Redeemer Church of Waterford

Why was it necessary for the eternal Son of God to be sent by the Father from His glory to earth in a body made in the likeness of sinful flesh? The body of the flesh of the Son of God is the instrument of the reconciliation of ruined sinners to a Holy God.

In this message we examine the meaning of "the fullness of time" and contrast the human birth of Jesus as an event in time with the "only-begottenness" of Jesus which is eternal and without beginning. We also turn to Psalm 139 to examine the details of how precisely the "Word was made flesh" in the womb of the virgin Mary.

Why didn't people recognize Jesus as the Son of God? He was "veiled in flesh." "In him dwells all the fullness of the godhead BODILY."

The Son of the Father, begotten by the Father from eternity, is "made in the likeness of sinful flesh" by taking on a body that he himself created. He is "made in the likeness of men," "made a little lower than the angels," "made like unto his brethren," "made flesh," "made of a woman," "made under the law."

This raises some questions: was Jesus sinful? Did He sin? COULD He sin?

When Jesus prays in John 17 to be glorified with the glory He shared with the Father from before the world began, what is that glory like and how do human beings respond when they encounter it? You don't have to imagine; the Bible tells us plainly.

God sending His only begotten Son into the world IS the humiliation of the King of Glory. But to understand why this is the case, it is necessary to understand what the Bible means when it says Jesus is "the only begotten Son of the Father."

“Who, being in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6) means that, prior to his birth in Bethlehem, the Second Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity existed from eternity “in the form of God” and “equal with God.”

To what does “only begotten” refer in the Gospel of John? Not to the human birth of Jesus in Bethlehem - His incarnation. Rather, “only begotten” refers to what theologians like Augustine termed “the eternal generation of the Son.”

The eternal generation of the Son means that the Second Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity receives His life from God the Father who receives His life from no one; and the Son receives this life from eternity so that there never was a time when the Son was not receiving His life from the Father.


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