Article 18 treats of the incarnation (in-the-flesh) of Christ. He is the Son of God, second Person of the Trinity, Who enters our flesh. He is very man and truly God.
His coming is in fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. Genesis 3:15 is the first reference to the Savior. Many other Old Testament passages also speak of His coming (Gen. 12:3; 49:10; Deut. 18:15; Is. 53; Micah 5:2; Zech. 9:9; etc.) He came “in the fulness of time”, i.e., when everything was ready for His coming.
In coming into our flesh, He assumed body and soul-like us in everything except sin. His Person is not human, but Divine. This is essential in order that He not be personally responsible for the sin of our first father.
The Anabaptists (ana = again) taught that Christ’s human body was created in Mary’s womb and was not of her flesh. These also insisted on an absolute separation between church and world. Our fathers rightly rejected these views.
Article 19 points out the union between and distinction of Christ’s two natures in one Person. Christ is both fully human and completely God. In early New Testament church, there were the Christological controversies concerning His natures and Person. There were those who denied one or the other of His natures. Some claimed He had two persons: one human, one Divine. Still others claimed that He had a hybrid nature. The Council of Chalcedon (451) established in confessional form what we today still confess.
The two natures remain distinct, yet united. He is very God to bear infinite wrath and give infinite value to His work as Redeemer. He must be very and complete man in order to represent us before God.
QUESTIONS:
1. How does Gen. 3:15 speak of the Savior? Why is this passage called the “prot-evangel”?
2. Why does Christ need a human soul?
3. Why did it take so long (4000 years) for Christ finally to come?
4. Of whom do the Jews say that Isaiah 53 speaks?
5. In what ways was the world readied for Christ’s coming?
6. How would you prove to Jews that Christ is the true Messiah?
7. In Article 19, what is meant by the “nature” of Christ?
8. What do we confess of His Person? Why is this essential?
9. What is the Lutheran teaching concerning the “ubiquity” of Christ’s human nature?
10. The Roman Catholics make much of the virgin Mary. Ought we not to honor her more highly?
11. Is the human nature of Christ still united to the Divine? Explain.