Bishop's Epistle: The Conception of the Incarnation

The ninth line of The Apostolic Creed☩ states that Mary “conceived by the Holy Spirit.”

Therefore, it is needful to take up the word “conceived.”

What the Creed means by “conceived” is the normal physical conception of a human child. The first definition that is in the Merrian-Webster Dictionary that is before me is: to become pregnant; or pregnant with (a child). It is this plain meaning of the word that is intended by the Creed.

The Creed declares this because it is the clear teaching of the Scripture. The Angel of the Lord told Joseph, concerning Mary: “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matt 1:20). The Angel said Mary had conceived. Was it true? Yes, if we are to assume the Angel had his facts straight.

The fact of the conception is fundamental to every other point of doctrine touching the Father’s plan of salvation. If Mary conceived, not only was God in her womb; but, mingled with that deity was also humanity—Mary’s humanity. Humanity reaching all the way back to Adam. This point did not escape the evangelist Luke (a doctor by profession), for when he recorded the genealogy of Christ (Luke 3:23ff) he did so through the lineage of Mary’s family (reaching King David through Nathan, not Solomon as does Matthew’s record – Matthew 1:1ff) back to Adam. The conception was necessary for the humanity of Jesus to have real existence. The alternative to conception would have been an implantation. If Jesus was simply God implanted into the womb of a woman, then, he had no humanity, in any real sense. If this were true, what we know of Him as human only appeared so to be, but had no real substance. This would make His body a phantom, and His suffering and death would not have been real, but only pretended. If Jesus was not truly born in human flesh, then Calvary has no salvific merit, for the passion was not real. No! Jesus was conceived as a flesh and blood human being in Mary’s womb♱—the Angel said so (Matt 1:20)! That there were those, even in the apostles’ time, that denied the flesh of Christ is seen in John’s Epistles. John does not stutter when he writes that those who do not confess that Christ has come in the flesh are antichrists (2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.).

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Mary conceived by the “Word” that was spoken into her womb♱. There, the Word of God that was, in very fact, God Himself (John 1:1), was “made flesh” (John 1:14). Although Christ had no earthly father, and we should not think of Mary’s conception being the fruit of sexual intercourse between Father God and Mary (she conceived by the Word of God – see Luke 1:38, 45, “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. ...” 45 “And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”), yet the developmental process within the womb should not be considered as different from the normal process of nature. Namely this: upon conception there is a union of the male sperm with the female egg. In that a human cell is made up of 46 chromosomes, both the egg and sperm provide 23 chromosomes each, producing, at the time of conception, one complete cell. This one cell contains the genetic code of both parents. We have no reason not to believe that something like this took place within the womb of Mary, upon her believing and receiving the Word of God spoken to her by the Angel. The Word, then, fertilized Mary’s egg. Thus, the genetic code of man and God bonded (intermingled) in her womb, making the unique Son of God: the God-man.

This conception provided God with humanity, complete with a human body that could really suffer, so that the cross has real meaning—a human soul (see Matt 26:38//Mark 14:34) that could really feel compassion, so that, the writer of Hebrews effectively wrote with conviction, We do, in fact, have a high priest, in Jesus of Nazareth, who can be touched by the feelings of our infirmities, for he was tempted in all points as we humans (Heb 4:15)—a human spirit (breath of life/spark of the divine) that could be returned to the Father from whence it had come (see Luke 23:46 cf Ecc 12:7).

An implantation would have given the world nothing more than the Voice that Walked with Adam in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8), the One for whom Abraham prepared a feast and Whose feet he washed (Gen 18:1-8), or Melchizedek (Gen 14:17-18), or Jacob’s Wrestler (Gen 32:24ff). As awesome as these manifestations of Yahweh were, the human condition needed something— Someone—more. The sin of humankind called for—even demanded—a unique Being that would stand in the midst of the great gulf between God and His fallen creation; grasping one in one hand and the other in the other hand, and pulling them towards one another until total communion was achieved. The human condition called for Jesus of Nazareth, Mary’s baby boy, the one who was both God and man, Who alone could bridge the vast expanse between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of humanity – because of His conception.
☩ The Apostolic Creed: http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-apostolic-creed.html
Also:https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-christian-creed.html

♱ For the sake of this article the term "womb" is employed for the female reproductive matrix.

Apostolically Speaking

☩☩ Jerry L. Hayes

(Mar David Ignatius)

Read more on the Incarnation at: https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-incarnation.html

The above article is excerpted from the author's best selling book entitled "Godhead Theology." You may own your personal copy of this classic work on the Godhead by ordering from the link provided here:

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