THE INCARNATION, LIFE, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
This chapter of What Christians Should Know will complete the examination of the core or essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Certainly, Christianity is much, much more than five principles, but these central tenets lay the foundation upon which everything else is built. The remaining chapters will continue to educate on other basic doctrines, ideas, and principles.
All Christians must fully understand the gravity of Who Jesus Christ is to all of us. He, and He alone, is the only path to the Father, to salvation,[232] and to eternal life. This is why in John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” The path to Heaven, the path of atonement, and the path to forgiveness of sins is irrefutably and exclusively through Jesus. There are not multiple ways, there is only one way.
Accordingly, to deny that Jesus is the only way is heresy. This is why Jesus says in Matthew 10:33, “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” Rejection of Jesus is a rejection of God,[233] and irrevocably leads to death. In what follows, I will explain why Jesus is so important and why Christless Christianity is formless and void.
I. The Incarnation and Person of Jesus Christ
Essential Doctrine #2: What Christians should know is that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man in one person.[234]
That is, Jesus is unchangeably, indivisibly, and inseparably a union of human and divine natures in one being, not parted or divided into two persons, with the property of each nature being preserved.[235]
A simple way of saying this is that Jesus, remaining what He was (God), became what He was not (a man), and will be so forever.
The Incarnation of Jesus really is the rescue mission that God executed in order to save humanity. The word incarnate means to embody in flesh or to take form. So God became a human being and took the form of a human being by becoming flesh.[236] And this becoming did not happen after Jesus was born so that a human became God. Instead, Jesus was conceived by the work of the Holy Spirit and His virgin mother, Mary. Jesus did not have a human father. Matthew 1:18-20 says:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (italics mine).
In Luke’s account of Christ’s birth, His conception is explained in more detail.
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”[237]
As a result, the conception of Jesus was very miraculous, but His birth was very ordinary.[238] The virgin birth affirms that Jesus is not some ordinary guy who has a mom and a dad just like you and me. Because He is fully God and fully man, He is very special, and His conception was necessarily miraculous. Because Mary never engaged in sexual intercourse to conceive Jesus, there was no effort on her part. This affirms that our salvation has nothing to do with human works and is totally and completely dependent on God. If Jesus did simply have a regular mom and dad that conceived Him, it certainly would be hard for anyone to believe that “god” was conceived in the same way you and I were. Furthermore, Jesus was born holy,[239] sinless,[240] and thus without any of the legal guilt of sin or inherited moral corruption as a result of Adam. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that sin is inherited from the father only, nor does it say that Mary was sinless. What the Bible does say in Luke 1:35 is that through the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing the virgin Mary, the child she would give birth to would be holy. Christ also was without sin throughout His entire life,[241] and always conducted Himself in a manner pleasing to the Father.[242] Jesus is a “lamb unblemished and spotless.”[243]
The birth of Jesus was not unexpected. His birth fulfilled several prophecies from the Old Testament, the same Scriptures that Judaism uses as its authoritative Word. The first allusion to Christ comes in Genesis 3:15, when God says that the seed of the woman (not the man) would crush the head of the serpent. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” (Immanuel means “God is with us.”) This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 1:18, 22-23. Micah 5:2 tells us where Jesus would be born, in Bethlehem: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” Matthew 2:1 fulfills this prophecy. Finally, Malachi 3:1 tells us that Jesus will enter the temple in Jerusalem: “‘Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,’ says the LORD of hosts.” This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 21:12-13 and Mark 11:15. And because the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., we know that all of these events had to happen before that date, and they did.
The Incarnation highlights the intimacy God has with His creation. Jesus chose to enter into our physical realm as one of us in order to save us. This means that Jesus had breakfast, used the bathroom, and sat down and had dinner with His family just as you and I do. And He did this because God does not leave creation alone. He became one of us so we can say we have a savior who is very personable and who experienced everything that we do, including temptation,[244] weariness,[245] hunger,[246] and thirst;[247] He also grew[248] and had to study in order to learn and become wise.[249] He learned how to become obedient,[250] had a soul, and experienced personal turmoil.[251] Jesus has a real, human, physical body.[252] He is not an impersonal God detached from our reality who rules from afar, and it is because Jesus “was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”[253]
Furthermore, it’s one thing to say that Jesus was just a human being. It’s another thing to fully embrace the idea that Jesus had to be fully human in order to save humanity. The full humanity and full deity of Christ is beautifully articulated in the timeless classic, On the Incarnation by Athanasius.
Athanasius wrote On the Incarnation in defense of Christ’s full divinity and against Arianism, an emerging theology of the time that suggested Christ was begotten from the Father, therefore not eternal, and thus subordinate to the Father.
Had Christ not been wholly divine, Athanasius argues, then Christ would have needed a mediator Himself to bring us into koinonia (fellowship or community) with God, and that imperfect mediator would therein need another mediator, creating an endless succession of imperfect mediators without any resultant salvation. In short, in order to re-create creation and turn the corruptible (humans) back into the incorruptible, God needed the same substance, or Jesus, in order to bring that imperfect back to being perfect. Athanasius brilliantly argues that the entire process is motivated by the love of God for His creation, and to suggest that He would impart upon us a less than perfect mediator would in fact demote and diminish that love motivation to less than steadfast, permanent, perpetual, and all-encompassing.
