(The Preacher’s Magazine 1986-87)

What does -it mean for God to come into the world? It means a number of things both to God and to us. To Him, the meaning has both divine purpose­ - to "save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21, RSV)* - and consciousness of rejection ("He came to his own home, and his own people received him not") and reception ("But to all who received him ... he gave power to become children of God" [John 1: 11-12]. When He came, He "emptied himself of all but love" (C. Wesley). Yet the very divine quality that He did not re­nounce in becoming one of us is the cause of both our clash with Him and our faith in Him.

Love is disruptive. We all want to give and receive it. But when it comes, it challenges us. Love will not allow prejudice of any kind, even against the wicked. Our Heavenly Father sends His rain on the just and the un­just (Matt. 5:43-48), and gives His mercy even to the ungrateful (Luke 6:36) Love requires going to the Cross oneself rather than sending another. The message of love, the preaching of Christ crucified, is described by Paul as the aroma of life unto life to those who receive it and death unto death to those who do not (2 Cor. 2:12,14-16).

The Problem of Meaning

What does it mean for God to come into this world, for love to come into a world of hostility? Lack of under­standing is a problem central to the mystery of the Incar­nation. Paul said to himself, "I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Tim. 1:13). Though he was obedient to the law of his fathers, his realm of understanding, he was the "chief of sinners" through his ignorance (cf. v. 15, KJV).

Similarly, Peter is also described as a chiefest because of his ignorance. When he rebuked Jesus for choosing to go to Jerusalem, Jesus turned to him and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan ... for thou savourest not the things that be of God" (Matt. 16:23, KJV; more literally, "you do not have a mind for it'). Peter was not alone in his inability to understand. Jesus' repeated cau­tion to the disciples was "What I am doing you do not know now" (John 13:7) and "You cannot bear them now" (16:12).

At the root of human existence there is a tragic inabil­ity to understand. This is not in the area of skills but in moral understanding. Men are ignorant of God's righ­teousness; instead, they seek "to establish their own" (Rom. 10:3). Man's own righteousness is a moral adjust­ment within the context of sin. It is not based on unqual­ified trust in God, the One who caused "light [to] shine out of darkness" (2 Cor. 4:6), "who raised [our Lord] Jesus from the dead" (Rom. 8:11), and who is the "rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11 :6, NKJV). Thus, as it was for Peter; the Cross is an impos­sible idea.

Man neither loves enough nor trusts God enough to sacrifice. As Hebrews states the question: "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood" (12:4). Humans do sacri­fice in the context of conditional love and trust­ "perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die" - but sacrifice based on unconditional love, obedience based on unqualified trust in God, is beyond fallen humanity. Our human love and loyalty make conditional sacrifice possible. It must be for a cause worthy of sacrifice, such as country, family, or as Paul qualified it, "a good man." In contrast, "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners [helpless, blasphemers, and enemies] Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:6-10). Perfect love goes to the unjust (Matt. 5:43-48), to the ungrateful (Luke 6:36), and to impious enemies (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10), as well as to the righteous. There are no qualifications that limit it ei­ther in degree or in who may receive it.

Man's righteousness is qualified. It requires justifi­cation. This justification is the program by which all ethi­cal systems are developed. Trusting that they them­selves are righteous (Luke 18:9), people, both corporately and individually, develop systems of justifi­cation. These may be the systems of philosophers or theologians, or the self-justifications of the unschooled.

Self-examination should cause recognition of moral inability. We fail to love and trust. Honest recognition of this would result in the prayer; "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13). Every person is educated in the logic of self-justification, in the fine art of rational self-­defense.

Because mankind has its own righteousness, Imma­nuel is illogical. The self-emptying God, the One who takes our humanity upon himself, who accepts the life of a servant and a most ignoble death, does not make sense. If we make sense out of His death through incor­poration into a religious system, His call to us to "die a death like His" still runs contrary to logic. Immanuel is not satisfied merely to be revered in a religious system. His coming contains the troublesome invitation, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt. 16:24).

Misunderstanding is a universal problem. The Incar­nation took place in a world that did not understand it. The rulers did not understand, "for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:7-8). Neither do the Greeks, for whom it is foolishness, nor the Jews, to whom it is a stumbling block (1:23, KJV). Religious logic often runs diametrically opposed to God's love. As Jesus forewarned His disciples, "They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is com­ing when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God" (John 16:2, NIV) - language descriptive of Paul's persecution of the Church. This universal igno­rance is also expressed in Jesus' words from the Cross. 'They know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Ignorance is applied by Peter to the Jews in Jerusalem: "And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers" (Acts 3:17). Similarly, Paul addresses the Athenians, "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent" (17:30). This ignorance is further compounded in the Christian era. Loyalty to Christ required that everything be done in the name of love, but love was twisted by the human mind. Thus inquisitions, persecutions, and wars were waged in the name of God. God's love was still not understood.

