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Pastor's Blog December 19, 2019
"God In Human Flesh"
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People sometimes ask me, "Wouldn't it be inappropriate for God to be contained in a human body, since God is so great and supreme?" The thrust of this question is concerned with the apparent incompatibility of God and humans.
The logic of the concern and question goes something like this: God is totally different from his creation, specifically humans; sinful humans may try to become divine, but they can never become God or take the place of God; God is great and supreme and a bunch of other superlatives which humans are not; therefore, it must be inappropriate or unacceptable for God to become a human and take on a human body as his own.
There are lots of people who think along these lines, especially those who disagree that God is triune or who deny that Jesus is the full and complete incarnation of God. But according to Colossians, God and humanity are not incompatible. Colossians 2:9 states, "For in Him [Jesus Christ] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (NASB). In Greek, the word for "deity" (which some English translations render "Godhead") means "the actual essence of God" - basically, whatever it means for God to be "God."
It does not refer to attributes or characteristics which God has, but rather to God's very self: the essence or being of God, what and who God is in himself. And the Greek word for "dwell" refers to someone being at home because that's where they live - basically, someone who owns a dwelling place and lives there as the legitimate resident and homeowner, rather than as someone just passing through.
Consequently, Colossians 2:9 maintains it is entirely appropriate for all the fullness of God - the totality of God, whatever it means for God to fully and completely be God - to take up bodily form as the man Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:19 says the same thing, adding that God was pleased for his deity to be fully manifested in Jesus Christ's incarnation.
Friends of Christ, let us rejoice today for the grace that has been given to us: that God has come to us in human flesh, and that God considered it entirely appropriate and in keeping with his good pleasure to become the human man Jesus Christ in order to save us.
Merry Christmas,
God Bless.
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
