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

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. John 1:14

The Incarnation is the sine qua non of Christianity. Sine qua non is a Latin phrase used to denote the essential nature of something: Sine = without, qua = which, non = not…“Without which not…” Oxygen is the sine qua non of our breathing. Without oxygen we cannot breathe. The heart is the sine qua non of our living. Without a heart I cannot live. If my heart stops beating…my physical body will die.

In that sense, the Incarnation is the sine qua non of Christianity. How? Why do we make that statement?

Everything in the OT points to Messiah…the Son of God…

The sacrifice pointed to Christ…
The Passover pointed to Christ…
The Tabernacle pointed to Christ…
The Lamb pointed to Christ…
The Priest pointed to Christ…
The Prophet pointed to Christ…
The King pointed to Christ…
The Sabbath pointed to Christ
The judge pointed to Christ…

When He came He said, “I am the sacrifice. I am the Passover. I am the Tabernacle. I am the Temple. I am the Lamb. I am the Priest. I am the Prophet. I am the King. I am the Sabbath. I am the Judge of the nations of the earth. I am the resurrection and the life…”

Without the Incarnation how can Jesus be that sinless lamb of God? Without the Incarnation how can Jesus be the tabernacle and the temple. Without the Incarnation how can Jesus be the Prophet who is God himself speaking? Without the Incarnation how can He be the King who reigns forever? Without the incarnation how can He be judge of all the earth?

A skeptic was trying to make a Christian understand the absurdity of claiming that God became man. He said, “What if I stood up tomorrow and claimed to be creator of the world…God the omnipotent?” His Christian friend was undaunted. He replied, “If you then went out and made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the paralyzed to walk…not by prayer but by command…if you stopped storms just by speaking a word…if you raised the dead…if you turned water to wine…if you died and I buried you in the ground…and you came back to life…then your claim would have validity. Now you tell me what man in all of history made the claim to be God and then did all those things except Jesus of Nazareth?”

Celebrate! Shout it in the streets. “God became flesh.” The wonder of the life of Jesus is expressed in the word “Incarnation.” The Incarnation is the sine qua non of Christianity. Is the Incarnation the sine qua non of your life?
 

JPS