The Scots Confession

CHAPTER VI

The Incarnation of Christ Jesus

When the fullness of time came God sent his Son, his eternal wisdom,
the substance of his own glory, into this world, who took the nature
of humanity from the substance of a woman, a virgin, by means of
the Holy Ghost. And so was born the “just seed of David,” the “Angel
of the great counsel of God,” the very Messiah promised, whom we
confess and acknowledge to be Emmanuel, true God and true man, two
perfect natures united and joined in one person. So by our Confession
we condemn the damnable and pestilent heresies of Arius, Marcion,
Eutyches, Nestorius, and such others as did either deny the eternity of
his Godhead, or the truth of his humanity, or confounded them, or else
divided them.

*********************

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. (The Message)

'The very Messiah promised.' I may never fully understand what it means for God to become human. I may not be able to grasp, in my limited mind, what it might mean for two natures to be united in one person. I understand the concept, but the reality is so far beyond my human mind that it seems as though I may as well be trying to re-create the earth with my own feeble words.

But I understand promises, and I know what it means to break a promise, and how good it is when promises are kept. Jesus Christ was the Messiah that had been promised, and when he was born of Mary, the angels and shepherds alike rejoiced at what God had done. Thanks be to God for grace and mercy, for love beyond knowledge and love in the neighborhood.

The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood--I love this translation because it makes the Word real, next door, walking beside us and loving us in the midst of our messy humanity. We don't have it all figured out, but have a Savior, promised and true, who has love beyond measure.

Thanks be to God.