Concerning the Human Nature of Christ (2)

Q. Did His divinity change into humanity?

A. No, for His divinity is unchangeable. He remained what He was, and He became what He was not.

Q. Was He then two Persons?

A. No, but there were two natures in Christ, the same as there are two parts in us: soul and body.

Q. Is Christ a created man?

A. No, for then He could not be man of man; then He would not be able to be our Kinsman and Redeemer.

Q. Is His human nature the same as that wherewith He showed Himself to Abraham and Lot in the Old Testament?

A. No, for then He would not have been a true man.

Q. How then did He become man?

A. By assuming humanity, in unity of His Person. “The Word was made flesh” (John 1:14). “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man in all things, sin excepted.

Q. By whose power did He become man?

A. By the power of God the Holy Ghost. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Q. Of whom was Christ born?

A. From the virgin Mary.

Q. Here it is fitting to ask whether we must not honor Mary, the mother of the Lord, more than the Son, as the papists say, because she was the mother?

A. No! but we must not esteem her too little, neither honor her too highly. She was blessed among women (Luke 1:42). The Son of God was born of her. She received a great privilege. Therefore one said unto Christ, “Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked” (Luke 11:27). But Christ said, “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it” (verse 28). She was very great, but she was also a child of Adam, by nature a child of the devil. She also had to be saved by Him, for which reason she also sang in her song of praise, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46-47).

Q. Was she truly a virgin?

A. Yes. First, the angel was sent to a virgin (Luke 1:26-27). Secondly, she herself acknowledged it. “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Thirdly, Joseph, being a just man, seeing that she was with child, was minded to put her away, had the Lord not intervened (Matthew 1:19-20). Fourthly, the Jews have never reproached Him as being an illegitimate child. Fifthly, it is proclaimed to everyone who does not know it, and everyone must bow humbly and believe it. No king would be so believed; thus it is a sure sign that something divine is in it. Sixthly, these are not cunningly devised fables (2 Peter 1:16), but all according to Scripture.

Q. Was He of the house of David?

A. Yes, Mary went to be taxed to the city of David, because they were of the house and lineage of David (Luke 2:4).

Q. Was He of Judah?

A. Yes, “It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda” (Hebrews 7:14).

Q. When was Christ to come?

A. According to Daniel 9:24-25 He was to come at the end of seventy weeks when the second temple was still standing. According to the prophets Isaiah and Malachi, John must first come, and when the patriarch Jacob was about to die, he said, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be” Genesis 49:10). The sceptre was not, t to have departed, the second temple vas still to be standing, and John the forerunner was still to come.

Q. What was the sceptre?

A. The kingly government.

Q. What does the lawgiver mean?

A. That some laws still existed.

Q. What is the meaning of Shiloh?

A. The Messiah.

Q. Was everyone not astir when Jesus was born?

A. Yes, the angels, the shepherds, and the wise men from the east.

Q. Was it necessary for Him to become man?

A. Yes, first, so that we would dare to go to Him with more liberty with our burden of sin. Secondly, so that He would be willing to be a merciful High Priest and have appropriate compassion for our weaknesses.

Q. Why must He be true man?

A. In order to fulfill all prophecies and types, that thus He could be the true seed of Abraham. “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews 2:16).

Q. What benefit is there that He had to be man of man?

A. It was so that He would be the Kinsman and Redeemer, for He must be near of kin to us.

Q. What was the work of a kinsman in the Old Testament, and how did the Lord Jesus perform this work of such a kinsman?

A. First, if a relative’s goods were sold and he was thereby deprived of his possessions, then the kinsman had to buy them again and reclaim them, and give them back to his relative. At one time man was in possession of the image of God and of the entire earth, but by sin he lost everything. Now the Lord Jesus came and paid the price and value thereof, and thus He again purchased it, to the end of giving it again to man. Secondly, if his relative was in prison, it was the work of the kinsman to have him released. This the Lord Jesus also does. We are captive slaves of the devil, and He spoils the goods of the devil and opens the prison. Thirdly, if his relative was murdered, the kinsman was to avenge that blood. The devil has murdered all people by sin, but the Lord Jesus, as Kinsman, breaks the power of sin and quickens His children by His Spirit. Fourthly, if his brother died, the kinsman was to marry the widow of the deceased and raise up seed unto his brother. This the Lord Jesus also does. The first husband (Adam) died to the covenant of works, and now He, the second Husband (Christ), comes by the covenant of grace and unites with her in a spiritual marriage covenant, in an everlasting covenant of salt (Numbers 18:19), and raises up spiritual children.

Q. What benefit is it that He became man of the virgin Mary?

A. In order that He would be without sin.

Q. How could it be that He was without sin?

A. First, because He was not born according to the usual course of nature, but by the power of the Holy Ghost from a virgin, without any act of man. Secondly, in this way He did not stand under Adam, who is the head of the violated covenant of works, but He is the Head of the covenant of grace, and as such He could have no sin. Therefore He is called, the “holy child Jesus” (Acts 4:27).

Q. What benefit is there in His holy conception and birth?

A. That we would be holy in Him. The law says there is no grace except for him who is holy in nature and actions. Christ is this for us.

Q. Is God not marvelously glorified in the work of redemption?

A. Indeed! Whereas God’s justice has been satisfied, He can again exercise communion with sinners. Because of His holiness, He cannot unite with sinners, but man, now being sanctified by the deliverance, God can again unite with Him.

Q. Must we not be astonished because of God’s great love?

A. Yes! First, when we see who has become the Mediator. He is the Son of God. Secondly, when we see what He became, an insignificant man. Thirdly, when we see for whom He became this. It was not for angels, but for sinful men. Fourthly, when we see that it is often for the most sinful persons.

Q. For whom was Christ born?

A. First, for lost ones who feel and realize that they are lost. Secondly, for sinners, and not for those who are righteous in their own eyes, but who in themselves are vile and odious. Thirdly, for sick ones. “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Matthew 9:12). It was for those who cannot be without Jesus, but who say, “I am sorely wounded.” Fourthly, for the chief of sinners. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief’ (1 Timothy 1:15). The prison house has gone open for the poorest, the ugliest.

Or do you think this strange? He came to comfort those that mourn. If you are contrite of heart and heavy of spirit, He is for you. Do you say, “It is too much for me”? Well, no one is locked outside except those who have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. Are you a greater sinner than Mary was (Luke 8:2), or than the prodigal son was? “Yes, but,” you say, “I have sinned against much light.” Peter did also! Peter also sinned against much light. No one is too great a sinner. “Yes, but,” you say, “it is such a great venture.” However, if you stay away from God, you venture much more. Do you not have the sentence of death within you? Just venture upon it; you can but perish. The Lord does not cast you outside. You say, “I would become careless because of your words.” “Beware,” says the Lord, “that which still distresses you, I will also take away. If you refuse to blush with shame, you are a perverse creature. For My Son has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

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