The Incarnation and Two Natures of Christ

Incarnation is the term that refers to the supernatural act of the triune God, whereby the eternal, divine Son, from the Father, by the agency of the Spirit, took into union with himself a complete human nature apart from sin. As a result, the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, now and forevermore exists as one person in two natures, our only Lord and Savior.

This article will describe who Jesus is as God the Son incarnate in light of the Scriptural teaching and the Confessional orthodoxy of the Church. By developing five truths about the incarnation, starting with Jesus’ full deity as the eternal Son in relation to the Father and Spirit, and working from eternity to time, the identity of Christ and the nature of the incarnation will be described. To know Jesus rightly from Scripture, we must see who he is in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity, and the reason for the incarnation in light of the Bible’s entire redemptive storyline.

​Stephen J. Wellum is professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and editor of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. He is the author of God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ (Crossway, 2016) and Christ Alone: The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior (Zondervan, 2017). 

The Gospel Coalition