Athanasius says, “It was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us. It is we who were the cause of His taking human form, and for our salvation that in His great love He was both born and manifested in a human body.”[254] He also says, “The Word perceived that corruption could not be got rid of otherwise than though death; yet He Himself, as the Word, being immortal and the Father’s Son, was such as could not die. For this reason, therefore, He assumed a body capable of death, in order that, through belonging to the Word Who is above all, and, itself, remaining incorruptible through His indwelling, might thereafter put and end to corruption for all others as well, by the grace of the resurrection.”[255]
Further explanation as to why Jesus incarnated is best summarized in Hebrews, a book of the New Testament addressed primarily to Jewish converts familiar with Old Testament prophecy. The theme of Hebrews is the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus as the revealer and mediator of God’s grace. In essence, Hebrews illustrates that the bridge between humanity and God is Jesus. In 2:14-17 it says,
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Jesus is our great high priest, not only because He is God but because He was also fully a man. As a result, He knows exactly what it’s like to live on earth, deal with everyday problems, and struggle with real issues. Hebrews 4:14-16 says,
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 2:17 uses the word propitiation. The term refers to turning away God’s wrath (see Leviticus 16:20-22, 17:11). Propitiation comes from the word hilaskomai in Greek, meaning, “to atone for sin, to render one’s self, to make reconciliation or to expiate.” In other words, Christ could only represent us before the Father if Jesus became one with us. In order for Jesus to turn aside the wrath of God against guilty sinners, He had to become one with us and die as a substitute for us.
Why did Jesus have to be fully human?
To start, Adam was the first man, and his disobedience in the Garden of Eden condemned all of humanity.[256] Jesus is the last Adam[257] or the “second man”[258] so that “through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”[259] Since God cannot be mocked,[260] His original intent to have humankind rule over creation[261] is fulfilled through the perfect obedience of Jesus, who can thus rule over all creation.[262]
Second, because God is perfectly just, He is incapable of saying “never mind” to sin. So, while He is merciful and may want to forgive us, a penalty must be paid for the sin that we have committed. And that debt must be paid because, as we all know from the last lesson, the wages for sin is death.[263] Propitiation is thus necessary because sin is incompatible with God and is offensive to His character. He may forgive sins, but if a price is not paid, then God would be merciful, but not just, which is contrary to what the Bible teaches us. And, from a logical standpoint, a God that is merciful at the expense of being just is a pushover, and people are free to do what is right in their own eyes.
Third, one day we will all stand before God to face judgment.[264] If humanity is separated from God because of sin, only one person can serve as a mediator for us and bridge the gap between God and humans: a person who is both fully God and fully human. And this makes perfect, logical sense because how could God, being perfect, accept anything less than a perfect mediator to vouch for us? In order for God to save human beings, Jesus had to be a human being—if someone is owed $100, they will not accept apples for payment. Even more, because salvation comes only and exclusively from God,[265] nothing from creation (which is finite and corrupt) could save us. But the eternal and timeless Jesus could, Who can bear the full penalty of sin. This is why in I Timothy 2:5 it says, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
Fourth, the Bible is filled with imperfect people who all tried to be obedient and faithful but failed, so Who can we look to as a human example on how to be divine? Jesus. He is the blueprint that we must follow: “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”[266]
Fifth, when Jesus’s physical body rose from the dead, it served as a model by which all of humanity can follow to inherit a new, imperishable body raised in glory.[267] This is why after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to many in a physical, tangible, and “flesh and bones” body.[268]
II. The Cross
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words. Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.[269]
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was one of the most heinous, barbaric events in the history of the world, yet this horrific event demonstrates the unceasing love of God for His creation. The crucifixion and death of Christ did not have to happen, but “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”[270] The cross, then, simultaneously represents the love and justice of God because Jesus dying on the cross atoned for our sins. Atonement in a general sense refers to the work done by Jesus in His life and death. Atonement in a specific sense refers to the debt of sin paid by Jesus through His death on the cross. The atoning blood sacrifice of Jesus was absolutely necessary because even if God’s wrath is turned away, something still absolutely needs to pay the price of sin, because God is perfectly just.
Essential Doctrine #3: Penal substitutionary atonement refers to the fact that Jesus bore the penalty of sin in His death, He was a substitute sacrifice for us all, and that penal substitution atoned for humanity, thereby reconciling us back to God.
It must be recognized that before Christ’s sacrifice atoned for our sins (and thus changed our relationship with God), the death of Christ had an effect on the relationship of God with us. Before Christ, there could be no redemption. With Christ, there is redemption for all of humanity.
