02.07. Christ Assumed A Human Nature

7. CHRIST ASSUMED A HUMAN NATURE A very important point in our study of Christ’s human nature must be considered. Did the Son of God assume “the holy thing” (Luke 1:35) at the time of conception or when Mary gave birth to “the holy thing”? Some believe that the Son of God became the Son of Man when Mary delivered the fully developed embryo. They rely on the double meaning of the verb gennao, which means to either conceive or bring forth. Thus, the verb in Hebrews 1:5 (NASB) - “..Today I have begotten [gegenneka, perfect active indicative of gennao] thee,” - is taught to mean “to bring forth” rather than “to conceive.” They base this view on the next verse: “And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him” (Hebrews 1:6). Connected with this verse, Luke 2:9-14, they say, proves that the angels worshipped Jesus Christ not at His conception but at His birth. Those who embrace this view say the conception was a secret matter lest Satan might interrupt the Divine program. On the surface, this may seem to be irrefutable, but a close examination of the text and the context will refute the argument.

Recognizing the controversy over Hebrews 1:5-6, let us neither shirk our duty to study this passage nor be frightened by so-called scholarly works. Hebrews 1:5 consists of two Old Testament quotations: “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” is a quotation from Psalms 2:7; and “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son” is quoted from 2 Samuel 7:14. The word “begotten” of Psalms 2:7 has caused much controversy. The Hebrew word for “begotten” can mean to beget as a father or to bring forth as a mother. Our concern in this study is the way the word is used in Hebrews 1:5. The context indicates that it refers to the Son’s being “brought into the world” by means of the incarnation because reference is made in Hebrews 1:6 to the “firstbegotten” being brought into the inhabited earth again. The Greek word for “begotten” is gegenneka, perfect active indicative of gennao, which means to beget or to bring forth. The word for “firstbegotten” is prototokos, which means “firstborn.” The word for “again” is palin, an adverb which means back, again, or back again. The Father brought forth His Son into the inhabited earth by way of the virgin’s womb, and He will bring the “firstborn” back again-the second coming. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom (Hebrews 1:8).

“The angels worshipping God” of verse 6, therefore, will be fulfilled at Christ’s second coming rather than having been fulfilled at His first advent. The reference to “the heavenly host praising God” of Luke 2:9-14 is not the fulfillment of Hebrews 1:6. The former refers to Christ’s first advent and the latter to His second.

Instead of the conception being kept a secret from the angels, the very opposite is true. An angel told Joseph about the conception (Matthew 1:20). Furthermore, the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive (Luke 1:26; Luke 1:31). The Biblical truth of God’s absolute sovereignty is completely ignored when one says the conception was kept secret lest Satan interrupt God’s purpose. God “is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth” (Job 23:13). As the purpose of God was not thwarted by the fall, Satan cannot interrupt God’s program because God said, “..My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure...I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it” (Isaiah 46:10-11). The time the fetus became personalized is important to consider. If the human nature of Christ was not personalized until Mary brought forth the nature in birth, its personalization differs from others mentioned in Scripture.

Nature and person are not the same. One nature cannot be distinguished from another, but one person can be distinguished from another. Nature denotes the sum total of all the essential qualities of a thing. Person is a nature with something added. The added properties are independent subsistence and individuality. Christ’s human nature was not impersonal. It was personalized in the Son of God. It can be said that human nature is not actually personal, and that is the reason for the neuter participle being used in the statement “that holy thing which shall be born of thee” (Luke 1:35). The Greek reads to gennomenon hagion. It could be translated “the holy thing being begotten.” An illustration of the differentness between nature and person may be seen in a lump of clay differing from the vessel (Romans 9:20-23). The potter must intervene by taking a piece of clay from the lump and molding it into a particular vessel, having its own peculiar shape and figure. Likewise, human nature, as a whole existing in Adam, possessed all the properties that are requisite to personality, although it was not yet personalized. The difference, then, between nature and person is virtually between nature and form-substance and personality. The title “God-Man” means the second Person in the Godhead took not the person of a man but the nature of man into subsistence with Himself. The human nature of Christ previous to His assumption thereof was not a person. The Son of God did not unite Himself with the depraved human nature of Adam but only with “part of the same.” In reference to the incarnation, the writer of Hebrews said:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14). This text states plainly that the Son of God shared with the children “in like manner [paraplesios, adverb meaning in like manner and is used only in this text] the same things” (translation). Sharing (meteschen, second aorist active indicative of metecho, which means to share in or partake of) flesh and blood, He did not share in or partake of Adam’s depravity-original sin. The text restricts His sharing to “flesh and blood.” Human nature, therefore, may signify what it is as it exists in the descendants of fallen Adam or in its unfallen condition in the God-Man. The terms “Son of God,” “the man Christ Jesus,” and “a man approved of God” do not express the personality of a mere man. They express the personality of the God-Man. The Spirit of regeneration is necessary to see something more than a mere man in the theanthropic Person. The personalization of human nature takes place at conception:

If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished... (Exodus 21:22).

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me
(Psalms 51:5).

...thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13). As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child... (Ecclesiastes 11:5).

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet... (Jeremiah 1:5). And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb....the babe leaped in my womb for joy (Luke 1:41; Luke 1:44).

Those who believe the personalization of Christ’s human nature took place at birth are saying that His birth and His begetting were different from all others. However, as it has already been shown, the begetting was miraculous, but the conception, gestation, and birth were like others. Mary was passive in the begetting, but she was active in the conception, gestation, and birth.

There are some who say that the leaping of John the Baptist in Elisabeth’s womb did not indicate life. They call it fetal movement in the sphere of the mother’s emotions. Those who favor abortion are glad to hear “theologians” talk in this manner.

Scripture does teach that the Son of God was twice begotten of the Father. He was eternally begotten by the Father, and He was begotten as He entered into the inhabited earth (Psalms 2:7; Matthew 1:20). In His eternality, the second Person in the Godhead received not Deity but Sonship from the Father. In His incarnation, the Son of God received a body prepared for His earthly sojourn as Redeemer of the elect by the Father through the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:5; Luke 1:35).