I am in western Kentucky, near Paducah, spending some time with my family for Christmas. I always enjoy my time with my family. It is difficult to plod out a blog while in this hectic environment. There are 3 babies around me all under the age of 7 months. My brother, sister, and I had children within a month of each other.
Tonight as I listened to some of the young men of my church preach via the internet at VisionBaptist.com I was once again reminded that Jesus is eternal. Last week I spent a great deal of time studying the word “incarantion” in preparation for the HD series I am teaching in the young couples class at my church. I love this word. Below you will find our notes from Sunday. I drew greatly from wikipedia and desiringGod.com
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Incarnation which literally means embodied in flesh, refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature (generally a human) who is the material manifestation of an entity or force whose original nature is immaterial. In its religious context the word is used to mean the descent of a divine being or the Supreme Being (God) in human form on Earth.
Ancient Egypt
The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were sometimes said to be incarnations of the gods Horus and Ra.
Bahá’í
In the Bahá’í Faith, God is described as a single, imperishable God, the creator of all things, including all the creatures and forces in the universe. The connection between God and the world is that of the creator to his creation. God is understood to be independent of his creation, and that creation is dependant and contingent on God. God, however, is not seen to be incarnated into this world and is not seen to be part of creation as he cannot be divided and does not descend to the condition of his creatures. Instead, in the Bahá’í understanding, the world of creation emanates from God, in that all things have been realized by him and have attained to existence. The Bahá’í concept of the intermediary between God and humanity is expressed in the term Manifestation of God, which are a series of personages, such as Jesus and Bahá’u'lláh, who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world for the progress and advancement of human morals and civilization.In expressing God’s intent, these Manifestations are seen to establish religion in the world.The Manifestations of God are also not seen as an incarnation of God, but are instead understood to be like a perfect mirror reflecting the attributes of God onto this material world.
Buddhism
In the Buddhist tradition, an incarnation is a person believed to be the next rebirth of someone deceased, in most cases a lama or other important master/teacher. This concept differs from reincarnation in Hinduism, however, since the Buddhist teaching of anatta (non-self) implies that there is no fixed soul that could move from one life to another.
Hinduism
The term avatara literally means “descent” and usually implies a deliberate descent into lower realms of existence for special purposes. It is not a synonym of incarnation, as the incarnation presumes taking a material body, but the word avatara also assumes descent in the original form. [5][clarification needed] Many denominations of Hinduism, such as Vaishnavism and Saivism, teach that occasionally God comes to Earth as a human being to help humans in their struggle toward enlightenment and salvation (moksha). Such an incarnation or discent of God is called an avatar. In some respects, the Hindu concept of avatar is similar to the belief found in Christianity that God came to the earth in the form of Jesus. However, whereas most Christians believe that God has assumed a human body only once, Hinduism teaches that there have been multiple avatars throughout history and that there will be more and does not assume material body, thus some disagree with this assumption.[5][clarification needed] Thus Krishna, who is not only viewed as an incarnation but also source of all incarnations, svayam bhagavan, says:
Whenever righteousness declines
And unrighteousness increases,
I make myself a body;
In every age I come back
To deliver the holy,
To destroy the sin of the sinner,
To establish righteousness.[6]
The most famous of the divine incarnations are Rama, whose life is depicted in the Ramayana, and Krishna, whose life is depicted in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana. The Bhagavad Gita, which contains the spiritual teachings of Krishna, is one of the most widely-read scriptures in Hinduism.
Sikhism
Sikhism supports the concept of incarnation. According to sikhism there are 84 million forms of life. And one goes through these forms with human being as the supreme form of life. According to Sikhism, it is the one’s deeds which decide how many time he will be incarnated. Meditation is the only form to liberate a soul from the process of incarnation.
Islam
Islam completely rejects the doctrine of the incarnation of God in any form. In Islam God is one and neither begets nor is begotten. Islam specifically rejects the Christian idea of Jesus as a divine incarnation, but rather sees Jesus as a prophet (nabī) and messenger (rasūl) of God.
Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism rejects this doctrine.[8]
Rastafari
The Rastafari movement views Haile Selassie as God incarnate.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Christianity
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The incarnation refers literally to the in-fleshing of the eternal Son of God—Jesus becoming a human being. The doctrine of the incarnation says that the eternal second person of the Trinity took on humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. A helpful way to remember the key aspects of the incarnation is John 1:14: “The Word became flesh.”
The Word…
The Word refers to the eternal Son of God who was “in the beginning with God” and who himself is God (John 1:1). From eternity past until he took on humanity, the Son of God existed in perfect love, joy, and harmony in the fellowship of the Trinity. Like the Father and the Spirit, he was spirit and had no material substance. But at the incarnation the eternal Word entered into creation as a human being. He became a first-century Jew.
…was made…
“Was made” does not mean that he ceased to be God. In becoming man, he did not forsake his divine nature. It means that he became a man by taking on human nature in addition to his divine nature. It is essential to the incarnation—and very helpful throughout all theology—to recognize that divinity and humanity are not mutually exclusive. The Son of God didn’t have to pick between being God and being man. He could be both at the same time. The eternal Word became a man.
…flesh.
Flesh isn’t merely a reference to the human body but the entirety of what makes up a human being—body, mind, emotions, and will. Hebrews 2:17 and 4:15 teach that to save human beings Jesus had to be made like us “like as we are” except our sin. In the incarnation, everything proper to humanity was united to the Son of God. The Son of God didn’t only become like man; he actually became a true man.
The Word Became Flesh
So the eternal Son of God, without ceasing to be God, took on a fully human nature. This is the incarnation.
And what a magnificent doctrine and fuel for worship this is! Jesus didn’t just become man because he could. He became a man “for us and for our salvation” . The Word became flesh to save us from our sin and to free us to marvel at and enjoy the unique union of divinity and humanity in his one spectacular person.
The incarnation is not only the way in which Jesus became Immanuel—God with us—but it’s an eternal testimony that he and his Father are unswervingly for us.
