The Christ of Christmas
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Having previously considered the titles Son of David and King of the Jews, Theology 101 this week takes us to another title related to Christ at His birth — that of Immanuel. The designation of Immanuel had its roots in the prophetic message of Isaiah when he pointed to a sign that God would give, namely, “The virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call His name Immanuel” (7:14). When an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph at the time Joseph was pondering Mary’s pregnancy and planning not to take Mary as his wife, the angel announced that Mary’s pregnancy was brought about by the Holy Spirit. After quoting the prophecy of Isaiah about Immanuel the angel went a step further to explain the meaning of Immanuel as “God with us” (Matt. 1:20–23). This fact is underscored in Colossians 1:19, “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.”
So far as the biblical record reveals, people did not use Immanuel as a name in the usual sense of the word. “Immanuel” was a way of thinking about the nature of Christ rather than a name in the traditional sense of a proper name used to address Him or speak of Him. We do not think of people reporting of Christ that “Immanuel has entered our village” or that “Immanuel told many parables.” So our attention is drawn to what this name signifies about the person or nature of Christ.
Personal union
The designation of Christ as Immanuel pointed to a special coming of God in the person of His Son. It bespeaks the incomparable idea of the personal union of a real human nature with a real divine nature. The theological term for such a union of natures is incarnation. To be sure, his union of two natures is a divine paradox. The Christ of Christmas was a real union of divinity and humanity. The divinity assumed humanity but did not overpower it. The humanity was real but did not diminish or detract from the divinity. Thus we read in the Gospels that because He was fully God, Christ miraculously fed thousands by multiplying a small lunch. However, on another occasion He was hungry because He was fully human. We read of another paradox about Christ, namely that because He was truly human He could grow or advance in wisdom (Luke 2:52), but on occasion because He was fully God He was able to know immediately what someone was thinking (John 2:24–25). Christians through the centuries have thought of Christ in terms of “one person, two natures.”
‘God with us’
Since Christ came as “God with us” He was able to perfectly reveal God. In John 14:9–10 when Philip asked to be shown the Father, Christ replied, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” Hence to call Christ Immanuel was to acknowledge that God was henceforth with His people in a personal way. That presence being launched in the incarnation of Christ was later to be permanently perpetuated in the coming of the Holy Spirit who would indwell every individual believer.
To this present hour the designation of Christ as Immanuel has special importance for every Christian in that “Christ in us” is the realization of “God with us,” truths made possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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