Christmas is the special day in Christianity on which Christians celebrate the first advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This blog celebrates the Christian Christmas that is all about the greatest gift ever given, the gift from God of His only begotten Son to the elect human beings as their Lord and Savior. This article and the next will look at a doctrinal topic that concerns our Lord Jesus, namely, the states of Christ.
Christians are quite familiar with being instructed about Jesus Christ from sermons and Bible studies and Sunday school classes. They hear about the Son of God, the one person and two natures, Christ’s redemption of sinners on the cross, His resurrection and the Savior, etc. But it is less common to hear about the States of Christ. In this article and in the next we will look at the States of Christ, humiliation (Part 1) and exaltation (Part 2).
A state in the sense we mean it here refers to a person’s position or status or standing or relationship. It does not refer to a person’s condition in life. For example, if a person is convicted by a court of law of a crime, his status or position is that of condemnation; he is guilty. But his condition would be incarceration. His status leads to his condition.
Before proceeding with Part 1 of our discourse, we should discuss the term humiliation. In today’s secular world, the word humiliation means to be shamed or to experience a loss of respect. But that is not what it means in theology. The humiliation of Jesus refers to Jesus’ agreement in the pactum salutis[1] to be the surety for God’s elect and to voluntarily empty Himself of His heavenly position and condescend to earth to take on a human nature and live as a man under the law of God and to suffer and die for the redemption and salvation of God’s elect.
Reformed theology sees two elements to Christ’s humiliation, namely, 1) though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:6,7); the kenosis. 2) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8); the tapeinosis, thus Christ became subject to the law of God, living His life in perfect obedience and suffering a propitiatory death on the cross.
Berkhof writes of the humiliation of Christ as follows.
the essential and central element in the state of humiliation is found in the fact that He who was the Lord of all the earth, the supreme Lawgiver, placed Himself under the law, in order to discharge its federal and penal obligations in behalf of His people. By doing this He became legally responsible for our sins and liable to the curse of the law.[2]
Berkhof, 336-37.
Galatians 4:4, 5 is instructive regarding Christ’s humiliation stating, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Caveat: regarding the term emptied himself we should clarify what is meant here. You may have heard Christians, even pastors, make statements that Christ laid aside his deity but this is not what Christ did. Jesus was in the form of God and became the form of a servant without ceasing to be God. Jesus’ incarnation did not result in Him eliminating his divine attributes because God is unchangeable and eliminating his divine attributes would mean he’s not God and we know that’s not the case. John Calvin wrote of this matter in his commentary on Philippians 2:7.
Christ, indeed, could not divest himself of Godhead; but he kept it concealed for a time, that it might not be seen, under the weakness of the flesh. Hence he laid aside his glory in the view of men, not by lessening it, but by concealing it… The abasement of the flesh was, notwithstanding, like a [veil], by which his divine Majesty was concealed. On this account he did not wish that his transfiguration should be made public until after his resurrection.[3]
John Calvin, John Calvin’s Complete Commentaries, Kindle version, Philippians chapter 2, verse 7.
And to add another example of Jesus veiling His deity, remember the wedding at Cana in John chapter 2 when we read this exchange in verses 3-4, When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus was not yet ready to reveal his divine nature.
THE STAGES
There are five stages in the humiliation of Christ: (1) incarnation, (2) suffering, (3) death, (4) burial, and (5) descent into Hades. As Charles Hodge writes “Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the curse of death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.”[4]
INCARNATION
All three persons of the Trinity were involved in the incarnation. But the subject of the incarnation was the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God; the Word became flesh. It is useful to consider the incarnation as distinct from the birth. The pre-existent Word (John 1:1) actively participated in the incarnation along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:7). For something to become incarnate, it had to first exist, right. In conception and birth, there is no assumed pre-existence. The birth involved the supernatural conception of the human nature of Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit and not through the means of man. Hence the incarnate Jesus is referred to as the Son of God. The Holy Spirit’s work was because of the conception that excluded the activity of man. Thus, the person conceived was not an ordinary human person but the person of the Son of God who was therefore free of original sin. The Holy Spirit insured that the conceived Redeemer from the beginning was perfectly sanctified from sin. Virgin conception can only occur through a supernatural work of God.
The Word became flesh (John 1:14) does not mean that the essence of the second person of the Trinity changed in any way. It was the same before and after the incarnation. The Word became flesh simply means that the Word, without changing His essence, remained the infinite Son of God and that He simply took on an additional nature, a human nature, consisting of body and soul. The word translated as flesh is sarx which means nature.
