Introduction — Defending the Incarnate Christ
The Incarnate Christ and His Critics (Komoszewski & Bowman, 2024)
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Who is Jesus? It seems like a simple question. But in 2022, a major survey by Ligonier Ministries found something startling: 43% of people who identified as evangelical Christians agreed that "Jesus was not God." At the same time, more than 90% of those same people said they believed in the Trinity. Something is broken in how we understand who Christ is, and it matters more than we think.
The confusion isn't new, and it isn't going away. In our culture, Jesus has become a kind of spiritual mirror. People see in him whatever they want to see: a moral teacher, a revolutionary, a mystic, a prophet, a myth. Things are even more adrift in Britain. Only 29% of British respondents affirmed the Trinity in a similar survey, while 74% of British "evangelicals" agreed that Jesus was "the first and greatest being created by God."
Here's the problem. These aren't just theological fine points. They cut to the heart of everything Christianity claims. If Jesus is a creature, even the greatest of all creatures, then our faith isn't what we think it is. And if Jesus isn't fully God, his death on the cross can't accomplish what the gospel says it does.
Why the Confusion?
Part of it comes from cultural pressure. In a pluralistic world, Christians are tempted to make Jesus more "approachable" by leaning hard on his humanity and quietly downplaying his divinity. On the surface that feels humble, even respectful of others. But it hollows out the gospel from the inside. A Jesus who is mostly human but maybe divinely inspired is a very different Jesus than the one the New Testament proclaims.
Another source is the sheer number of alternative Christologies out there, organized belief systems about who Jesus is that directly contradict the historic Christian faith. They come from secular skeptics, sure, but also from major world religions and even Christian-adjacent movements like the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, and Oneness Pentecostalism. Each one claims to have the true Jesus. Most use the Bible to make their case. If you don't know what those views are and how to answer them, you're more vulnerable to them than you realize.
The Stakes
The doctrine of the incarnation, the belief that the eternal, divine Son of God became a human being in Jesus Christ, isn't a fourth-century invention cooked up at church councils. It's the consistent witness of the New Testament, present from its earliest writings. Paul's letters, written within fifteen to twenty years of Jesus' crucifixion, already speak of Christ in terms that place him on the same level as God himself.
This matters because the incarnation is the hinge everything else turns on. It's why Jesus can forgive sins. It's why his death atones for ours. It's why his resurrection promises ours. Strip away the deity of Christ and you don't end up with a purer, simpler Christianity. You end up with a different religion.
What This Series Is About
Over the coming weeks I'll be working through a remarkable book, The Incarnate Christ and His Critics by J. Ed Komoszewski and Robert M. Bowman Jr., and sharing what I'm learning in plain language. The authors organize the biblical case for Christ's deity under five categories they call HANDS:
- H (Honors): Jesus receives the honors due to God alone
- A (Attributes): Jesus possesses the characteristics of God
- N (Names): Jesus bears the names that belong to God
- D (Deeds): Jesus does what only God can do
- S (Seat): Jesus occupies the throne-position of God
Each category is rich with biblical evidence on its own. Put together, they build a case I believe is overwhelming.
My goal isn't to win arguments. It's to help all of us who love Jesus know him better. There's a deep difference between being saved by a great man and being saved by the living God who loved us enough to enter our suffering as one of us. That difference is the incarnation, and it changes everything.
If you've ever wondered why it matters whether Jesus was "really" God, or found yourself confused by what someone told you about who he is, I hope this series gives you solid ground to stand on, and a deeper reason to worship.
"Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15)
That's still the question. The answer still changes everything.