The Feminization of Christ in the American Religion

Part 1 – Christ the God/Man

[Response to A Sentimental Journey - White Horse Inn broadcast the week of January the 15th, since I am trying to keep my post to about 500 words this response will be in more than one entry.]

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1: 1-5 ESV)

I remember as a boy my mother making me memorize the 23rd Psalms. My Sunday school teachers would have me memorize the books of the Bible, The 10 Commandments, and the Beatitudes. I memorized John 1:1-5 not because I was made to memorize it but because my mother memorized that particular passage of scripture. She didn’t make us memorize it, but she recited it often as she was driving or working around the house. This particular scripture passage had some special meaning for my mother. I wish I was able to ask her why she liked that particular passage. However, I am not able to ask her because my mother died shortly after I graduated from high school. My mother was a woman who never grew up in a strong Christian family. I don’t think her family had ever attended church when she was growing up. In fact, I don’t think she attended a church service until she married my dad. I find it amazing that this passage was so important to her that she memorized it. Today I know this scripture by heart not because she made us memorize it but because she memorized it.

This scripture passage proclaims one of the most profound concepts in theology. It is the concept what orthodox theologians call the God/man nature of Christ. It is a concept that I have been really thinking about during the past few months. The very idea that God would stoop down and become flesh is one of the most amazing biblical truths I have ever encountered in all my years of studying the Bible. It has radically changed the way I perceive Christ. In my weakness, my thinking tends to concentrate my understanding of Christ to his divine nature more than his humanity nature. This is very different than the way the Greeks of John’s day because they could not conceive of the idea of a deity becoming flesh. The early church had to deal with an early heresy called Docetism, which is the belief that Christ only appeared to be human. The Apostle John stressed often in his writing that Christ became flesh. I think this was an attempt by John to expose this heresy and make it clear to the early church that the deity of Christ dwelled bodily in human flesh (John 1:14; 1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7; Luke 24:39-43).

This is good news to us because God came down to us by becoming flesh and took on a true human nature (except sin!). That is the concept of the God/Man. It is good news because we don’t have to climb up to God, he came down to us! Jesus took on our emotional life, physical life, and our mental life. In this way the elect can fully be redeemed from every aspect of our humanity that has been tainted by the fall. I think most Christians understanding of our redemption is limited too much on the blood, death, and resurrection of our Lord. I don’t think we should limit the work of our Lord to his merits on the cross. He didn’t just die for our justification but he lived his whole humanity for our justification. His perfect conformity to the righteous demands of God in thought, word, and deed will be imputed to the account of those who has true faith in him. This is good news! We can’t live it, he lived it for us! Those by faith will be able to withstand the holy justice of God at the final judgment because of the covering of Christ’s perfect conformity to God’s law.

The next entry I am going to expand on the idea of the God/Man and try to explain how the God/Man concept plays out in some scripture passages. So stay tune! It will get controversial. I am just setting up the stage now so that I will not be misunderstood.

Your Brother

Timotheus