Perpetual Incarnation Celebration

Posted on January 29, 2026January 29, 2026 by Edward Dalcour

The Perpetual Incarnation Celebration: The Hallmark of Christian Doctrine

Every annual December 25th, many Christians celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, the import of what Christmas represents has evaporated; and instead it has become a secular event. In far too many churches, the birth of Christ sermon is shared with Santa Clause pictures, statues of reindeers and snowmen scattered around the church—at these venues Christmas has become a distortion of the incarnation. Even so, pastors seem obligated to give a limited Christmas message mainly consisting of the manger, animals, wise men, and the shepherds in the field.

Although these things are indeed included in the Gospel narrative, the most glorious event was not merely the birth, rather it was the conception – the hallmark and necessity of our redemption.

The perpetual Incarnation should be taught throughout the year in tandem with other essential Christian doctrines.

Ps. 49:7-8: “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, ⁸ for the ransom of their life is costly, and can never suffice” (ESV).

No mere man can—but the Son as God-man, whose sacrifice had infinite value. In His human nature Christ lived the perfect life – fulfilling the “covenant of works” (vicariously) which Adam did not fulfill. (cf. Gen. 2:17; Hosea 6:7; Rom. 5:5-13). As the “last Adam” – Christ met all the requirements of the justice of God; not only His substitutionary cross work (passive obedience), but also, in His perfect and substitutionary life (active obedience).

Rom. 5:10: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved [‘from the wrath of God,’ v. 9] by His life” (NASB). Christ as God-Man accomplished an actual redemption, a real propitiation.

The atoning work of the Son in His physical body accomplished all that was necessary to secure our justification (Rom. 5:6-10; Heb. 10:11-14). His work was definite, eternal, and infallible.

Col. 1:21-22: “making peace through the blood of his cross…. ²² but now He has reconciled you His physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before Him.”

The Incarnation

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” – 2 Tim. 2:8 (ESV)

Biblical Affirmation

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God [the Father], and the Word [as to His nature] was God.”

The verb translated “was” is from the imperfect verb ēn (from eimi, “to be, am”), which is exclusively applied to the Word in verses 1, 2, 4, 9, and 10. The imperfect tense expresses a past ongoing or repeated action; here denoting the eternal existence of the Word—He was always existing—no starting point. This verb is in contrast to the aorist verb egeneto (from ginomai, “became, came to be”) – referring to all things that came into existence, that is, had a starting point (as in creation, vv. 3, 10; and John the Baptist in v. 6: “there came a man”). It is not until verse 14 that egeneto is applied to the Word “becoming flesh” (incarnation).

John 1:14: “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence [or ‘tabernacled’] among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father” (NET).

The verb eskēnōsen (‘took up residence,’ tabernacled, dwelt among us’) derives its meaning from the Hebrew term sākan referring to Yahweh coming down to earth to dwell (cf. Exod. 25:8). As seen, in John 1:1, the Apostle John positively affirmed that the Word was eternal/preexistent; distinct from God the Father; and ontologically God. John shows that the incarnation of the person of God the Word was not merely a temporary theophany or huiophany.[1] Rather, “the Word became flesh”— adding (not subtracting) a new nature (humanity) permanently.

John 1:18, which is the last verse of John’s high christological prologue: “No one has ever seen God [‘at any time’]. The uniquely existing God [monogenēs Theos] who is [ho ōn, lit., ‘the One who is, timelessly existing’] close to the Father’s side, has revealed Him” (exēgēsato, lit., “has exegeted Him”; ISV).

The Carmen Christi (Hymn to Christ, as God)

Paul’s christological hymn was utilized by the early Christian church to teach and magnify the preexistence, incarnation, and the true deity of Jesus Christ. Paul exemplifies the ultimate act of humility: God the Son becoming obedient to death on a cross. Paul provides a well-defined summary of the gospel of the Son.

Phil. 2:6 starts with the affirmation of the true deity of the Son:

“Who, though He was always being[2] in the nature of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but He emptied Himself[3] by taking the nature of a servant, having been made in the likeness of men. ⁸ And having been found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name [viz., authority/power] that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall will bow … ¹¹ and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”[4]

In verses 10-11, Paul loosely quotes the last phrase of the LXX (i.e., Septuagint[5]) of Isa. 45:23: “That to Me every knee will bend and every tongue will confess to God.” These actions are to Yahweh alone and are prophetic – future tenses are used: “will bend, will confess.”

