Incarnation

Introducing the section on the central figure in salvation, Pastor Martin begins a sub-series on the mystery of Christ's person by laying out why the doctrine is of supreme importance. He argues from Scripture that individual salvation depends on a right confession of who Christ is (John 20:31; John 8:24), the church is built upon a right confession (Matthew 16:13-18), the gospel cannot be maintained or proclaimed without a right view of Him (Romans 1:1-4), and this doctrine is the critical test of any professed work of the Spirit (1 John 4:1-3). He closes by pressing the personal question: Who is Jesus Christ to you?

Pastor Martin gives the simple statement of the biblical doctrine of Christ's person from the Shorter Catechism (truly God, truly man, two distinct natures united in one person forever), traces how the Athanasian Creed and Chalcedon articulated this confession in response to heresy, and then begins the biblical basis by expounding the first category of texts — those that explicitly designate Christ as God. He handles John 1:1, John 20:28, and Romans 9:5, pressing the conclusion that only one clear witness is needed to prove Christ's deity and calling hearers to fall with Thomas before their Lord and God.

Continuing the biblical case for Christ's deity, Pastor Martin brings four more witnesses (Philippians 2:6, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8, and 1 John 5:20) in which Jesus Christ is explicitly called God in contexts that admit no lesser meaning. He summarizes the sevenfold witness in Colossians 2:9 — in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily — and applies the doctrine: the one who invites sinners is God able to fulfill every promise and every threat, He demands supreme religious affection, and He is the object of faith, worship, and a jealous guarding of the heart.

Pastor Martin argues that "Son of Man" — often misunderstood as a mere title of Christ's humanity — is actually a title of His deity, drawing from Daniel 7 and Christ's own self-consciousness. The title points simultaneously to Christ's heavenly pre-existence, His present state of humiliation, and His future glory. Son of God and Son of Man occupy common ground as ascriptions of deity: the former emphasizing that He who is God is God, the latter emphasizing that He who is God is truly man.

Pastor Martin opens the second major section of Christology by establishing the importance of Christ's true humanity. The doctrine is of saving significance — without a true body and a reasonable soul, Christ could not be our Mediator. He then traces the Old Testament period of preparation, showing how the promise of the coming Deliverer is progressively narrowed: the seed of the woman, then of Abraham, then of Judah, then of David, and finally the virgin-born child who is also Emmanuel.

Pastor Martin opens the period of manifestation in the Gospels, demonstrating that Jesus Christ is truly man as witnessed in his conception, birth, infancy, and growth to manhood. He expounds Luke's record of the virginal conception, the normal pregnancy and birth, and the boyhood years in which Jesus genuinely grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men. The sermon insists that the Gospels portray a real human development without halo or shortcut, then applies this with wonder at Christ's love and consolation that our salvation rests on a true and sinless humanity.

Pastor Martin now sets out the biblical demonstration of Christ as one undivided person subsisting in two distinct, unmixed natures forever. Using a glove and hand analogy, and the witness of John 1, Philippians 2, Acts 20, Romans 1 and 9, and Colossians 2, he shows that the eternal Word became flesh without ceasing to be all that God is. He then shows from Christ's own consciousness and the apostolic witness that the natures remain distinct, with the one person speaking sometimes from the form of consciousness of his deity and sometimes from the form of his humanity, applying the doctrine to interpretation of Scripture, worship, and gospel proclamation.

Pastor Martin examines the continuous, ongoing effects of regeneration as distinct from the immediate effects of repentance and faith. Following an outline drawn from Robert Law on 1 John, he sets forth three inevitable, abiding marks of the regenerate: a doctrinal or theological confession of Jesus as true God, true man, and Messiah; a moral or ethical practice of righteousness and obedience; and a social love for the brethren. Where these three are absent, claims to the new birth are exposed as empty.

Pastor Martin opens a new section on adoption, arguing that adoption is an even higher blessing than justification — as a judge's son rescuing a criminal only illustrates justification, but the judge adopting the pardoned criminal as his own heir pictures adoption. He then traces adoption's centrality through four spheres: God's eternal purpose (Ephesians 1), Christ's temporal activity (Galatians 4), the initial application of salvation (John 1, Galatians 3-4), and the final application of salvation (Romans 8, 1 John 3, Revelation 21). He closes by rebuking the notion of universal fatherhood and urging believers to enjoy this pinnacle privilege.