Sermon Tone Analysis

The Significance of the Incarnation

Christmas 2022 – Part 2

Romans 5:12–21 (NIV84)

12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—

Entered = εἰσέρχομαι eiserchomai = come into the world; of first appearance,

By the entrance of sin into the world is not meant that sin began to be, but that sin as a power entered into that sphere in which man lives.

Notice that the Scripture says that sin entered the world.

Sin did not originate in the world.

Sin existed before Adam was created.

1 John 3:8 (NIV84)

8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

Beginning = ἀρχή archē = the beginning of the existence of created things; the first moment of time.

13for before the law was given, sin was in the world.

But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

14Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

15But the gift is not like the trespass.

For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

16Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

18Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

20The law was added so that the trespass might increase.

But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Adam’s sin brought death, condemnation and judgment to all of mankind.

As a result, “we were by nature, objects of [God’s] wrath.”

(Ephesians 2:3)

Why were we “by nature” objects of wrath?

Because we inherited a fallen and corrupt nature, as a result of Adam’s sin.

There was no getting out of it; the penalty for sin and the end result of God’s wrath is eternal death.

Eternal death was not a ceasing to exist, but an eternal separation from the goodness and love of God in an everlasting, never-ending lake of fire.

Because Adam sinned, we all suffer the consequences of sin.

Because Adam sinned, sin came into the world, and with that sin came death.

Because Adam died, I am under the death sentence of God.

I will be executed in this world.

Yes, I will live forever, I will be raised from the dead, but I must pass through the veil of death because I am a child of Adam.

It is because I am a child of Christ that the sting of that death will be removed, and I will be raised again to eternal life.

Because of the disobedience of Adam to God’s one command, sin and its consequences, death, entered the world.

Sin entered the world.

Sin, singular, not sins, plural, entered the world.

Sin does not represent a particular unrighteous act but rather the inherent propensity to unrighteousness.

It was not the many other sinful acts that Adam eventually committed, but the indwelling sin nature that he passed on to mankind.

Just as Adam bequeathed his physical nature to his posterity, he also bequeathed to them his spiritual nature, which henceforth was characterized and dominated by sin.

When Adam sinned, all mankind sinned, and because his first sin transformed his inner nature, that depraved, sinful nature was also transmitted to mankind.

Because he became spiritually polluted, all his descendants would be polluted in the same way.

That pollution has accumulated and intensified throughout the ages of human history.

Instead of evolving, as humanists insist, man has devolved, degenerating into greater and greater sinfulness.

John 1:1, 14 (NIV84)

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh.

Incarnation.

Incarnation = “in” and “caro,” “to make into flesh” or “to be made flesh”

Became = γίνομαι ginomai = to experience a change in nature and so indicate entry into a new condition; Spoken of persons or things which receive any new character or form; become, to come to or acquire or experience a state.

‘the Word became a human being’ or ‘the Word became a person’ One must beware in the case of Jn 1:14 not to employ some expression which would suggest that Christ had lost his divine nature in becoming a person or that he only appeared to be human (Docetism).

The birth of the Lord Jesus was unique.

When any other child is born into this world, it is the creation of a new personality.

A new life is created, one that never existed before.

But when Jesus was born, it was not the creation of a new personality at all.

It was the coming into this world a person who had existed from all eternity.

This was something new in the history of the universe.

Dwelt among us = eskenosen = pitching a tent.

“He tabernacled among us”

The tabernacle was “all glorious within,” but its glory was a hidden glory.

There was no great beauty about the tabernacle’s outward appearance.

All the furniture of the outer court was made of ordinary brass (copper).

The curtains of the outer court were of unadorned linen bleached white by the sun.

The only flash of color was at the gate, which gave access to the brazen altar and hinted at the hidden beauties within.

On the outside, there was nothing particularly glorious about the tabernacle.

To the eye of the casual beholder, it was just another tent, spaced off from the tents of the common people and more imposing in its dimensions, but just a tent.

Even when the tabernacle was moved from place to place, every piece of golden furniture used within the tabernacle itself was carefully covered from the eyes of the curious.

The inside of the tabernacle, seen only by the priests, was glorious.

The inner hangings were of blue, purple, and scarlet, and were fine linen.

All the inner furniture was of gold or overlaid with gold.

That mysterious shekinah cloud, which overshadowed the camp of Israel, came to rest on the mercy seat in the holy of holies where it bathed all with the light and glory of another world.

The glory of the Lord Jesus was a hidden glory.

When he came to pitch his tent among us, he did not lay aside his Deity, but he veiled his glory.

We beheld His glory = etheasametha = being a spectator with emphasis on the beholder; gazing with a purpose; of regarding with admiration.

Gazing on the incarnate Son of God, they saw one full of grace and truth—the sum total of divine revelation.

Grace corresponds with the revelation of God as love; truth corresponds with the revelation of God as light.

Hebrews 2:14–18 (NIV84)

14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—

15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

16For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.

17For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

V. 14, have = κοινωνέω koinōneō = to have in common; having something in common with others.

All human beings have flesh and blood.

V. 14, shared = μετέχω metechō = taking hold of something that is not naturally one’s own kind.

We by nature are flesh and blood; Christ was not.

Christ willingly took hold of something which did not naturally belong to Him.

He added to Himself our nature in order that He might die in our place, and that we might take hold of the divine nature that did not belong to us.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV84)

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Our Lord took hold of human nature without its sin in the incarnation, and held it to Himself as an additional nature, thus associating Himself with the human race in its possession of flesh and blood.

He took to Himself, something with which by nature He had nothing in common.

Human beings possess human nature in common with one another.