This post is about the Incarnation of Jesus; a very important principle in Christian theology. In fact, when you will tour the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth you will see inscribed on the Facade of the building the famous verse from John 14:1 in Latin:
“VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST ET HABITAVIT IN NOBIS”
which translates to English to: “And the Word became flesh”. In Christian theology, the Incarnation of Jesus is the belief that Jesus Christ; the second person of the Trinity; also known as God the Son or the Logos (Koine Greek for “Word”); “was made flesh” by being conceived in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary; also known as the Theotokos (Greek for “God-bearer”).
The doctrine of the Incarnation of Jesus, then, entails that Jesus is fully God and fully human. In the Incarnation of Jesus, as traditionally defined by those Churches that adhere to the Council of Chalcedon; the divine nature of the Son was united but not mixed with human nature in one divine Person; Jesus Christ, who was both “truly God and truly man”. This is central to the traditional faith held by most Christians. Alternative views on the subject (like the Ebionites and the Gospel of the Hebrews) have been proposed throughout the centuries, but all were rejected by Nicene Christianity.
More About the Incarnation of Jesus
The Incarnation of Jesus implies three facts: (1) The Divine Person of Jesus Christ; (2) The Human Nature of Jesus Christ; (3) The Hypostatic Union of the Human with the Divine Nature in the Divine Person of Jesus Christ. Without diminishing his divinity, he added to it all that is involved in being human. In Christian belief, it is understood that Jesus was at the same time both fully God and fully human, two natures in one person. The body of Christ was therefore subject to all the bodily weaknesses to which human nature is universally subject; such are hunger (Matthew.4:2), thirst (John 19:28), fatigue (John 4:6), pain, and death. They were the natural results of the human nature he assumed.