Note Paul modifications to the original reading of Isa. 45:23:

Hina. He introduces verse 10 with a purpose and result clause indicated by the conjunction hina (“in order that, so that”): i.e., the purpose of Christ being highly exalted (v. 9) was for the result (“in order that”) of every knee bending and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord (vv. 10-11), to the glory of God the Father.

Paul changes the future indicative verbs of the LXX of Isa. 45:23 (“will bend, will confess”) – to aorist subjunctives (“shall bend, shall confess”).

These modifications clearly identify Jesus as the Yahweh and the fulfillment of the Isaiah future prophecy – before whom every knee shall bend and every tongue shall confess that Kurios Iēsous Christos (lit., “Lord Jesus Christ”).[6]

Lastly, note the grammatical parallel between 2 Cor. 8:9 with Phil. 2:6-11:

Nature as God (preincarnate):

2 Cor. 8:9 (NASB): “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich” (plousios ōn, present participial phrase, lit., He was “rich being”- i.e., rich in glory).

Phil. 2:6: “although He was always existing in the nature of God” (huparchōn, present participle, “always existing” as God): “rich being” – “God being.”

Incarnation:

2 Cor. 8:9: “Yet for your sakes He became poor” (eptōcheusen, aorist indicative).

Phil. 2:7: “He emptied [ekenōsen, aorist indicative] Himself”: “became poor” – “emptied Himself.” Both verbs are aorist indicatives—i.e., punctiliar (once) past action.

Means and purpose of the incarnation of God the Son:

2 Cor. 8:9: “in order that [hina] through His poverty [incarnation], you could become rich” (rich in glory, i.e., salvation).

Phil. 2:7-11: Christ self-emptied and self-humbled Himself, became obedient to death, “in order that … every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Carmen Christi (Phil. 2:6-11) so distinctly affirms the gospel of the Son: from His eternal preexistence subsisting as truly God to His self-emptying (incarnation), atoning cross work, and glorification – to the glory of God the Father.

The incarnation was perpetual

Jesus is the two natured person (Acts 1:11; 17:31; 1 Tim. 2:5), contra the temporary corporal appearances of the angel of the Lord in the OT.

Col. 2:9: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells [katoikei, present tense, ‘always dwells’] in bodily form” (NASB). The Son in His incarnate state is presently the intermediary (or “Mediator”), Priest, and the propitiation for our sins.

So essential was the perpetual incarnation that the Apostle John sees it as a defining mark of true Christianity; and anyone denying it is “the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7).

1 John 4:2-3: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come [elēluthota, perfect tense, lit, ‘has come and remains’] in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [as coming and remaining in the flesh] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist….” (NASB).

Fundamental Truths of the Incarnation

God the Son became flesh—truly God, truly man.

The atoning sacrifice and mediatorial role of Christ was accomplished in the context of His incarnational work.

The incarnation is a gospel essential.

The incarnation is an evangelistic teaching that should be always recognized and celebrated!

NOTES

[1] Theophany (Theos, “God” + phainō, appearance). Huiophany (Huios, “Son”)—namely, preincarnate Son appearances (esp. the angel of the Lord; cf. Gen. chaps. 18-19; Exod. 3:2, 6-14 et al.).

[2] The phrase “always being” is from the Greek present participle, huparchōn denoting an ongoing existence – thus, the Son was always subsisting in the nature of God.

[3] “He emptied Himself,” from the phrase heauton ekenōsen (lit., “He Himself emptied”). The reflexive pronoun, heauton (“He Himself”) indicates that the action of the incarnation, that is, the emptying was accomplished by the Son. “He Himself.

[4] In this translation, I had rendered several verbs tenses literally for emphasis.

[5] The Septuagint is Greek trans. of the OT, which was used frequently by the NT authors for their quotations of the OT. The Septuagint is abbreviated as LXX “seventy,” which was the traditional number of translators (c. mid-third cent. B.C.).

[6] Note that in Greek, Paul places Kurios (“Lord”) in the emphatic position (first word in the clause)— to draw attention to his christological emphasis of Isa. 45:23: Jesus is the Lord (YHWH) of Isaiah 45:23.

The Glory of the Son of God in the Prologue of Hebrews

Posted on February 8, 2018August 9, 2019 by Edward Dalcour

Excerpt from the book of Hebrews (1:8-9) from P⁴⁶, which is the earliest Greek manuscript of Hebrews (c. A.D. 200)

The prologue of Hebrews is one of the most Christologically significant prologues in the NT. The context of the prologue is crystal clear: The author presents a marked well-defined contrast between all created things (viz., angels and the heavens and the earth) and the eternality of the divine Son (cf. vv. 3, 6, 8), the unchangeable Creator (cf. vv. 2, 8-10-12), who was worshiped as God(v. 6). The author initiates his context by stating first that God’s final revelation is found in His Son alone (i.e., the NT), who is the Creator of all things.

