mgpcpastor's blog

Category Archives: Incarnation


by Leave a comment

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 14

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 14

35.
Q. What is the meaning of: “Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary”?
A. That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon himself our true manhood from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary through the action of the Holy Spirit, so that he might also be the true seed of David, like his fellow men in all things, except for sin.

36.
Q. What benefit do you receive from the Holy conception and birth of Christ?
A. That he is our Mediator, and that, in God’s sight, he covers over with his innocence and perfect holiness the sinfulness in which I have been conceived.


by Leave a comment

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 13

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 13

33.
Q. Why is he called God’s only begotten Son, since we also are God’s children?
A. Because Christ alone is God’s own eternal Son, whereas we are accepted for his sake as children of God by grace.

34.
Q. Why do you call him our Lord?
A. Because, not with gold or silver but at the cost of his blood, he has redeemed us body and soul from sin and all the dominion of the devil, and has bought us for his very own.


by Leave a comment

Heidelberg Catechism – Lords’ Day 12

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 12

31.
Q. Why is he called Christ, that is, the Anointed One?
A. Because he is ordained by God the Father and anointed with the Holy spirit to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, fully revealing to us the secret purpose and will of God concerning our redemption; to be our only High Priest, having redeemed us by the one sacrifice of his body and ever interceding for us with the Father; and to be our eternal King, governing us by his Word and Spirit, and defending and sustaining us in the redemption he has won for us.

32.
Q. But why are you called a Christian?
A. Because through faith I share in Christ and thus in his anointing, so that I may confess his name, offer myself a living sacrifice of gratitude to him, and fight against sin and the devil with a free and good conscience throughout this life and hereafter rule with him in eternity over all creatures.


by Leave a comment

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 6

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 6

16.
Q. Why must he be a true and righteous man?
A. Because God’s righteousness requires that man who has sinned should make reparation for sin, but the man who is himself a sinner cannot pay for others.

17.
Q. Why must he at the same time be true God?
A. So that by the power of his divinity he might bear as a man the burden of God’s wrath, and recover for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

18.
Q. Who is this mediator who is at the same time true God and a true and perfectly righteous man?
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given to us for complete redemption and righteousness.

19.
Q. Whence do you know this?
A. From the holy gospel, which God himself revealed in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, afterward proclaimed through the holy patriarchs and prophets and foreshadowed through the sacrifices and other rites of the Old Covenant, and finally fulfilled through his own well-beloved Son.


by Leave a comment

Westminster Confession Of Faith – Lord’s Day 14

Westminster Confession Of Faith – Lord’s Day 14

Chapter 8 – Of Christ the Mediator Cont.(Paragraphs 3-5)
III. The Lord Jesus in his human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure; having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell: to the end that being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety. Which office he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his Father; who put all power and judgment into his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same.
IV. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake, which, that he might discharge, he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfill it; endured most grievous torments immediately in his soul, and most painful sufferings in his body; was crucified and died; was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered; with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sits at the right hand of his Father, making intercession; and shall return to judge men and angels, at the end of the world.
V. The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, has fully satisfied the justice of his Father; and purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father has given unto him.


by 1 Comment

Westminster Larger Catechism – Lord’s Day 14

Westminster Larger Catechism – Lord’s Day 14

Q & A 46
Q What was the estate of Christ’s humiliation?
A The estate of Christ’s humiliation was that low condition, wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life, death, and after his death, until his resurrection.*1

Q & A 47
Q How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
A Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth, in that, being from all eternity the Son of God, in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased in the fulness of time to become the son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her; with various circumstances of more than ordinary abasement.*2

Q & A 48
Q How did Christ humble himself in his life?
A Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself to the law,3 which he perfectly fulfilled;4 and by conflicting with the indignities of the world,5 temptations of Satan,6 and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition.*7

Q & A 49
Q How did Christ humble himself in his death?
A Christ humbled himself in his death, in that having been betrayed by Judas,8 forsaken by his disciples,9 scorned and rejected by the world,10 condemned by Pilate, and tormented by his persecutors;11 having also conflicted with the terrors of death, and the powers of darkness, felt and borne the weight of God’s wrath,12 he laid down his life an offering for sin,13 enduring the painful, shameful, and cursed death of the cross.*14

Q & A 50
Q Wherein consisted Christ’s humiliation after his death?
A Christ’s humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried,15 and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day;16 which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.

*1 Philippians 2:6-8; Luke 1:31; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Acts 2:24.
*2 John 1:14, 18; Galatians 4:4; Luke 2:7.
*3 Galatians 4:4.
*4 Matthew 5:17; Romans 5:19.
*5 Psalm 22:6; Hebrews 12:2-3.
*6 Matthew 4:1-12; Luke 4:13.
*7 Hebrews 2:17-18; Hebrews 4:15; Isaiah 52:13-14.
*8 Matthew 27:4.
*9 Matthew 26:56.
*10 Isaiah 53:2-3.
*11 Matthew 27:26-50; John 19:34.
*12 Luke 22:44; Matthew 27:46.
*13 Isaiah 53:10.
*14 Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 12:2; Galatians 3:13.
*15 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
*16 Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:24-27, 31; Romans 6:9; Matthew 12:40.


by Leave a comment

Westminster Larger Catechism – Lord’s Day 12

Westminster Larger Catechism – Lord’s Day 12

Q & A 36
Q Who is the Mediator of the covenant of grace?
A The only Mediator of the covenant of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ,1 who, being the eternal Son of God, of one substance and equal with the Father,2 in the fulness of time became man,3 and so was and continues to be God and man, in two entire distinct natures, and one person, forever.4

Q & A 37
Q How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul,5 being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance, and born of her,6 yet without sin.*7

Q & A 38
Q Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God?
A It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that he might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God, and the power of death,8 give worth and efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession;9 and to satisfy God’s justice,10 procure his favour,11 purchase a peculiar people,12 give his Spirit to them,13 conquer all their enemies,14 and bring them to everlasting salvation.15

Q & A 39
Q Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be man?
A It was requisite that the Mediator should be man, that he might advance our nature,16 perform obedience to the law,17 suffer and make intercession for us in our nature,18 have a fellow-feeling of our infirmities;19 that we might receive the adoption of sons,20 and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.21

Q & A 40
Q Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God and man in one person?
A It was requisite that the Mediator, who was to reconcile God and man, should himself be both God and man, and this in one person, that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us,22 and relied on by us as the works of the whole person.23

*1 1 Timothy 2:5.
*2 John 1:1, 14; John 10:30; Philippians 2:6.
*3 Galatians 4:4.
*4 Luke 1:35; Romans 9:5; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 7:24-25.
*5 John 1:14; Matthew 26:38.
*6 Luke 1:27, 31, 35, 42; Galatians 4:4.
*7 Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26.
*8 Acts 2:24-25; Romans 1:4; Romans 4:25; Hebrews 9:14.
*9 Acts 20:28; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 7:25-28
*10 Romans 3:24-26.
*11 Ephesians 1:6; Matthew 3:17.
*12 Titus 2:13-14.
*13 Galatians 4:6.
*14 Luke 1:68-69, 71, 74.
*15 Hebrews 5:8-9; Hebrews 9:11-15.
*16 Hebrews 2:16.
*17 Galatians 4:4.
*18 Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 7:24-25.
*19 Hebrews 4:15.
*20 Galatians 4:5.
*21 Hebrews 4:16.
*22 Matthew 1:21, 23; Matthew 3:17; Hebrews 9:14.
*23 1 Peter 2:6.