God Became A Man

by Martin Luther

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

"The Word became flesh." We can never fully grasp this teaching concerning our salvation and eternal life using human reason. Nevertheless, we must believe it, and we must cling tightly to what Scripture says about it. The Bible says that Christ, our Lord, is true and natural God and true and natural man. The Bible says that in his divine essence and nature, Christ is coequal with the Father. The heretics have cast doubts on both the divine nature and the human nature of Christ. During the lifetime of the apostles, some heretics claimed that Christ was not human. Some of our contemporaries teach similar things. They claim that because he was conceived solely by the Holy Spirit, Christ could not have been a human being like we are. He could not have had the same kind of body that we do. They insist that because he was a man from heaven, his body must have been from heaven too.

That’s why I urgently warn believers to beware of religious splinter groups. If Christ isn’t true and natural God, born in eternity of the Father, and if he isn’t the Creator of all creatures, then we are doomed. What good are Christ’s suffering and death to us if he was only a human like you and me? If he were just a human, he couldn’t have overpowered the devil, death, or sin. He would have been too weak for them and never would  have been able to help us. We must have a Savior who is true God and Lord over sin, death, hell, and the devil. Christ is eternal in nature, lacks nothing in his being, and is perfect in every way.

From Faith Alone A Daily Devotional General Editor James C. Galvin

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