being a child of God in a different sense – a different spiritual and theological sense.
That is, only those who are in a right relationship with God are seen to be children of God. This is clear from all of Scripture. Ancient Israel as a whole was seen as being part of God’s family, but not the surrounding pagan nations. And in the New Testament only those who come to Christ in faith and repentance are regarded as being a child of God.
Jesus made this crystal clear when he rebuked the religious leaders of the day who were clearly NOT in right relationship with God. He called them children of the devil (see the whole exchange in Matthew 25:31-46). That is the condition of everyone unless they make a deliberate turn away from sin and turn to God. But all this I discuss in much more detail elsewhere: billmuehlenberg.com/2016/01/13/no-we-are-not-all-gods-children/
The second obvious thing to say about this erroneous interpretation of this text is this: as always, context is king. Simply reading this verse in light of its immediate context makes it clear that there is no universalistic mush being promoted here.
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Francis A. Schaeffer: A Lasting Influence Pt. 3
Written by Bruce A. Little |
Monday, July 18, 2022
The Christian’s apologetic task, according to Schaeffer, is to show man where the point of tension existed between his false presuppositions and the way the world really is. Of course, this was not a game for Schaeffer and he urged the Christian always to give the answer as understood in light of historic Christianity and to do so in a loving and compassionate tone.Three books serve as the foundation for all Schaeffer’s other books, forming a trilogy: The God Who Is There, Escape from Reason, and He Is There and He Is Not Silent. Towards the end of his life, he claimed that his message had remained the same throughout his ministry, however, his emphasis did shift. In 1982, the works of Francis Schaeffer were edited by Schaeffer and published in a five-volume set in which the trilogy is in the order in which it was written. This order reveals the development and foundation of his thinking apologetically and is essential to understanding Schaeffer and his apologetic method which I think it is fair to say he would not call it a method. Historic Christianity, according to Schaeffer, was creation centered and central to the fact that God created man in His image. The first apologetic implication of creation was that man had intrinsic worth which meant he was to be treated with respect and love even in his fallen state, that even in his fallenness man had worth, even nobility.
This truth moved Schaeffer to take all men seriously and to answer the honest questions from fallen man. He would say that when confronted with another member of the human race, we should first see a human being—not first a Christian or non-Christian. This made all the difference in the world in Schaeffer’s apologetics. He had a love for humanity and deep sympathy for the brokenness of humanity because of sin.
The Christian’s apologetic task, according to Schaeffer, is to show man where the point of tension existed between his false presuppositions and the way the world really is. Of course, this was not a game for Schaeffer and he urged the Christian always to give the answer as understood in light of historic Christianity and to do so in a loving and compassionate tone. For Schaeffer, the real point of contact with the modern (and the postmodern mind) was reality. Regardless of what presuppositions a man claims as grounds for his worldview, Schaeffer argued that they can be tested for truthfulness when pressed against the reality in which every person must live. In this, Schaeffer shared a view often expressed by C. S. Lewis.
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Cynicism Isn’t a Spiritual Gift
Cynics aren’t interested in salvation or transformation. They’re only interested in an endless self-loathing ministry of doom. A prophet speaks to people he loves with tears. A cynic disdains the people he is called to confront. A prophet’s desire is to see transformation. A cynic’s desire is to bring attention to himself.
One of my favorite verses in the New Testament is a bit of an odd one. James, writing about prayer and dependence on God, makes this statement: Elijah was a man like us (James 5:17).
Now, I’ve gone to church my whole life and have learned a lot about Elijah. He’s the wild wilderness dude who called out a wicked king in Israel, Ahab, and his equally wicked wife, Jezebel. Think about this. To this day, in 2023, Jezebel is a euphemism for wickedness. There is even a trashy magazine with this name!
Not only did Elijah have the courage to call out wicked rulers—at a time when doing so usually meant you would die—but he challenged the false religious leaders of his day to a special kind of duel. He called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel in an epic display of God’s power. As a kid this was always a favorite story in Sunday school and vacation Bible school and summer camp. Elijah was an example of boldness and courage, almost like a Bible superhero. He even made flannel graph exciting.1
So, when James says, “Yeah, Elijah was like us,” I do a double take. I’ve built a nice bonfire in my back yard, but I’ve never called down fire from heaven. I’ve written some pretty snarky social media posts, but I’ve never stood in the court of a king who could cut my head off and told him he was wrong. I had to walk half a mile to the showers at camp, but I never lived in the wilderness like Elijah. I’ve prayed that it wouldn’t rain, especially when we lived in Nashville, where rain is its own season, but I’ve never prayed a prayer that stopped all precipitation for three and a half years. So how is Elijah like me?
Well, to see the humanity of this superhero, we have to go to a passage of 1 Kings that is usually left off the flannel graph. Here, Elijah kind of does look like us. He’s burned out. He’s tired. And he’s pretty cynical about the people of God.
You might say that if he had social media, he’d be complaining about being the one person standing for truth. Or he might be the person who stays home on Sunday because “no church is preaching the gospel right.” Or he might be the guy at the office who grew up in church and now says that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites.
Elijah, in one chapter, has turned from prophet to cynic. Fresh off an epic battle where he called out the false prophets and God sent rain again after a famine, Elijah fled to the wilderness because Jezebel still wouldn’t repent.
God’s messenger is discouraged and defeated. He’s weak and vulnerable. His heart is crusted over with layers of suspicion and contempt. “I’m the only one,” Elijah complains to God. “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:14).
What’s strange about Elijah here is that he has just come off a spiritual victory where he witnessed the power of God to move the hearts of Israel from idolatry to true worship. And yet all he can see is the one person in Israel who refuses to worship God: Jezebel.
Elijah was a prophet of God. Prophets are often called to do hard things, to stir up the people of God away from sin and toward righteousness. It’s often a lonely task to say hard things. We need prophets in our day, gifted and godly men and women willing to say things that are hard to be said, to call out wickedness.
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