I. What is being confessed in this article?⤒🔗

1. It discusses how God has fulfilled the promise that he gave to previous generations through his prophets. He did that by sending his Son to earth at the time that he had appointed. It deals with the Christ who took upon himself human form.
2. It is emphasized that the Son of God truly became man, but also how this happened in a completely unique way. He accepted a life of servanthood, for with the exception of sin, he has come to live a fully human existence, including all human weaknesses or limitations that, as a result of sin, are attached to such an existence.
   Without the involvement of a man, he began his human existence in the womb of Mary, who was a virgin. This happened through the power of the Holy Spirit. However, in that way he not only obtained a real human body, but also a real human soul. That is how he wanted it and that is how it had to be, since our souls were as lost as our bodies.
3. Despite the fact that Jesus had an earthly mother, the Anabaptists deny that he became a real human being. In contradiction to them, we confess that he has become as truly a real man as all the people he saved. After all, he had a mother, Mary; he was descended from David, and he belonged to the tribe of Judah; He was a Jew by birth, a descendant of Abraham. He has thus clearly become equal to his compatriots in all respects, with the exception of sin. Therefore, he is truly our Immanuel, which means, “God with us.”

II. Jesus came in God’s time←⤒🔗

1. The coming of God’s Son to earth did not happen against all expectations, but had been announced and promised. This had already happened immediately after man’s fall into sin, when Adam and Eve had fled trembling before God. Strictly speaking, the previous article spoke of this one commitment in Genesis 3:15, but now it is clear that it did not stop at that one time. For the same promise is now said to have been made “to the fathers by the mouth of his holy prophets." This revelation continued throughout the Old Testament period. The bursting flower bud of the mother promise has been opened more and more by the teaching of the prophets until the time when God fulfilled his promise.
2. This happened “at the time appointed by him." Then God sent his Son to earth. Often people try to show why this time was so well chosen by God. At this time there was one universal language, Greek, through which the gospel could be easily passed on; the opportunities for travel were also good; and the nations would have looked more or less for the coming of a saviour, because they were weary of idolatry. Yet we need to be careful to explain God’s wisdom in choosing his timing according to our logic, even if we do so in hindsight. For the Bible itself does not make this explanation.
3. In regards to the time when God sent his Son Paul writes in Galatians 4:4 that “the fullness of time had come." That is to say that by then it had lasted long enough. What had taken so long? Up to that time Israel, as an immature son, was under guardianship and supervision (Galatians 4:2). But this does not mean that we can now reason why Israel came of age at that specific time, and not sooner or later.
   The main point is that God himself determined the time when he brought Israel to maturity and deemed that the “fullness of time” had come to send his Son, (Galatians 4:4).

III. Jesus came as a real human being←⤒🔗

1. Like all people after Adam and Eve, Jesus had an earthly mother and was birthed by a woman. His actual birth was no different from that of all men. The unique element of it was that he was the only human being who willed and accepted his own birth. For he “was born in the likeness of men, truly assuming (i.e., taking on) a real human nature." So his birth was his action, for the sake of our salvation.
2. In fact, he became so genuinely human that this article says that he assumed a real human nature “with all its infirmities, without sin.” Paul says that Jesus came “in the likeness of sinful flesh" ( Romans 8:3). He means that Jesus did receive a human existence that was without sin, yet his life bore the consequences of sin. It may be compared to a body that has conquered a specific disease, yet never gets rid of the consequences. Jesus’ human nature was fragile, weakened and limited as a consequence of sin. So Jesus did not share the nature that Adam used to have before the fall.
3. He took “the form of a servant.” This implies the same as what was noted under the previous point. He did not come with glory and power. Instead, he led a humiliated human existence and emptied himself of all heavenly splendour (Philippians 2:7-8).

IV. Jesus became completely human, both in body and soul←⤒🔗

1.  “He not only assumed human nature as to the body but also a true human soul in order that he might be a real man.” Our article is all about confessing that Jesus was fully human and that he also had a human soul, with its faculties of mind and feeling. This appears, among other things, from the fact that Jesus, like all men, had a mind that had to grow (Luke 2:47, 52). Even when he was an adult he did not know everything (Mark 13:32). He had great love for certain people, for example, Lazarus (John 11:3). He could be indignant, for instance, at merchants at the temple (Mark 11:15) and moved by the plight of those without proper guidance (Matthew 9:36). He was distressed and troubled in Gethsemane (Mark 14:33).
2. Therefore we reject any construct or reasoning in which the human soul of Jesus somehow vanishes in the mist, because its place is taken up by his divinity.
   A Syrian bishop, Apollinaris, already taught something similar. He lived in the fourth century. He claimed that Jesus had a real human body as well as a real human soul, but he lacked the human spirit, which was replaced by his deity. So Jesus was not fully man. The Synod of Constantinople condemned this doctrine in 381.
   That Jesus also received a human soul is an essential part of the doctrine of redemption: “For since the soul was lost as well as the body, it was necessary that he should assume both in order to save both.”

