Incarnation -
Christianity. The doctrine that the Son of God was conceived in the womb of Mary and that Jesus is true God and true man.
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Scripture - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/8449/incarnation.html (1/15/09)
[All scripture English Standard Version (http://www.esv.com/)]
Jesus Is God
1. Titus 2:13 - "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ"
2. John 1:1 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:18 - "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."
John 20:28 - "Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!'"
3. Hebrews 1:8 - "But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom'."
Jesus Is Man
1. 1 John 4:2 - "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God"
2. 2 John 7 - "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist."
3. Luke 2:7 - "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."
4. John 4:6 - "Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour."
John 19:28 - "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), 'I thirst.'"
5. Matthew 4:2 - "And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry."
Jesus Is Human Like The Rest of Us
1. He has a human body: Luke 24:39 - "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."
2. He has a human mind: Luke 2:40 - "And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him."
Luke 2:52 - "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man."
3. He has a human soul: Matthew 26:38 - "Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.'"
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Quote - http://www.slaying-dragons.com/2009/01/meaning-of-christmas-nativity-and.html (1/15/09)
"For He became man that we might become divine; and He revealed Himself through a body that we might receive an idea of the invisible Father; and He endured insults from men that we might inherit incorruption"
-St. Athanasius (which means "no death"), On The Incarnation
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Significance - http://www.slaying-dragons.com/2009/01/meaning-of-christmas-nativity-and.html (1/15/09)
As an Incarnate human being, Christ joined his Divine Nature to our human nature. This is the reason why Christ says that what we do to "the least of these" we have done to him. He is not being figurative or poetic. He means very literally that what we do to others, we do to him, because he has joined himself to human nature, partaken of it, and made it his own nature as well. What we do to worsen the human condition by hurting others, using others, thinking badly of them, refusing to help them, hoarding wealth to ourselves, or by any other means, we do these things to Christ who took on himself the fullness of the human condition's pain and suffering. When we ease the suffering of others, likewise we ease the suffering of Christ, because in easing the suffering of another human being, we remove that much burden from Christ, who took all burdens on himself. If we want to worship God, we must start by loving each other.
(Check out the above quote, it summarizes the significance better - Josh)
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