Lack of understanding does not release us from spir­itual and moral responsibility, though Paul said, "I re­ceived mercy because I had acted ignorantly" (1 Tim. 1:13). Those who ignorantly cast men out of churches and synagogues do so "because" our Lord declared, "they have not known the Father, nor me" (John 16:3). Their acts of hostility are attempts to establish their own righteousness, "being ignorant of God's righteousness" (Rom. 10:3, KJV). Reflecting the words of Isaiah, Jesus described them: "Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear" (Matt. 13:13). Peter described the im­morality of this ignorance. It is the opposite of holiness. The believers are commanded, "Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but ... be holy ... in all your conduct" (1 Pet. 1:14-15). The source of this ignorance is "the god of this age [who] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor. 4:4, NIV).

The moral problem of meaning is further heightened in that the knowledge of Christ heightens this knowl­edge of sin and threatens the sinner; causing him to hide. Just as Paul could describe "the law [which] is good" is given so that sin might be seen to be "exceed­ing sinful" (Rom. 7:16, 13, KJV), so also Jesus described His own impact on the people and rulers. "If I had not come and spoken to them ... [and] if I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin" (John 15:22, 24). From Adam's fall to that day when men will cry for the rocks to cover them, men have hidden from God.

When Immanuel comes, He not only exposes, He threatens at the paint of who we are. Malachi asked about that day, "Who can stand when he appears?" (3:2). Simeon prophesied over the infant Christ, "This child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel" (Luke 2:34). Being threatened by His presence, they do not "come to the light, lest [their] deeds should be exposed" (John 3:20). The "Book of Signs" in John's Gospel (chaps. 2-12) is a dramatic portrayal of how incarnate righteousness threatens. Those described as Abra­ham's seed start by saying to Jesus that no one "is seeking to kill you" (7:20), and end by picking "up stones to throw at him"(8:59), plotting His death and even seek­ing to destroy the evidence of His righteousness: "The chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to death" (12:10-11).

The exposition of their plight contributed to an ethical rationale, that of Caiaphas, who expressed his ethical wisdom by asserting, "You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish" (John 11 :49-50). Man is innately philosophical and theological, and in these he is innately ethical. He must be good in his own eyes (Luke 18:9). Thus over the generations of sin, a good is created, a meaning is developed that enables each sinner to say to the bearers of light, "You know nothing at all; you do not understand," It is to this system that the gospel is fool­ishness and a stumbling block. Paul reminds us, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weak­ness of God is stronger than men" (1 Cor. 1:25).

The Meaning of Immanuel in a Sinful World

The Incarnation, as described in John's prologue, is first of all revelation. Jesus is the Logos and Light. As Logos, He speaks forth God into the world. As Light, He is the moral conscience "that enlightens every man" and woman (1:9).

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the revelation of God's righteousness. God made Him our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). In His life, death, and resurrection, He was God's righteousness. He is the sinless One (John 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15) who struggled against sin to the point of shedding His blood (12:4). His atoning death was to show and prove God's righteousness. In a paral­lel passage, the character of His righteousness is de­scribed as love: "God shows his love for us In that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Fur­thermore, that He is the Righteous One is declared by His resurrection from the dead (Acts 3:14-15; 7:52). God would not let his "Holy One see corruption" (2:27; 13:35).

God's purpose in the revelation of His righteousness in, Christ was to show sin as that which is contrary to love for God and neighbor. In Christ's presence, the most righteous of the Pharisees comes to know both that he is a sinner (John 15:22, 24), and the chief of Sinners (Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:15). Christ is God's perfect Law. He is God's perfect Revelation who reveals all sin. As John teaches, "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another; the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin", (1 John 1:7). Cleansing takes place in relationship to revelation. The very transformation of the Christian from one degree of glory 'unto another (2 Cor. 3:18) is dependent on the revelation of that which is ,unlike Christ The one who believes, while he is not condemned, discovers the con­demnation of sin (Rom. 8:1, 4). Paul, speaking auto­biographically, raised the hypothesis, "If while [I] seek to be justified by Christ, [I am] found [to be a sinner]" (Gal. 2:17, KJV), suggesting that proximity to Christ created revelation of sin. This concept is found throughout Paul's writings, as he affirms, "When we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be con­demned along with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32). Where per­fect revelation exists, there sin abounded, and there "grace abounded all the more" (Rom. 5:20).