It is also important to understand that Christ was one of us, one of the human race. As Berkhof has written, “Christ assumed His human nature from the substance of His mother… If the human nature of Christ was not derived from the same stock as ours but merely resembled it, there exists no such relation between us and Him as is necessary to render His mediation available for our good.”[5]
SUFFERING
Jesus suffered body and soul. He anguished over His consciousness of human sin and suffered injury and crucifixion. He suffered simply by lowering Himself from His exalted divine position to one of servant and slave, His holiness had to live in a sinful world in the sin that he was burdened with, he lived with the knowledge of the future of what was going to happen and this was agonizing, and he had to put up with his own poor economic state, the hatred of people, the temptations of the devil and other persecutions. The miseries and sufferings for Jesus were much worse than for the ordinary human because of Jesus’ perfect righteousness; he felt the pain and grief of immorality in the world more than the ordinary human being would. The active suffering of Christ ended at His death after which He took no part in suffering though His humiliation continued to His burial. At the time of His death, Christ said “It is finished” (John 19:30) and commended His spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46). Berkhof speaks of this when he writes:
This seems to indicate that He would be passive rather than active from the time of His death until He arose from the grave. On the whole it seems best to combine two thoughts: (a) that Christ suffered the pangs of hell before His death, in Gethsemane and on the cross; and (b) that He entered the deepest humiliation of the state of death.[6]
Berkhof, 347.
DEATH
We would be incorrect if we viewed Christ’s death on the cross from just a physical perspective. It’s true that he experienced a physical death on the cross. But His death also involved separation of his human nature from God, even though Jesus had no personal sin, he nevertheless received the wrath of God because of the sins of others. The Heidelberg Catechism, question 37, states “That during his whole life on earth, but especially at the end, Christ sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.” Christ’s death did not consist of separation of His two natures, human and divine, and of course God didn’t reject or separate himself from Christ’s divine nature. This relationship remained throughout Christ’s death burial and resurrection.
BURIAL
Clearly, Christ’s suffering ended at his death (it is finished). But that was not the end of the state of humiliation. The Bible speaks of a deceased person returning to the dust as punishment for sin (Gen. 3:19). The grave is seen as a humiliation (Acts 2:27) and going down into the ground is seen as a humiliation for the sinner. The Westminster Larger Catechism, question 50 is answered “Christ’s humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death to the third day.” So, though his suffering ended at his death his state of humiliation continued until his resurrection.
DESCENT INTO HADES
Ephesians 4:9 states “In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?” Some take this verse to mean that Jesus descended into hell (interpreting “the lower regions” as hades) after his death but most commentators believe that the expression is simply referring to the earth. The apostle Paul is simply arguing that the ascent of Christ presupposes a descent. “This passage is sometimes thought to teach Christ’s “descent into Hades” between His death and resurrection…but it probably refers to His incarnation, when he took on a human nature here in “the lower regions, the earth” (cf. 1:20-23; Phil. 2:1-11).”[7]
The Apostles Creed states “Was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell.” According to Charles Hodge,
to be buried, to go down to the grave, to descend into hell, are in Scriptural language equivalent forms of expression… In Scriptural language, therefore, to descend into Hades or Hell, means nothing more than to descend to the grave, to pass from the visible into the invisible world, as happens to all men when they die and are buried… These words were not in the creed originally. They were introduced in the fourth century, and then not as a separate or distinct article, but as merely explanatory. “He was dead and buried,” i.e., he descended into hell. That the two clauses were at first considered equivalent is obvious, because some copies of the creed had the one form, some the other, and some both, though all were intended to say the same thing.[8]
Hodge, 617.
The usual Reformed understanding is that this is a reference to Christ’s sufferings in Gethsemane and on the cross. “Scripture certainly does not teach a literal descent of Christ into hell.”[9] His body could not have descended into hell since we know from Scripture that His body was in the tomb. His humiliation is of His whole person, body and soul, so, He could not have descended into hell. Scripture tells us that Christ’s body did not see corruption (Acts 2:27). At His death Christ committed His spirit to the Father: Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last (Luke 23:46). This indicates the separation of Jesus’ body and soul with the disembodied soul going immediately to heaven to be with the Father. His body remained in the lower regions, the earth (Eph. 4:9), in the tomb without corruption. His body and soul were thus reunited at His resurrection.
[1] Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 271. The Covenant of Redemption (Lat. pactum salutis) may be defined as the agreement between the Father, giving the Son as Head and Redeemer of the elect, in the Son, voluntarily taking the place of those whom the Father had given Him. For further information about this covenant see Berkhof cited above, pp. 265-71.
[2] Berkhof, 336-37.
[3] John Calvin, John Calvin’s Complete Commentaries, Kindle version, Philippians chapter 2, verse 7.
[4] Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. II (Hendrickson, 2016), 610.
[5] Berkhof, 338-39.
[6] Berkhof, 347.
[7] R.C. Sproul, gen. ed., The Reformation Study Bible. (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2015 (ESV)), 1 Peter n. 4:9, 2097.
[8] Hodge, 617.
[9] Berkhof, 347.