Specifically, in verses 1-2, a contrast is drawn between the particular way God the Father spoke to His people in the OT—“in the prophets in many portions and in many ways”—and how God subsequently speaks to His people today—namely, through His Son: “through whom also He made the world”—God’s final revelation. Thus, it is the apostolic “writings,” concerning the Son, by which God speaks to us today (cf. Eph. 2:20). Verses 3-4 clearly present the Son’s person, nature (as God-man), sacrificial cross-work (“purification of sins”), and exaltation “at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” After affirming that the Son is the Creator of the world in verse 2, the author then exalts the distinct person of the Son as fully God—in the same sense (i.e., the very nature) as that of God the Father.

The entire prologue of Hebrews presents a clear distinction of persons, Jesus, the Son who provided “purification of sins” (vv. 3-4) and the Father, who commands His angels to worship someone other than Himself, the eternal Son. In verses 8-12, the Father directly addresses the Son as a distinct person from Himself: “But of the Son He [the Father] says.”

Let us now note the fine points of the exegesis of Hebrews 1, which provide a fantastic refutation to unitarian groups such as the Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and especially Oneness Pentecostals who deny the deity and unipersonality of the Son, thus rejecting the biblical revelation of the triune God:

1. “He is the radiance of His glory” (hos ōn apaugasma tēs doxēs, [ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης]). As we have noted elsewhere regarding John 1:18 and Romans 9:5, the present tense active participle ōn (ὢν, “is/being”) is a very significant feature in exegesis.^[2]The present participle ōn can indicate a continuing state of being. Here the author says that the Son is always, that is, in a continuing state (ōn) as the radiance of God’s glory, and “exact representation of His nature.” The present tense participle ōn (“is”/being) in this passage is set in contrast with the aorist epoiēsen (“He made”) in verse 2 and in contrast with the aorist genomenos (“having become”—referring to the incarnation) in verse 4.This is similar to the use of the imperfect ēn (“was”) in John 1:1, which is set in contrast with aorist egeneto (“came to be”) in 1:14, and similar to the use of the present participle huparchōn (“existing/always subsisting”) in Philippians 2:6, which is set in contrast with the aorist genomenos (“having become”) in verse 7.

In each case, there is an outstanding contrast between the eternal preincarnate Son and all things created.

2. “and exact representation of His nature” (kai charaktēr tēs hupostaseōs autou [καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ). The present active participle ōn (“is”) at the beginning of the phrase governs the phrase—thus, “He is [ōn, “always is/being”] the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.” As we commented on Philippians 2:6, Paul expresses the same idea by using the present tense participle huparchōn (“being” NIV) to denote that the Son is always subsisting/existing in the very nature or essence (morphē) of God.The Greek term charaktēr (appearing only here in the NT) refers to the exact reproduction or representation expressing the reality or essence of the very image it is representing.

The LXX usage of charaktēr signifies the exact character or nature of the thing to which it is applied (cf. Lev. 13:28; 2 Mac.24:10; 4 Mac 15:4). The term denoted the exact imprint left by a signet ring such as a king, for example, after having been placed into wax—it is his exact non-replicable imprint[3].It also referred to the “engraving” stamp of a Caesar on a coin that exactly represented his honor, authority, and power. Louw and Nida define charaktēr as “a representation as an exact reproduction of a particular form or structure—‘exact representation of his being’ He 1.3.” One of the most recognized and cited Greek lexicons, BDAG, defines the meaning of charaktēr, as applied to the Son in Hebrews, as something “produced as a representation, reproduction . . . Christ is [charaktēr] an exact representation of (God’s) real being, Heb. 1:3.”

In the clearest sense, then, the Son is the “exact representation” of the God’s nature. The Greek term translated “nature” (NASB; “person” in the KJV) is from the Greek term, hupostaseōs (from hupostasis). According to the lexical support, the term carries the meaning of substantial nature, essence, actual being, reality (cf. BDAG). The term indicates “the substantial quality, nature, of any person or thing: Heb. 1:3” (Thayer).

Note below how hupostaseōs is rendered in this passage by major translations:

“The exact imprint of his nature” (ESV)

“The exact representation of His nature” (NASB).

“The exact representation of his being” (NIV).

“Flawless expression of the nature of God” (Phillips).