The blood of Jesus therefore irrevocably pays the full debt owed because of sin. The precursor to this event in the Old Testament is the Day of Atonement, or modern-day Yom Kippur. In Leviticus 16 (long before Christ’s death), once a year the high priest would make an atonement offering for the sins of the people of Israel. Two goats would be used—one to be sacrificed and the other as a scapegoat that would be sent out into the wilderness. The sacrificed goat would bear the penalty of the people’s sins, and the scapegoat was sent out in order to remove the sin from the midst of the people.[271] Subsequently, God could pass over the sins of Israel. An earlier example in the Old Testament of the wrath of God “passing over” the people is first seen in Exodus 12 when the innocent blood of a Passover lamb protects the people of Israel as God “passes over” those houses marked with blood on the doorposts and lintel.
The slaughtered goat acted as a propitiating sin offering. That is, the people had sin, and the goat acted as a substitute to pay the price for that sin. The sacrificed animal temporarily atoned for sin by replacement, and throughout the Old Testament, blood sacrifice is intimately linked to atonement.[272] After slaughtering the first goat, the high priest would lay hands on the second goat, confess the sins of the people and then send the scapegoat far out into the wilderness to die.[273] This symbolically represented expiation or the removal of the people’s sins by taking them “away.” The goat’s going away or being “cut off” coincides with other instances where separation from God’s people means punishment for sin.[274] Again, propitiation (the slaughtering of the goat) diverts God’s wrath by blood sacrifice. But, while God’s wrath is diverted because a debt has been paid, the people are still guilty and “dirty” because of their sin. Hence, expiation (the sending away of the scapegoat) achieves “cleanliness” and purity; it removes the guilt and shame of sin. Propitiation turns away God’s wrath. Expiation removes sin and its effects. Both are integral parts of atonement or reparation for a wrong. The purpose of propitiation and expiation was to restore the relationship between God and His people, of course.
Note also that, in both cases (propitiation and expiation), the high priest serves as a mediator between God and the people. Back then, the high priest was an imperfect mediator capable only of temporizing measures. Jesus is the perfect mediator whose sacrifice is permanent and eternally sufficient.
The atonement of Jesus was simultaneously necessary for our sake, but not necessary for God’s sake. God did not have to save humanity at all, but He did because of love. God, for example, did not save the angels who rebelled against Him,[275] and that action is perfectly just. Hence, as a result of God deciding to save humanity, the sacrificial atonement of Jesus became necessary.[276] As a result, when Jesus died on the cross, He had already lived a life of active obedience fully and completely fulfilling the requirements of the law. Christ suffered for our sake and then died on the cross for our sake and died for our sin.[277] Yet it is important to remember that the life of Christ was characterized by the absence of sin and exemplary righteousness.
Therefore, the death of Christ is as important as the life of Christ, because in order to be reconciled to the Father, one needs more than lack of sin. One also needs to have an upstanding character to be in fellowship with God. God isn’t neutral but overwhelmingly good, so in order to commune with Him, we have to strive higher. Such righteousness comes only from God: “And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”[278] If the life of Christ was not important, He could have passed away immediately after birth. But because He lived a righteous life without sin, He can serve perfectly as our representative to the Father. As it should be clear by now, everything that has to do with our salvation happens as a function of God alone.
Essential Doctrine #4: What Christians should know is that we are saved by grace alone and through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.[279]
For the sake of simplicity, “works” and “law” refers to things that you do and rules that you follow. Both are incapable of saving anyone because if that was the case, Christ did not have to be crucified and die for our sins.
This is why religion saves no one, but Jesus saves everyone. This idea also nullifies any human effort, because if we are not saved by the free gift of God only, then that means that we, as sinful creations, can do something and win God over. This is false, heretical doctrine and essentially tells God “we can control you.” This central fact is one of the key differentiation points of Christianity from every other religion on planet Earth. Isaiah says based on our own works, the best we can offer God are filthy rags: “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (64:6).
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.[280]
And, through that propitiation we regain God’s favor (because we are sinners) not by anything that we do but by the gift of His grace only, through faith in Christ only.
Propitiation is also discussed in I John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”
I Corinthians 15:3 says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
I Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”
I John 2:2 says, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
Hebrews 2:17 says, “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Now that the context and meaning of the crucifixion is clear, we shall proceed to the event itself.
The crucifixion was a barbaric, brutal and arduous ordeal. The event was so catastrophic that the word excruciating was invented to describe it. When Mark 15:24 simply says that, “they crucified Him,” it does not fully convey the pain of the whole ordeal. In fact, crucifixion was the ultimate form of punishment in the Roman empire, typically reserved only for those individuals guilty of crimes against the state. Crucifixion was banned against Romans, and Jesus was crucified in the center[281] of the other two men executed that day. The center spot was reserved for the most despicable of “scum” according to the Romans.
Before the crucifixion, Jesus was flogged by Romans soldiers. As Dr. Alexander Metherell states in The Case for Christ,
Roman floggings were known to be terribly brutal. They usually consisted of thirty-nine lashes but frequently were a lot more than that, depending on the mood of the soldier applying the blows.
The soldier would use a whip of braided leather thongs with metal balls woven into them. When the whip would strike the flesh, these balls would cause deep bruises or contusions, which would break open with further blows. And the whip had pieces of sharp bone as well, which would cut the flesh severely.