The Incarnation
A Sermon on the Incarnation
Originally preached May 15, 1953
Scripture
Sermon Description
What does it mean that the Son of God became a man? This great doctrine is what has traditionally been called the incarnation. It is God taking on a true human nature in order to save His people. In this sermon on the incarnation, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on the great importance of this doctrine, not only for theology, but also for the Christian life. He warns of two main errors in thinking about the incarnation. The first is the misconception that Jesus merely appeared to be a man. But this is false, because Jesus was both man and God as the savior. The other error is to believe that the second person of the Trinity was changed in the incarnation, that the very nature of God changed. This is false because there was no mixing of the natures, so that the divine nature remains fully divine and distinct from His human nature. God in the incarnation was not only both God and man, but this fact is declared in the virgin birth. There was a miraculous conception in accordance with the miraculous person born. This doctrine of the incarnation as found in the Bible is the teaching that God has come down to humanity as a man to save all those that believe in Him.
Sermon Breakdown
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The doctrine of the incarnation shows the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. The incarnation refers to the second person of the Trinity becoming flesh, not the triune God becoming flesh.
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The incarnation was a true incarnation, not just an appearance or form taken on. The Word truly became flesh.
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The incarnation was the second person of the Trinity uniting with human nature, not just the divine nature uniting with human nature to form a new person.
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The incarnation did not involve a change in the personality of the second person of the Trinity. There was a change in the state and form, but not the person.
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We should not say the Son of God was changed into a man. He took on flesh and appeared as a man.
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The incarnation involved taking on real and complete human nature, not just the appearance of human nature.
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The incarnation involved taking human nature from the Virgin Mary, not creating a new human nature. He is the seed of Abraham and David because he took human nature from Mary.
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The incarnation involved taking on full and complete human nature, not just a partial human nature.
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The virgin birth shows the incarnation was entirely the work of God, not of man. Man is excluded. The male does not enter into the conception or birth.
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The virgin birth was inevitable given the incarnation. Everything about Jesus is mysterious and exceptional.
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Without the virgin birth, how could Jesus be sinless? If born in the ordinary way, he would be in the line of Adam and inherit original sin. The virgin birth allowed him to take on human nature without sin.
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The incarnation and virgin birth happened so that we might be saved, not just as a phenomenon. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men might become sons of God.
Sermon Q&A
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Incarnation and Virgin Birth
What does the doctrine of the incarnation specifically teach about who became flesh?
The doctrine of the incarnation teaches that it was specifically the second person of the Trinity, not the entire Godhead, who became flesh. Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes this precision: "What the doctrine of the incarnation asserts is not that the eternal triune God became flesh but that the second person in the Triune God became flesh." He advises against saying loosely that "God became man," preferring the more precise biblical statement that "the Word was made flesh" (John 1:14).
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones explain the difference between a "theophany" and the incarnation?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, a theophany (T-H-E-O-P-H-A-N-Y) is when an angelic or divine person temporarily appears in human form, like the Angel of the Covenant in the Old Testament. The incarnation, however, is fundamentally different because Christ "has rarely taken on human nature, not its appearance, but real human nature itself." The incarnation represents a permanent taking on of complete human nature, not a temporary appearance or phantom body as some early heretics claimed.
How did Christ obtain His human nature according to the sermon?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that Christ received His human nature from the Virgin Mary rather than having it newly created. He states: "He took on this real and complete human nature from the virgin Mary... We must not say that a new human nature was created for him." Christ "derived, got his human nature from his mother," which is why Scripture can legitimately call Him "the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1). His human nature was not created separately but came directly from Mary through the Holy Spirit's operation.
Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones insist on precision when discussing the incarnation?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes the need for precision in discussing the incarnation because "the doctrine of our redemption ultimately depends upon that." He warns: "If it was not our human nature, he could not have saved us, as the second chapter of the Hebrews argues so clearly." He cautions that imprecise language might inadvertently "make the doctrine of our own redemption quite impossible." This explains his careful distinctions and corrections of common misconceptions about Christ's person and nature.
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones explain the virgin birth and its relationship to Christ's sinlessness?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that the virgin birth ensured Christ's sinlessness because it prevented Him from being in "direct sequence" from Adam through normal generation. He argues that if Christ had been born through ordinary conception with a human father, "he would have been guilty of original sin and of original guilt." Instead, the Holy Spirit's operation upon Mary produced a human nature that was "sinless and entirely free from all the effects and the results of the fall," while still being truly human nature derived from Mary.
What beautiful phrase does Dr. Lloyd-Jones share to help understand the mystery of Christ's nature?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones shares this phrase: "As our Lord's divine nature had no mother, so his human nature had no father." This encapsulates the unique mystery of the incarnation - Christ's divine nature eternally proceeds from the Father without a mother, while His human nature was conceived in Mary without a human father. This highlights both the full divinity and full humanity of Christ, united in one person.
Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones connect the Trinity doctrine to the incarnation?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones states that "the doctrine of the person of our Lord and the doctrine of the incarnation in particular shows us again the all-importance of the doctrine of the Trinity." He emphatically declares that "if we don't believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, we cannot be Christian" because without the Trinity, one "cannot really believe in the doctrine of redemption." The incarnation depends on understanding the distinct persons within the Godhead and specifically which person became incarnate.
What significant aspect of God's plan does Dr. Lloyd-Jones highlight by noting that only the woman was involved in Christ's conception?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out the profound significance that in Christ's birth, "the male human being does not enter into the question of his conception or birth at all." This fulfills God's ancient promise that "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." He observes that despite God's creation order where man has lordship, "when it comes to the question of the incarnation, the male is put on one side and God uses the woman only." This emphasizes "the total inability of man" and shows God working through "human nature at its weakest" to bring about salvation.
Great Biblical Doctrines
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.