Christmas - Why as a baby?

Recently I heard a radio evangelist address the question of why Jesus was born as a baby. He said that it was so that we could relate to Him. He said that everyone can relate to a baby. They are cute. They are tender. They are helpless. They are . . .

While it is true that we all can relate to babies, having been babies ourselves, and finding them to be lovable and adorable and all that, is this really why Jesus came to us as a baby? Certainly it is true that we can relate to the babe born in Bethlehem. But is this the real reason that He came to us as a baby to be our Savior?

The Book of Hebrews makes a similar observation, but from a very different perspective.

     Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:13-16)

This observation is that since Jesus was born as one of us, as our flesh and blood brother, having been born just as each of us are and having endured all that we endure throughout our growing years and adulthood, we therefore can look to Him as our true high priest who has taken into account absolutely every need that we possibly can have. He carried all of our sin and all of our sorrow and all of our burden. There is nothing left that we must face on our own. We can be absolutely certain that the payment has been made in full and that our redemption leaves nothing for us to do for ourselves. And so, yes, we can relate to Him fully in every need and in every trouble and in every time of doubt and fear and hurt. But this is entirely different than relating to the cuteness of babies.

Quite the opposite of the notion of being able to relate to Him as a baby is the reality. His being born as a baby is actually a cause of offense and stumbling. His weakness and helplessness are a cause for rejecting Him as the Chief Cornerstone and the Savior of all. At least this is the case from the standpoint of human emotions and reasoning. Our human reasoning does not behold the King of glory and omnipotence, but rather turns to the emotional and sentimental desire to hold the baby and make him feel safe. Trusting in this babe as the Redeemer and Savior of mankind can only occur through the faith that God generates in us to make us believers.

So why then as a baby? Well, as Hebrews declares, so that He could be our true high priest and offer the perfect sacrifice for our redemption. He had to be born as one of us. He could not come to us as the Son of God apart from truly being the Son of Man. He had to come as both. He had to be born of woman so as to be our true brother. He had to be born of the virgin so that His Father would be God. He had to come as a baby because this is how salvation comes.

He had to come as our salvation in the very way that we receive salvation. He had to be born or generated from above. He had to come as a baby born of woman in which the choice and decision was not His own according to His humanity. According to His human nature, there was no action taken on His part, not even the act of believing.

This is exactly how the Scriptures teach that salvation comes to us as individuals. The birth of Jesus as a baby teaches us that we do not become children of God by anything whatsoever that we do. We are babes born from above purely by the will and action of our merciful God. He generates us through water and Spirit. He nurtures us with the pure milk of His Word that our mother, the Church, feeds us as we nestle in her bosom. Furthermore we are nurtured with His body and blood in the blessed Sacrament to be made full partakers of His Holy Communion and to be brought into the maturity of the unity of the one true faith.

Surely this explanation can be given more fully and completely with many textual references, but this is in short why Jesus came to us as a baby.

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I Believe In . . .

The Christian Creeds, particularly the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, clearly state “I Believe in . . .” These are credos, statements of faith.

Many people today, and in times past but even more so today, reduce these to “I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.” They insist that this is all that really matters and that it does not matter what form this confession of faith assumes. Very often, if a person is asked to explain what the person believes and why, the simplistic “I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and that is what matters,” will be what is given.

Occasionally an additional “Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior,” and “My Lord lives in my heart,” will be stated rather vehemently.

OK. How does Jesus come to be a person’s personal Lord and Savior? How does He get into one’s heart?

To step back and ponder this question from another perspective may be helpful.

If a person has a dreadful infection and that person adamantly declares, “I believe in antibiotics!” does this save the person from the infection? How do the antibiotics get inside the person to do the saving from the attacking bacteria? If a physician tells the person, “You need to be injected with this antibiotic or you must take it orally in order for it to have effect,” will saying, “I believe in antibiotics and that is what matters” accomplish the same thing? Will the infectious invading organism be driven out by saying repeatedly with sincerity “I believe in antibiotics and that is what matters”?

Regarding sin and salvation from sin, the Scriptures very plainly teach that Jesus is the answer. But do the Scriptures leave it at this? Do they not give specific answers regarding how Jesus gets in to accomplish this salvation?

How is it that when St. Peter plainly says in Acts 2 that Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins and for imparting the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then says again in 1 Peter 3 that water saved Noah and his family and today we have the antitype of Baptism which now saves us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, how is it that people think that this can be ignored, or worse, rejected? When St. Paul in Titus 3 calls it the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, how is it that people think that this is not a “basic doctrine” of salvation? How is it that when Jesus explains to Nicodemus in John 3 that no one is able to enter into the kingdom of God except through water and spirit, that people insist that Baptism is not necessary and can even be rejected as a means of salvation?

The same is said regarding the Holy Supper. St. Paul warns the Corinthians that misuse of the Supper is equal to falling asleep or death. He equates the eating and drinking of the Supper with forgiveness and with communion in the body and blood of Christ. How can this be treated as anything but the very life of the Church? The Lord Jesus says:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6:53-58)

How can anyone imagine having a personal relationship with Jesus apart from the communion of His body and blood?

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are two of the ways in which the Scriptures say that Jesus comes to us and enters into our hearts and lives. The other is the preaching of the Gospel, which of course, is included in these two Sacraments.

So why do so many people imagine that these can be reduced to only hearing and believing? Is this what the Scriptures teach? Is this what Jesus says?

Many people struggle with the Scriptural decrees that say a person is saved through faith apart from works and on account of these cannot hear what the Scriptures say about this being worked through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper by the Lord Himself. Instead of hearing God declare that these are His works many people insist that these are their works.

Why is this? If the physician orders the nurse to give an antibiotic by hyper dermic injection when the patient is at the office, and then prescribes an oral form of the antibiotic to be continued throughout the course of the treatment, does the patient then say that the injection was not one’s own work of healing but that swallowing the pill or liquid is? And if in the hospital an attendant washes an infected wound and applies antiseptic to the wound, does the patient insist that by allowing this that a work has been done on the patient’s part?

Yet this is what people who reject Baptism and the Holy Supper say of them. But by saying these things, what do they say of the Holy Spirit who inspired the apostles and evangelists to record what Baptism and the Supper do?

Is it a small thing to call the Holy Spirit a liar and a fraud? Is it possible to deny the inspired doctrine that has been recorded and to have true faith in the God whose name is invoked in Baptism? Is it possible to have a personal relationship with Jesus that depends upon true faith while saying that He does not do what He promises in the Holy Supper?

How much of what Jesus and His apostles and Scriptures say does a person believe in? How much of what is recorded in black and white can be minimized and reduced and interpreted without losing it altogether? If a person has a personal relationship with Jesus as one’s personal Lord and Savior, how much of what Jesus has commanded for the discipling into His kingdom (Matthew 28) will a person ignore or reject?

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