Question:  Dear Greg,

            I hear you say there is no explicit biblical statement that Jesus is our “brother”.  You mean that we are not and cannot ever be like Jesus Christ in all ways.  You state that Jesus Christ has no beginning in his divinity.  We, on the other hand, are created and have not existed eternally.

            Your reasoning is dubious. The Word of God added humanity to his divinity to become like us.  The Holy Spirit adds humanity to divinity every time there is a new Christian convert.  The Holy Spirit does not stop being divine because it adds humanity.  Therefore, in the same way that Jesus has no beginning in his divinity, we have no beginning in our divinity.

            Frank

Answer:  Dear Frank,

            I agree with your first paragraph.  Let me briefly explain the conclusions I reach which you believe are dubious—conclusions regarding the incarnation of the eternal Son of God that historic Christianity has embraced for well over 1600 years and since some of the early councils debated and rejected Arianism.

            The incarnation of the second person of the triune Godhead was unique and remains so.  Jesus is the only begotten, the one and only, the unique Son of God (see John 1:14 ,18).  While there are many ways in which humans are like him (or rather, he became like us, because humans existed before the incarnation), and ways in which humans who are born again are like him, Jesus will always remain the one and only—unique.  That is not my testimony, but the Bible’s.

            Hebrews chapter 1 provides more specific background on this topic, explaining that even angels are not completely like him.  Jesus is also unique in the Godhead, in the sense that of the three divine, separate Persons, who are co-equal and co-essential, but separate and distinct in Personality, only Jesus, the second Person of the Godhead, became incarnate.  In your note you claim a similar status for God the Holy Spirit, but your claim is completely without biblical or logical foundation.

            God made us in his image, but we are not free to return the favor, albeit humans have given it their best theological and philosophical efforts.  We are not divine—not now, not ever.  We may be God’s children by adoption, but this does not make us the same genus as God.  The divine Son of God is God, but we are his children by adoption, by new birth.  We are not equal sons of God to Jesus.  We are not equal to God--not now, nor will we ever be.  We are flesh.  The best that we can be is to have Jesus live his life within us (Galatians 2:20 ) and to be given, by God’s grace, immortality—our bodies made incorruptible at our resurrection.

            I hope this helps you understand the biblical, logical and Christian view of the incarnation.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht