by Anthony F. Buzzard
Charles Swindoll is a well-known evangelical with a worldwide radio audience and readership through his many popular books. He is chancellor of the famous Dallas Theological Seminary. In his book Jesus: When God Became Man Swindoll typifies the universally accepted church belief in the Christmas story of the Incarnation:
“On December 25th shops shut their doors, families gather together and people all over the world remember the birth of Jesus of Nazareth…Many people assume that Jesus’ existence began like ours, in the womb of his mother. But is that true? Did life begin for him with that first breath of Judean air? Can a day in December truly mark the beginning of the Son of God? Unlike us, Jesus existed before his birth, long before there was air to breathe…long before the world was born.”
Swindoll continues with obvious enthusiasm:
“Jesus never came into being; at his earthly birth he merely took on human form…Here’s an amazing thought: the baby that Mary held in her arms was holding the universe in place! The little newborn lips that cooed and cried once formed the dynamic works of creation. Those tiny clutching fists once flung stars into space and planets into orbit. That infant flesh so fair once housed the Almighty God…As an ordinary baby, God had come to earth…Do you see the child and the glory of the infant-God? What you are seeing is the Incarnation — God dressed in diapers…Imagine him in the misty precreation past, thinking of you and planning your redemption. Visualize this same Jesus, who wove your body’s intricate patterns, knitting a human garment for himself…Long ago the Son of God dove headfirst into time and floated along with us for about 33 years…Imagine the Creator-God tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes.
So here, in the traditional church interpretation, we have a Jesus who existed before his birth; a Jesus who never came into being; a Jesus who even as a baby continued to hold the universe (which he originally created) in his tiny clutching hands whilst cooing; a Jesus who is the infant-God needing his nappies to be changed in the very body which he had knitted like a garment for himself. The noted Anglican Dr. Jim Packer describes the Incarnation — when God became man, the divine Son became a Jew, the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught like any other child. “He who had made man was now learning what it felt like to be man. He who made the angel who became the devil was now in a state in which He could be tempted — could not, indeed, avoid being tempted — by the devil.” [ J.I. Packer, Knowing God, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973, p. 50.]
This Nicene understanding of Jesus Christ is the view that finally after much opposition triumphed over competing views. It is the “traditional” church view espoused to this day.