“The express image of His person” (KJV, NKJV).

“The very image of His substance” (ASV).

“[The] exact expression of His essence” (ALT).

“The true image of his substance” (BBE).

“He is an exact copy of God’s nature” (ICB).

“The exact reproduction of His essence” (Wuest).

“All that God’s Son is and does marks him as God” (TLB)

“The very imprint of his being” (NAB).

“The exact imprint of God’s very being” (NRSV)

“Everything about Him represents God exactly” (NLT).

No creature can make this claim.

Even the biblical translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the NWT reflects an accurate meaning of charaktēr: “He is the reflection of [his] glory and the exact representation of his very being”—although they still deny Jesus as God.” Of course, Michael, the created archangel (who they be Jesus to be), cannot be the “exact representation” of the nature of God. The term here has an ontological reference to the hupostasis (nature) of the Father, which is consistent to the context of the prologue of Hebrews in which the author makes a sharp contrast between all things created (viz. angels, heavens, and earth), and the eternality of the person of the divine Son, the unchangeable Creator of all things, who is worshiped by “all the angels” (1:6).

Hebrews 1:3 unambiguously teaches that the Son possesses the “exact nature” of God. Neither king, prophet, mighty man, nor created angel such as Michael the archangel is said to be, or has ever made the claim of being, the charaktēr, that is, the “exact representation” or “express image” of the hupostaseōs—namely, the essence or very nature of God’s Being. Only God can rightfully be the “exact representation” of the nature of God.

3. “And when He [the Father] again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.’” Then in Hebrews 1:6, we read that God the Father commands “all the angels” to worship the Son (pantes aggeloi thou [πάντες ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ,], lit., “all [the] angels of God”; see also Dan. 7:14; Matt. 14:33; Rev. 5:13-14, where the person of the Son is worshiped in a religious context). In light of Exodus 20:5 (“You shall not worship them or serve them”), divine worship is restricted to God alone. Thus, only from within a Trinitarian context can the Son be justifiably worshiped.

4. “But of the Son He [the Father] says, “Your throne, O God [ho theos] is forever and ever. . . .” Further, the Father’s attestation as to His Son’s coequality is plainly stated in verse 8 where we read of God the Father’s direct address to the Son as ho theos (“the God”), whose throne is forever and ever. That the Father addresses “another” person as “God” (the Son) is precisely what the doctrine of the Trinity teaches. In the gospels, the Son addresses His Father as “God,” but here, the Father addresses the Son as “God.”

5. In verses 10-12, God the Father directly addresses the person of the Son as the YHWH (“Lord”) of Psalm 102:25-17, the unchangeable Creator of all things. Note, in verse 10, the Father says to the Son: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands. . . .” Two important points should be considered here, 1) the term “Lord” in the Greek, kurie (Κύριε) is in the vocative case (i.e., the case of direct address) signifying linguistically that the Father is actually addressing the Son and 2) verses 10-12 are citations from Psalm 102:25-27, which speak of YHWH as the unchangeable Creator. Therefore, the Father actually identifies the Son and hence addresses Him as the YHWH of Psalm 102—the unchangeable Creator.

The prologue of Hebrews presents in the most intelligent way that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is fully God and fully man, and a distinct person from God the Father. In light of the striking contrast presented in the prologue of Hebrews (things created vs. the eternal Son, Creator of all things), the author affirms straightforwardly in verse 3 that the Son is the eternal God. In a most literal sense, verse 3 says that the Son is (ōn—“always being”) the brightness, the eternal radiance (apaugasma) of the glory of God and the exact representation or impress (charaktēr) of the very nature (hupostaseōs) of God Himself.

Again, only within the context of Trinitarianism can the Son be worshiped by all of the angels and be identified and directly addressed (by God the Father) as both “God” and the “Lord,” that is, the YHWH of Psalm 102:25, the immutable Creator.Hence, along with the prologue of John and Colossians, the Trinity is expressed vividly in the prologue of Hebrews. It has been used historically by Christians to present both a positive affirmation of the deity of the Son and a clear and pointed refutation to the many non-Christian cults who “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4),—God the Son.

NOTES

[1] The Amplified version reads: “He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature. . . .”

[2] John 1:18: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is [ho ōn, i.e., “the One who is/being always”] in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (emphasis added). Romans 9:5: “Whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh,who is [ho ōn] over all, God blessed forever. Amen” (emphasis added).

[3] The “instrument used in engraving or carving” (Thayer).

[4] BDAG is the abbreviation for Walter Bauer, A Greek English Lexicon.