New City Churchs Summer 2012 Online Book Club

JI Packers Knowing God ~ Chapter 5: God Incarnate Before reading: How does the way Christianity speaks of Jesus differ from the way most people view Him? How would you describe the utter uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ? Purpose: To consider the mystery of the Incarnation: God Becomes a Man Outline: I. II. A. B. III. IV. V. God Incarnate Who Is This Child? The baby born at Bethlehem was God. The baby born at Bethlehem was God made man. Born To Die Made Less Than God? He Became Poor

Key Quotes: the supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts uslies, not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of the resurrection, but in the Christmas message of the incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man. It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. This is the real stumbling-block in Christianity. The key text in the New Testament for interpreting the incarnation is not, therefore, the bare statement in John 1:14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, but rather the more comprehensive statement of 2 Corinthians 8:9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. Here is stated, not the fact of the incarnation only, but also its meaning; the taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should set it before ourselves and ever view itnot simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace. The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanityhope for pardon, hope of peace with God, hope for glorybecause at the Fathers will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear. Reflection Questions: 1. What does Packer say is the supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us? Do you agree with him, or is he simply exaggerating? 2. What are the seven features of the Gospel of Johns prologue that Packer notes? Which one is most fascinating to you? Why? 3. Packer quotes the poetry of Charles Wesley, Our God contracted to a span / Incomprehensibly made man. How should the doctrine of the incarnation move us to wonder & to praise God for His humility?

4. What is the kenosis theory? What is the wrong way of understanding Jesus incarnation as an emptying
(cf. Philippians 2:5-7 speaks of Christ who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing.)? What is the correct way of understanding the real kenosis or emptying of Jesus? 5. Packer describes 2 Corinthians 8:9 as the key text for understanding the meaning of the incarnation. How does Packer encourage Christians to follow in the steps of Christ?