The Incarnation
A Sermon on the Incarnation
Originally preached May 15, 1953
Scripture
Sermon Description
What does it mean that the Son of God became a man? This great doctrine is what has traditionally been called the incarnation. It is God taking on a true human nature in order to save His people. In this sermon on the incarnation, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on the great importance of this doctrine, not only for theology, but also for the Christian life. He warns of two main errors in thinking about the incarnation. The first is the misconception that Jesus merely appeared to be a man. But this is false, because Jesus was both man and God as the savior. The other error is to believe that the second person of the Trinity was changed in the incarnation, that the very nature of God changed. This is false because there was no mixing of the natures, so that the divine nature remains fully divine and distinct from His human nature. God in the incarnation was not only both God and man, but this fact is declared in the virgin birth. There was a miraculous conception in accordance with the miraculous person born. This doctrine of the incarnation as found in the Bible is the teaching that God has come down to humanity as a man to save all those that believe in Him.
Sermon Breakdown
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The doctrine of the incarnation shows the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. The incarnation refers to the second person of the Trinity becoming flesh, not the triune God becoming flesh.
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The incarnation was a true incarnation, not just an appearance or form taken on. The Word truly became flesh.
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The incarnation was the second person of the Trinity uniting with human nature, not just the divine nature uniting with human nature to form a new person.
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The incarnation did not involve a change in the personality of the second person of the Trinity. There was a change in the state and form, but not the person.
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We should not say the Son of God was changed into a man. He took on flesh and appeared as a man.
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The incarnation involved taking on real and complete human nature, not just the appearance of human nature.
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The incarnation involved taking human nature from the Virgin Mary, not creating a new human nature. He is the seed of Abraham and David because he took human nature from Mary.
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The incarnation involved taking on full and complete human nature, not just a partial human nature.
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The virgin birth shows the incarnation was entirely the work of God, not of man. Man is excluded. The male does not enter into the conception or birth.
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The virgin birth was inevitable given the incarnation. Everything about Jesus is mysterious and exceptional.
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Without the virgin birth, how could Jesus be sinless? If born in the ordinary way, he would be in the line of Adam and inherit original sin. The virgin birth allowed him to take on human nature without sin.
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The incarnation and virgin birth happened so that we might be saved, not just as a phenomenon. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men might become sons of God.
Great Biblical Doctrines
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.