Incarnation

The incarnation is the doctrine that the eternal Son of God took on genuine human nature, not appearing as a man while remaining untouched by human weakness, but actually becoming flesh and blood as we are, sin excepted.

Why did the Son of God need to take on human flesh?

The writer of Hebrews grounds this in the purpose it served: “since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Christ could not defeat death on mankind’s behalf without first sharing the human nature that was subject to death. John states the same truth from another angle: “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

How does the incarnation make Christ our sympathetic high priest?

Because the Son shared fully in human nature, he is described as “not ashamed to call them brothers” (Hebrews 2:11) and as one who can sympathise with human weakness, “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). The incarnation is therefore not a peripheral detail of Christ’s identity but the necessary basis for his work of redemption, since only a true man could stand in the place of other men. The articles below trace this theme through several key passages.