Did God Become Ajew? Adefense Of The Incarnation
DID GOD BECOME A JEW? A DEFENSE OF THE INCARNATION
Paul Copan
The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14)—this Word that not only was “with God” but “was God” (John 1:1).1 The self-existent triune God created a good world, but His creatures turned away and became exiled and alienated from Him. But this was not the last word on the matter. God comes to us and communicates Himself to us through the Word, Jesus of Nazareth, to restore His creation and to form a new chosen people through Him. He is the second Adam and the beloved Son and the true Israel, which national Israel had failed to be. According to orthodox Christian doctrine, God became human—a first-century Jew—to restore His people and, indeed, all humanity to Himself.
The historic Christian faith has maintained that two natures, divine and human, exist fully in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; He is “perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh,” as the Athanasian Creed (c. AD 500) states it. The Chalcedonian Creed (AD 481) affirms that
our Lord Jesus Christ [was and is] at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin…recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union.
As they do with the doctrine of the Trinity, liberal theologians, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others assert that this God-in-flesh doctrine is incoherent. The all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God is so utterly unlike humans, who are ignorant, frail, and flawed. The philosopher of religion and religious pluralist John Hick claims that Jesus of Nazareth, though “intensely conscious of God's holy and loving presence,” was “wholly human.” Eventually, the “Jesus cult” developed into the “cult of the risen Christ, transfigured and deified.”2 Jesus scholar Marcus Borg maintains that Jesus couldn't have said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) or “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12); psychologically sane people don't say such things.3 Of course, the question remains: If early Christians put these words into Jesus' mouth, why would they make up an embarrassing, psychologically challenged Jesus? Borg's argument only postpones the question.
Is it absurd to affirm the incarnation? As with the doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation is a mystery whose power and majesty cannot be reduced to a set of truth statements or formulas. The mystery of godliness is indeed great (1 Tim 3:16), but this does not mean the incarnation is irrational or illogical. In the spirit of Christian philosopher Thomas Morris's book The Logic of God Incarnate,4 this essay will attempt to show that the incarnation, though a mystery, is a coherent one. I shall (1) briefly review the scriptural affirmations of Jesus' humanity and divinity, (2) highlight three important distinctions to help us understand the incarnation, and (3) examine the question of Jesus' temptation in light of His divinity.