V. Jesus came as a sinless human being←⤒🔗

1. Twice it is said that Jesus was made in the likeness of men, except for sin. He himself said so in John 8:46: “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” He was “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). Pilate, as a worldly judge, gave as his final verdict that Jesus was innocent (Luke 23:4).
2. On the other hand, it is emphasized here that Jesus was nevertheless equal to us. The fact that he had no sin did not detract from his human nature. We must not think that Jesus was not actually a real man, because he was without sin. Before his fall, Adam was also without sin, and yet fully human.
3. However, that Jesus was without sin does not mean that he was therefore immune to all temptations. After all, he had a human nature “with all its infirmities." This made him prone to hunger, pain, fatigue, and even fear. He was “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are" (Hebrews 4:15). So his sinlessness was really put to the test and Jesus then had to fight to be victorious. But he never wavered, as we see in Matthew 4:1-11 (the temptations in the wilderness) and Mark 14:33-36 (his struggle in Gethsemane).

VI. Jesus came by the power of the Holy Spirit←⤒🔗

Jesus began his human existence in Mary’s womb “by the power of the Holy Spirit and not by the act of a man." Since the end of the nineteenth century, theologians have also criticized this. And many dismiss this point by claiming that it has no bearing on the doctrine of redemption, that it would not change the work of Jesus in any way whether one believes his "virgin" birth or not. However, we believe that there is very much at stake here:

a. By eliminating man, God has in fact eliminated woman as well. She can never become a mother without a husband. Mary therefore inquires, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). In this way God makes room for his own act. He therefore sends his Son in his own way — without the involvement of a male — and in his time: before Mary is married to Joseph. Anyone who denies this deprives God of this honour.

b. The Son of God exists from eternity. We already saw that his birth was his own action because he took on human nature. It was his own decision to start living as a human being. This could therefore not depend on the "action of a man."

c. The fact that Jesus was without original sin also has a bearing on this. Yet we do not claim that Jesus was without this sin merely because he was begotten without a man. If that were true, then original sin is only transferred through the male person. However, Jesus also had a mother, and she was a sinful woman. The reason that Jesus was conceived and born without sin lies solely in the fact that the Holy Spirit formed him in Mary’s womb. Gabriel put it this way: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born (of you) will be called holy—the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). In any case, the Scriptures teach the virgin birth convincingly and clearly (Matthew 1:16 and Luke 3:23).

VII. Jesus came to be our Immanuel – something the Anabaptists denied←⤒🔗

1. Of the Anabaptists it is said that they “deny that Christ assumed human flesh of his mother.” According to them, Jesus did not really come from her and is therefore not really a full son of Mary. Just as a ray of sunlight hits the glass and passes through it, yet without taking any physical property from that glass, so Jesus was physically in Mary, yet without having anything of her, so not of her flesh and blood either.
   Behind this notion is their view that God has completely written off this world. This includes our physical body. There is no way to rectify this. That is why God does not establish any connection between himself and this world. And therefore it is impossible for the Son of God to actually become human. After all, there remains a chasm between God and this world and therefore even between Christ and Mary and therefore also between Christ and us.
   The Anabaptists are of the opinion that God is not going to recreate or renew this world, but that he will make a brand new world.
2. In contradiction to this teaching, the climax or zenith of this article is reached in the closing sentence: “In this way he is in truth our Immanuel, that is, God with us." God has really come to stand on our side. He has come down into our human existence to recreate and renew it. Therefore, with every fibre of his being,  Jesus is therefore connected with the people of his human existence. The second-last sentence of the article gives a broad summary of this. Two things stand out:
   a. the many names of Jesus’ ancestors: David (3x), Mary, Jesse, Judah, the Jews, and Abraham.
   b. the variety of expressions to indicate how closely Jesus is connected with people: descendant of (3x), a branch, a shoot, of the seed of...
3. The promise mentioned in the previous article has actually been fulfilled. God is with us, for Jesus assumed our body and our soul, to save both.

Points to discuss←⤒🔗

1. Why did Jesus need to be baptized if he was without sin? The same question can be asked about his circumcision.
2. In Hebrews 5:8 speaks of obedience that Jesus learned through what he suffered. But Jesus was always obedient, was he not? Or would it mean here that his obedience always gained greater depth, as was the case with his wisdom, Luke 2:52?
3. Evaluate the claim that the virgin birth of Jesus is not possible because in that case God himself would have ignored the institution of marriage.
4. Jesus was not physically the son of Joseph, but how does Matthew nevertheless draw the lines connecting Jesus with David (Matthew 1:1-16)? And why does he do it in this way?
5. Some believe that Luke 3:23-38 also presents the genealogy of Joseph. Then Scripture would say nothing about Mary’s lineage. But even if this were true, is there really no longer any indication that Mary, like Joseph, was a descendant of David?  See Luke 1:32 for this, where Joseph is still not in sight (Luke 3:23), so that this must be about being a “son of David” through Mary