Why is God Becoming Flesh Significant?

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬)

The Christian faith teaches that God—the Creator and Sustainer of the entire cosmos—condescended to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, as shown in the above Scripture, is the “Word”—and the Word “became flesh and dwelt among us.”

For seasoned Christians (and for some who are new to the faith but familiar with teachings of the Bible), the truth of God becoming man in the person of Jesus is such an elementary concept that it’s shamefully easy to neglect it. In the same way we talk about God creating the world, we speak about God’s condescension too little. And when we do, we’re not in awe enough.

So, in order to give this doctrine justice—as it is literally an essential doctrine of our faith—we must ask ourselves, Why is God becoming a man so significant, so important, so vital?

Refutes Gnosticism

There’s an ancient heresy called Gnosticism, which teaches, in laymen terms, that flesh is inherently evil. Not “flesh” as in our sinful nature, but our physical flesh—our literal bodies. In other words, it teaches that spirit is good and matter is evil.

Steve Lawson wrote this in his book Pillars of Grace:

The Gnostics rejected the humanity of Jesus Christ. Since God could have nothing to do with matter, they concluded that He could not have assumed a human body. They rejected Christ’s incarnation, denied His crucifixion, and claimed there was no bodily resurrection of Christ—for He had no body. Thus, Gnosticism attacked the very heart of the gospel.

The very reality of God taking on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ completely refutes the idea of matter being evil. It wasn’t that it merely appeared like Jesus was in physical form, as the Gnostics claimed; no, He took on literal flesh like you and I have. And, even more, Jesus Christ had to come down as a real man in order to complete his mission (which we will get to).

So, God the Son condescended to earth, and embodied real, true, human flesh. Matter is not evil, and Jesus showed us that in his ministry. This is further evidenced by the biblical notion that, in the New Earth, we will have physical (glorified) bodies. We won’t be bodiless spirits floating around, but will have real bodies like we have now. Even more so, Christ Jesus was the God-man on earth and still is. He will forever be the God-man—truly God and truly human, which puts a nail in the coffin of Gnosticism.

He Came to Us

In all other major religions, man is required to do something to get to God, to earn God’s favor, to acquire His love and affection. Whether it’s Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, or the like, all these religions teach man obtains salvation—or some similar—not by grace alone but by grace plus some form of human achievement.

This, of course, is at complete odds with the Christian faith. Other religions teach we need to come to God first. The Bible teaches God came to us first. This is partly why it was so significant, so mind-blowing, so out-of-this-world that Jesus took on flesh and dwelt among us. He didn’t have to. God could’ve left man to our own desires and justly sent us to Hell upon death. But God made a way for man to get back to Him. And that couldn’t have happened if God didn’t initiate it.

Our Substitute

The biggest reason why it’s so significant for God to dwell among us is that we needed a substitute—in life and death. We poor, filthy, wicked sinners needed someone to live the life we couldn’t live and die the death we deserved.

That person, of course, was Jesus.

“We sometimes speak of Jesus’ work on the cross as the substitutionary atonement of Christ,” the late R.C. Sproul wrote, “which means that when He offered an atonement, it was not to satisfy God’s justice for His own sins, but for the sins of others. He stepped into the role of the Substitute, representing His people. He didn’t lay down His life for Himself; He laid it down for His sheep. He is our ultimate Substitute.”

Jesus Christ is our substitute; and if He wasn’t our substitute, we’d be doomed to Hell, still in our sins. During His life of 30 some-odd years, Jesus perfectly obeyed God the Father’s law; His mission was not to abdicate the law, but to completely fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He crossed every ‘t’ and dotted every ‘i’. Even more, He went to the cross to die for the sins of all who would believe with joy (John 3:16; Hebrews 12:2).

We needed rescuing. God’s standard of perfection is so high, so unachievable, so far out of reach, that only God Himself could reach it. We humans couldn’t do it—we couldn’t get near His standard. Scripture tells us even our good works, before salvation, are akin to “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). We didn’t simply need God’s help; we needed God to change us from the inside-out.

And that’s exactly what He did.

God becoming man is central to the Christian faith because, through the God-man, Jesus Christ, those who would repent of their sins and trust in Him will be saved. No more condemnation (Romans 8:1). No more striving. No more falling short of God’s standard. In Christ, we have met God’s standard: perfection.

So, ponder the glory and mystery of God becoming man. And remember that Jesus, who became the God-man, will forever be the God-man, who, at the right hand of the Father, continuously intercedes for you.