The incarnation
The The belief that God took human form in Jesus Christ. It is also the belief that God in Christ is active in the Church and in the world. is the Christian belief that God took human form by becoming Jesus. Incarnation literally means 鈥榯o take on flesh鈥. For Christians, the incarnation shows that Jesus was fully God and fully human. It is an essential part of belief in the Three persons in one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit., and in many ways it forms the basis of Christianity.
Jesus as incarnate
Through the incarnation of Jesus, humans were able to start repairing their damaged relationship with God. This relationship had been imperfect since Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Through Jesus鈥 incarnation, God began the process of The healing of a broken relationship between people and God. from sin, making it possible for humans to have a full relationship with him and go to Heaven.
As Jesus was the son of God, most Christians believe he could not have been conceived and born like a normal human. Because Jesus was the son of God, and his father was God rather than a human man, his mother Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born.
Biblical accounts of the incarnation
The incarnation is referred to several times in the The teachings of Jesus and the apostles., in particular the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John.
The Gospel of Matthew tells Christians about the miraculous conception of Jesus and describes the events leading to his birth.
The Gospel of Luke tells Christians of the miraculous birth of For Christians, the person who came to prepare the way of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and who baptised him in the River Jordan.. It also describes the journey Mary and Joseph took from Nazareth, where they lived, to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.
The Gospel of John is less like a story and takes a more theological approach. At the start of this Gospel, Jesus is identified as the Word of God: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
After identifying the Word as the second person of the Three persons in one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit., John highlights the human nature of Jesus, emphasising that Jesus was God in human form. John states that, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14).
Additionally, there is an important passage in 1 Timothy that highlights Jesus鈥 role as both God and human:
Jesus appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by the angels, was preached among nations, was believed on in the world, and was taken up in glory.
This passage reminds Christians of the various aspects of Jesus鈥 nature.
In Jesus, humans can see what God is like. By becoming incarnate, God came closer to human understanding. Jesus acted as a messenger who was able to reconnect humanity to God鈥檚 teachings.