True Flesh and Blood

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…” (Hebrews 2:14)

Each December we’re reminded of how the exalted second Person of the Trinity took on a human nature for the purpose of rescuing lost sinners.An added benefit of this annual commemoration is that we’re reminded again of the biblical truth of what the incarnation involved.If you’re in a Reformed church, this is, of course, in addition to the other reminder with our regular catechism preaching on Lord’s Day 14.

In view of the errors that exist around the incarnation, these reminders are good and necessary.A modern error relates to the sentimentalizing of the Christmas story.Some of the season’s songs romanticize the conception and birth of Christ to such an extent that you would almost think he was not a real human baby.If “no crying he makes” is the true picture, you might think this was some special super baby.After all, what normal human baby doesn’t cry to let his mother know he’s hungry?

An older error is mentioned in article 18 of the Belgic Confession.Anabaptists like Melchior Hoffmann and Menno Simons taught that the human nature of Jesus was something he took down from heaven.In their thinking, science indicated that the woman was completely passive in the normal reproductive process.The woman contributed nothing substantial in the usual conception a child – she was simply the field in which the seed (from the male) was sown.Thus, to these Anabaptists, it was impossible for Jesus to have taken his human nature from Mary.It must have come from heaven.Christ’s person (divine and human natures together) were implanted by God from heaven and Mary made no contribution whatsoever.She was simply the vessel which carried Jesus into the world.This “heavenly flesh Christology” is still held today by a tiny number of Anabaptists.

The Belgic Confession calls it a heresy and rightly so.Our salvation depends on the reality of Christ’s true human nature, a human nature exactly like ours.The Confession explicitly appeals to a string of biblical texts to bolster this assertion.The first one is from Hebrews 2:14.Here a comparison is drawn between “the children” and the Christ.

Who are “the children” in Hebrews 2:14?They are the “many sons” being brought to glory (Heb. 2:10).They are those whom Christ is not ashamed to call brothers (Heb. 2:11) and those whom he tells of God’s name (Heb. 2:12).“The children” are those whom God has given to Christ (Heb. 2:13) for salvation.In other words, “the children” are true Christian believers.We share in flesh and blood, which simply means we are human beings with a physical nature.

Likewise, Christ came into this world to share our flesh and blood.He added a true human nature to his person.Amazingly, the Creator became like unto the creature.It’s important to note that the author of Hebrews insists that the flesh and blood of Christ are the same as our flesh and blood.He did not merely appear to be human, nor did he have a human nature with a dissimilar origin to ours – no, in substance and origin his human flesh and blood was exactly like ours.

The author of Hebrews tells us why this was so vitally important:he had to die.The miracle of the incarnation points in the direction of the cross.Christ took on our flesh and blood so he, bearing our sins, could die in our place and defeat the devil.Christ became a true human being so, as the prophesied seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), he would smash the head of the serpent.The ultimate result of all this is propitiation (Heb. 2:17) – the wrath of God is turned away from us and his favour returned.

Dear Christian, a Christ who simply looks like a human being is not enough.A Christ who somehow took his human nature from heaven is not enough.We confess from the Scriptures that our salvation depends on a Saviour who partook of true flesh and blood, who humbled himself and really became one of us.As the Belgic Confession concludes in article 18, this is the way he came to be Immanuel, that is, God with us.