Christ is God's perfect Revelation. He reveals that which is contrary to the divine image not only to sinner, but also to the righteous. He is not only "a light for reve­lation to the Gentiles," He is also perfect Revelation, or "glory to thy people Israel" (Luke 2:32). As Paul in re­verse order states it before Agrippa, He is "light both to the people and to the Gentiles" (Acts 26:23). The condi­tion of all men is not only that "all have sinned" but also that they have "fall[en] short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Thus, the Christian's hope is the "hope of sharing the glory of God" (5:2). The process is being trans­formed into His likeness from one degree of glory unto another (2 Cor. 3:18). The purpose of Christ's coming is to destroy the works of the devil. The object of our hope, and the goal of God's purpose and election, is perfect restoration: We are "to be conformed to the im­age of his Son" (Rom. 8:29). It should be noted that "image," "likeness," and "glory" are equivalent terms. Glory is image or likeness seen as revelation, or to use the terminology of John's first Epistle, perfect light. Thus Immanuel is not only light to darkness, He is also glory who reveals sin in the righteous.

The effect of this revelation of God's love to us is all-encompassing. Immanuel destroys all excuses (Rom. 1:20) developed by all our systems of self-justification. The whole world is "accountable to God" (3:19); "every mouth [is] stopped" (v. 19); and "boasting" is ended (v. 27).

The Meaning of Immanuel in a Hopeless World

Immanuel's meaning is not just in the revelation of sin. Immanuel is also the revelation of God, the One who forgives, who "is faithful and just ... [who] will forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9, NIV), and who in the Atonement makes repentance possible. The knowledge of forgive­ness is Immanuel's doing. The knowledge that forgive­ness is available for all, Gentile as well as Jew, is a new message. The Gentiles are described in Ephesians as "strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). There is no knowledge of God or His forgiving grace. Similarly, Paul announced to the Athenians, "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men every­where to repent" (Acts 17:30). The newness of this pos­sibility is underlined by his words "and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him [our Lord Jesus] from the dead" (v. 31). Likewise, a new insight came to the Jewish church in Jerusalem when they heard that the Holy Spirit had come on the household of Cornelius. Upon hearing this, "They glorified God, say­ing, 'Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repen­tance unto like'" (11:18),

The call to repentance both by John the Baptist and by Jesus Christ was conditioned on the premise that the kingdom of God is either near or here. Similarly, Paul's invitation, "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" is preceded by "At the ac­ceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). This itself is preceded by two chapters describing the liberating mercies of God which affirm, "So we do not lose heart" (4:16, 1), and, "We are always of good courage" (5:6). God is the One who wrestles victory out of defeat (4:8-10) and who comes to us through Christ "God was in Christ, recon­ciling the world unto himself [KJV] ... We beseech you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God" (5:19-20). As Charles Wesley wrote:

My God is reconciled; His pard'ning voice I hear

He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear.

With confidence I now draw nigh,

With confidence I now draw nigh.

And, "Father; Abba, Father;" cry.

Immanuel brings the revelation of love that does not just convict, it also forgives. In fact, God's love that con­victs creates hope once again, making contrition and repentance possible. It is the sorrow that comes from God (kata Theou) that "produces a repentance that leads to salvation" (2 Cor. 7:10). Though Immanuel is not sorrow, He creates sorrow unto salvation. "To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12).

This hope of forgiveness is based not only upon the goodness of God but on His power. As Jesus pro­claimed, "It is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47). Similarly, the assurance of forgiveness pro­claimed to the Athenians was not just that God forgives, but that He has the power to forgive. God gives the assurance "by raising ... [Christ] from the dead" (Acts 17:31). The Resurrection proclaims that God's love is victorious. It not only proclaims God's love for the righteous-He would not let His "Holy One see cor­ruption" (2:27; 13:35)-but it also proves to all mankind "that God ... [is] able to do what he had promised" (Rom. 4:21).

Though we usually associate forgiveness with the Cross, it is also associated with the Resurrection. The fact of forgiveness is proclaimed in Christ's death, but the power of forgiveness is proclaimed in His resurrec­tion. In Antioch of Pisidia, Paul recited the mighty acts of .God to Israel-the call of the fathers, the deliverance from Egypt, the giving of the Law, the gift of the Promised Land, and the elevation of David to kingship (Acts 13:17-22). Then he proclaimed God's greatest act: He did not let His "Holy One see corruption" (v. 35). On the basis of this mightiest of acts, he concluded, "Let it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him every one that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (vv. 38-39). The term translated "freed" (dikaioō) is usually translated "justified" as it is in this passage by the NIV and NKJV. The power of the Holy Spirit on the disciples at Pentecost and on the household of Cornelius is a sign not only of God's favor but of God's creative love: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12, NIV).

