A couple of weeks ago someone asked me how Christ could remain fully divine and yet limit himself in the incarnation.  The questioner had pretty well answered his own question by the time he finished writing me, but below are the thoughts I added to his insights:

Yours is a very good question which I wish more would ask because it provides occasion to teach an oft-neglected aspect of Christology which should serve to increase our love for God and humility before a sovereign Christ.  You are basically headed in the right direction but a few insights from John Calvin (1509-1564) and John Owen (1616-1683) might help tie up some loose ends for you.  The first mistake we tend to make in discussing Christ’s two natures (divine and human) is to restrict the totality of Christ’s person to his incarnated form.  By drawing on theological insights that were loosely expressed centuries before him, John Calvin clarified for the Church that the incarnation was an extension of his “empire” and not a restriction.  His humanity was something he added to his person rather than a capsule into which he only had room for a few of his attributes. This addition was referred to by Calvin as the etiam extra carnem Christi. Calvin’s explanation of Christ’s adding real humanity to the totality of his being has been pejoratively referred to by Lutheran theologians as the extra-Calvinisticum because they insist that Christ’s flesh is omnipresent, a position necessary to hold in order to teach that Christ is physically present in the Lord’s Supper.  However, that would mean that Jesus is something other than a genuine human being and without a human Christ we have no Savior.  So while Jesus lived within the confines of space and time within Palestine, the whole Christ was everywhere present, omniscient, omnipotent and so on—possessing all the distinguishing qualities of the Godhead.  If you would like to read more from Calvin on Christ’s incarnation, you could look at the following:  Institutes of the Christian Religion 2.13.4; 4.17.30; Commentary Lk. 23:43; Jn. 14:12; Ac. 1:11; He. 1:14). You might want to look as well at Heidelberg Catechism Q. 48.

Practically that means that the omnipotent Christ fully resourced his redemptive labors on our behalf while the human expression of his person was on earth.  While Christ’s human body may have by necessity known some limitations on earth, Christ himself was never limited because his divine nature never changed.  Because Jesus Christ remains the same yesterday, today and forever there was never any chance and never will there be a chance of failure in his redemptive plan.  Furthermore, because Christ has maintained his human expression, it will be possible for us in heaven to commune with God (who is a Spirit) through him.

One of my great joys in preaching is the dynamic interaction I have with the congregation after the service. Your interested questions, thoughtful insights and loving critiques only help me to pastor you better from the pulpit. So I will try to pass along some of those insights in this blog for the good of the whole congregation.

After “The True Message” a visiting pastor from another denomination asked where he could learn more about John Calvin and his thought (I alluded to Calvin several times in my sermon). Just for a little background, John Calvin (1509-1564) was a French lawyer turned theologian who conducted most of his preaching, writing and reforming ministry in Geneva, Switzerland. Contrary to many caricatures, his emphasis was not on the doctrine of predestination. In fact, it occupies a rather small part of his theological writings and did not make it into his Institutes of the Christian Religion until later revisions. Calvin’s main emphasis was on the believer’s union with Christ as the ultimate explanation to all questions of life and salvation (how does God save, what motivates and enables the Christian, how does one become holy, how are we blessed, how do we pray, etc)

The Institutes are about 1500 pages (Calvin called them “a brief work”!) but they have a good index (also available on-line through CCEL) and should be in everyone’s library as a resource on practically every theological topic.  Anyway, back to the question about how to learn more about Calvin. The minister who asked me this question was only beginning to read the Institutes so he wanted to ramp up more quickly. My suggestion to him and to anyone would be a little book and a modern biography. The little book is called The Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life. This is a small edited version of Book 3 of the Institutes. It is very readable, even devotional, as much of Calvin’s writing is to most people’s surprise. Modern biographies include those by Robert Godfrey, John Piper, Robert Reymond and T.H.L. Parker (a bit older). The little book and a modern biography reveal a much maligned father of the faith who was a passionate preacher, global evangelist, tender hearted pastor, pioneering economist, social reformer, political innovationist, husband, father and suffering Christian man.

Other books alluded to in my sermon included:

· F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable (Good answer to those who ask, “How can we trust the Bible when it has been copied so many times through history?”);

· James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith (Good layman’s guide to doctrine of inerrancy);

· William M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen (Intriguing reference book on geographical, social and political background to Acts); and

· Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology (I was working against this book which is the fountainhead of “Deconstruction,” the postmodern idea that truth is impossible to know especially through the written word).