Incarnation

Act of divine grace whereby a divine person is said to assume the characteristics of mankind. In the particular case of Christianity, incarnation is the act by which Jesus Christ, while keeping His divine nature, became a man.

The word "incarnation" (from the Latin _incarnatio_, which means "taking on flesh"), by itself, is not present in the Bible. Nevertheless, the notion of an incarnated member of the divinity is quite clear from several New Testament texts.

Dealing with this notion, the synoptic Gospels, the writings of John and Paul, together with the epistle to the Hebrews, all are consistent. The Jesus Christ they present is at once God and man and one individual person.

The synoptic Gospels have different approaches to the life of Jesus. Matthew stresses the divine self-consciousness of the One humanly depicted as the Son of David or the Son of Abraham. Mark lays particular emphasis on the divine power of the man Jesus and on the irresistible impression of a Divine Being walking among men, which Jesus made upon those with whom He came into contact. Luke stresses the prominence of the human development of the Divine Being, whose life on earth his Gospel depicts as well as to the range of temptation to which He was subjected. Nevertheless, all three bind together the human and divine traits of Jesus’ life, showing He was fully God and fully man.

Paul’s writings and the epistle to the Hebrews have a common teaching. From Philippians 2:5-9 and Hebrews 2:1ff, we understand that Jesus had the full characteristics of a Divine person and became fully human without loosing His divine nature. The divine characteristics were enrobed with humanity. Jesus veiled His glory under the garb of humanity, in an act of love towards sinners.

John starts his Gospel with a statement about incarnation. Other statements could be studied but this is the most relevant one and should be given proper attention. After beginning the prologue with the mention of Jesus (the _Logos_) as the creator, the life giver and the light of the world, John says that Jesus "became flesh" and "tabernacled" among humans (John 1:14).

The word "flesh" has an ethical value, announcing not that He lost His divine nature but that He mysteriously took upon Him a second nature, that of a human being. The word that crowns the statement is the Greek verb _ginomai_ ("to become"). When used with a noun as attribute, this verb implies a deep transformation of the subject. Without compromising the subject’s identity, this verb shows a change in state. Therefore, Jesus, becoming flesh, does not loose His divine attributes. He has, nevertheless, an experience of change in His existence. Christ is divine in the absolute and unqualified sense of the word; He, nevertheless, changed His way of life, veiling His divinity with humanity and living life as a human being would.

This surrendering of glory and power is an unfathomable mystery and will surely be the subject of study throughout all eternity.