Title: The Word Became Flesh
Scripture: John 1:14-18
Speaker: Reid Kapple, ReidK@cckc.church

> The Mystery We Behold

“The supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us…lies not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man.”

-J.I. Packer, Knowing God

> The Miracle We Need

“Rather than offend the Gospel’s Jewish audience, this verse is designed to draw it in: ‘If you want an even more gracious demonstration of God’s covenant love and faithfulness,’ the evangelist tells his readers, ‘it is found in Jesus Christ.”

- Andreas Kostenberger

“He must be divine, for otherwise his suffering has no power to redeem, and he must also be human, for otherwise his suffering has nothing to do with ours. And the two must be joined in such a way that his true humanity is neither destroyed nor swallowed up in his divinity.”

- Justo Gonzalez

> The Model we Follow

“A disjunction between divinity and humanity in Christ…would destroy the greatest appeal of Jesus for [those] who must live in suffering…The suffering Christ is important to hispanics because he is the sign that God suffers with us. An emaciated Christ is the sign that God is with those who hunger. A [tortured] Christ is the sign that God is with those who must bear the stripes of an unjust society.”

- Justo Gonzalez