Meaning in a Helpless World

Our hope is not just for forgiveness; it is for trans­formation. Transformation includes forgiveness. For­giveness is not just something done by God and known only to Him. Forgiveness includes transformation in the psychological dimensions. "While we were still helpless" (Rom. 5:6) (NASB, etc.) and "strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12) are Paul's descriptions of man's help­less and hopeless state. The realization of God's for­giveness is an unleashing of His power; pushing back the fear of death. The psychological dimensions of our deliverance are an expression of God's power: Imma­nuel, the writer of Hebrews reminds us, in His incarna­tion ("in flesh and blood") "partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bond­age" (Heb. 2: 14-15). Trespasses and sins result in death, but Christ brings life (Eph. 2:1). Faith is an act of Resur­rection grace. It is the triumph of trust in God over every direction that fear may take - fear of man, of God, of life, of death, and of failure. As Wesley observed in his Ex­planatory Notes upon the New Testament for Rom. 4:25, "Jesus ... was ... raised for our justification" - "to em­power us to receive that atonement by faith." Yet trust is not meaningless. The gift of faith is a gift to the mind and heart. Faith is trust in the One who has proven himself to be both trustworthy and able to do what He has prom­ised.

Yet how do we know that God is trustworthy? We know because God proves himself to us. Those who reject and suppress the trust, Paul reminds us, do so over against God, who makes himself known. Though Paul is describing the beginning of revelation, "what can be known ... namely, his eternal power and deity," nev­ertheless, "God [is the One who] has shown it to them" at a sufficient level so that faith is potentially theirs. It "is plain to them" (Rom. 1:19-20). It was at this minimal revelation that Jesus demonstrated that His Father is love: "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). Unbelief and belief are both genuine possibilities; God has revealed himself.

All the persuasion of God in nature, in His covenant with Israel, in the death of His Son, and in that Holy Son's resurrection is given to create in rational beings a potential for the godly sorrow, repentance, and trust that leads to salvation and life (2 Cor. 7:10; Acts 11 :18). This redeeming persuasion is the activity of Immanuel. As Paul wrote, "We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake ... [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:20-21).

This persuasion is both about the character and the power of God. The Resurrection does not overwhelm, it persuades. Faith as righteousness is "reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 4:24). Similarly, salvation is for those who not only confess with their lips that Jesus is Lord, but who also "believe in ... [their] heart[s] that God raised him from the dead" (10:9). Thus Abraham, the man of faith, is characterized as "being fully persuaded that, what ... [God] had promised, he was able also to per­form" (4:21, KJV). This gracious persuasion of God's love through the life, death, and resurrection of Imma­nuel makes it possible for all who believe to "live no longer for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

Faith is a mystery, a synergism of grace; I act, but behold, it is God who acts. As Paul wrote, "For this I toil, striving with all the energy which he mightily inspires within me" (Col. 1:29). By God's resurrection power I am not only made alive to believe, my belief becomes a ra­tional' affirmation. Living faith has God the Father as the Object: I believe in "him· who raised Jesus from the dead" (Rom. 8:11, NIV). In His resurrection of Jesus, God is recreating the rational dimensions of faith; a faith that God is both good and able to do what He has prom­ised (4:21). As the Epistle to the Hebrews states, "Who­ever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Heb. 11 :6). That God exists affirms His power; but when He re­wards the seeker, His goodness is proclaimed. The re­peated object of faith is the One who "raised from the dead Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 4:24; see 2 Cor. 1:9; 4:14; Eph. 1:19-20; Col. 2:12; and Heb. 11:19). Immanuel came to create faith, "to deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage" (2:15).

The meaning of Immanuel is that He brings meaning into a sinful, hopeless, and helpless world. God is re­vealed, sin is made evident, and full salvation becomes possible. Thus faith is recreated not just as inward feel­ing, but faith that has objective content – faith in the One who both raised up Jesus and is able to raise us up with Him. The result of Immanuel is that now on this side of His resurrection, "we ... rely ... on God who raises the dead ... [who has] delivered us from so deadly a peril ... [and who] will deliver us again"(2 Cor. 1:9-10). Immanuel! God is love and He is with us! The Word is here. Meaning is being restored. I

*Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this article are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.