Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

“The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man – that the second person of the Godhead became the ‘second man’ (1 Cor 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that he took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as he was human.  Here are two mysteries for the price of one – the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus” – J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 53

“The Incarnation is in itself an unfathomable mystery, but it makes sense of everything else in the New Testament.” – J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 54

“The baby born at Bethlehem was God made man.  The Word had become flesh: a real human baby.  He had not ceased to be God; he was no less God than before; but he had begun to be man.  He was not now God minus some elements of deity, but God plus all that he made his own by taking manhood to himself.”  – J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 57

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross.  It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.”  – J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 63

“For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor – spending and being spent – to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care, and concern, to do others good – and not just their own friends – in whatever way there seems need.” – J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 64

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