When I was a child, I always looked forward to the Christmas season, for all of the reasons many others do: The lights, the tree, the food, the presents, and watching Hermey the misfit Elf, who’d rather be a dentist.
I also looked forward to the arrival of Christmas cards in our mailbox. In hindsight, it seems odd that I looked forward to Christmas cards, as most of these came from friends of my parents, whom I barely knew, writing about their families, whom I barely knew. But those cards became an important part of my personal Christmas liturgy, part of my celebration of the Christmas season. Looking back, I can see that in reading through those cards, they were shaping my imagination and forming my spirit. Each card contained an image: the manger, the shepherds in the fields, the wise men, and also contained words of Scripture that I read over and over: “Peace on earth,” “the root of Jesse,” “Wonderful Counselor, “God with us.” By reading these cards, the story of Christmas penetrated more deeply into my childhood mind and soul.
Though I couldn’t have expressed it at the time, those cards were teaching me the truth of the incarnation, the entrance of the Christ into the realm of human rebellion through taking on the flesh of sinful humanity in order that God and sinners might be reconciled. Through these cards, I was learning about the nature of the Triune God, the purpose and destiny of humanity, and God’s love wholly revealed in the miracle of Bethlehem.
A passage that didn’t feature prominently on my childhood Christmas cards, but nonetheless contains a rich statement on the incarnation, is 1 John 4. In this letter, John is exhorting his readers to resist the influence of false teachers, rooting their teaching in spirits who proclaim a false gospel. Pastor John calls on the followers of Jesus to test the spirits, saying, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 Jn 4:1). And how do we test the spirits? “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 Jn 4:2-3). Notice that John doesn’t simply say “any spirit that confesses Jesus” is from God. No, he is specific: “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” “In the flesh” is the standard by which we know a false spirit from the Holy Spirit.
Through this, John is teaching his hearers about the centrality of the incarnation for our faith. He wants us to know that we cannot truly confess the gospel if we don’t confess that Jesus was truly incarnate. This is because the incarnation discloses the nature of God’s mission and human need: “In the flesh” tells us that Jesus did not come into the world as a giver of religious ideals or a guru dispensing tips for successful living, and so should not be placed in the line of great religious teachers with Plato, Aristotle, Buddha, Zoroaster, Confucius, or Gandhi. People can view Jesus as an inspirational leader, a great teacher, a moral beacon, and completely, even dangerously, misunderstand Him.
“In the flesh” accordingly takes us to the work of God in salvation and the depth of human need: The incarnation tells us that God’s intent was for humans to dwell in fellowship with Himself, becoming partakers of the Divine life as those invited through grace into the eternal fellowship of the Father, Son and Spirit. However, humanity rejected fellowship with Triune God, choosing instead to pursue our own desires and purposes. Therefore, “in the flesh” reveals that humans don’t need religious ideas of inspiration, but stand in desperate need of reconciliation with God, acknowledging His Lordship and rejecting our own. This reconciliation is what Jesus accomplished by coming “in the flesh,” uniting the Godhead with humanity in His body, living a life of obedience to God, dying under the curse of sin, and rising to new life.
Because of this, we confess the gospel truly only when we confess that Jesus has come “in the flesh.” Any other teaching about Jesus is false, revealing its origin in a false spirit. To look to Jesus is not to look to a giver of ideals or religious inspiration, but rather is to look at the one “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Or, as John proclaims it, “has come in the flesh.”
This Advent season, we at the CPT are reflecting on the centrality of Christ’s incarnation, learning anew to confess that Christ has come in the flesh. We hope the offerings here encourage you in your Advent reflections on the love of God revealed in the incarnation of the Christ.
This resource is part of the series God in Flesh – Reflections on Advent and Incarnation. Click Here to explore more resources from this series.
Joel Lawrence is the Executive Director of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He previously served as the Senior Pastor of Central Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN and as a Professor of Theology at Bethel Seminary. He holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Cambridge. He is a member of the St. Anselm Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
