The Incarnation Defended: Classical Christianity, the Jewishness of Jesus, and the Battle Against Theological Drift

In the annals of Christian theology, few doctrines have been as fiercely contested as the incarnation--the belief that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, united in one person without confusion or separation, as proclaimed in John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

This core tenet, articulated in the Chalcedonian Definition of 451 CE, stands as a bulwark against a host of ancient heresies that sought to sever the divine from the human, the spiritual from the natural. Heresies such as Docetism, Gnosticism, Marcionism, Arianism, and Apollinarianism variously denied the reality of Jesus' physical body, portrayed matter as inherently evil, or subordinated his humanity to an ethereal divinity.

By emphasizing God as pure spirit, these errors diminished the carnal manifestation of Christ, rendering his birth, suffering, death, and resurrection either illusory or insignificant, contrary to the apostolic warning in 1 John 4:2-3: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God."

Yet, classical Christianity's resolute defense of the incarnation underscores its profound importance: without a fully human Jesus, there is no true redemption of humanity, no bridge between the Creator and creation, as Colossians 2:9 affirms: "For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily," fulfilling prophetic visions like Isaiah 9:6 of a divine child born to humanity.

Let's explore the historical fight against such heresies, highlights the overlooked dimension of Jesus' Jewishness in his full humanity, and argues that embracing this aspect not only fortifies orthodox belief but also serves as a vital stand against the encroachments of liberal theology that threaten to erode the traditional understanding of God in Western civilization.

It's an old battle

From the earliest days of the Church, Christians have waged intellectual and spiritual warfare against doctrines that divorce the spiritual realm from the natural world.

Docetism, for instance, posited that Jesus merely seemed to possess a body, an illusion unfit for a transcendent God.

Gnosticism went further, vilifying the material universe as the flawed creation of a lesser deity, thereby rejecting the incarnation as an unseemly entanglement of the divine with corrupt flesh, in opposition to the Old Testament's affirmation of creation's inherent goodness (Genesis 1:31).

Marcionism echoed this disdain by pitting a "spiritual" New Testament God against the "material" God of the Old Testament, dismissing Jesus' human experiences as inconsequential.

Even Arianism and Apollinarianism, while affirming elements of divinity, undermined the full union of natures by either demoting Christ to a created being or replacing his human mind with divine essence.

In response, church fathers like Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, alongside ecumenical councils such as Nicaea (325 CE) and Constantinople (381 CE), insisted on the hypostatic union: Jesus is consubstantial with the Father in divinity and with us in humanity.

This defense was not merely academic; it preserved the soteriological heart of Christianity.

As Athanasius argued in On the Incarnation, only a fully divine Savior could conquer sin and death, but only a fully human one could represent and redeem fallen humanity, echoing Hebrews 2:17 and aligning with prophecies of a suffering servant who bears human iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).

Taking A Stand For Truth

By combating these heresies, classical Christianity affirmed that the spiritual and natural are not antithetical but harmoniously intertwined in God's redemptive plan, ensuring that faith remains grounded in historical reality rather than abstract speculation, as cautioned in Colossians 2:8 against deceptive philosophies and echoed in Old Testament warnings against idolatrous images (Deuteronomy 4:15-16).

Yet, for all its triumphs, classical Christianity has historically faltered in fully integrating the Jewishness of Jesus into its articulation of his humanity. While the creeds rightly proclaim Christ as "born of the Virgin Mary" and "crucified under Pontius Pilate," they often abstract his human identity from its cultural and ethnic roots. Jesus was not a generic human; he was a first-century Jew, born in Bethlehem to Jewish parents as foretold in Micah 5:2, circumcised on the eighth day in accordance with covenantal law (Genesis 17:12; Luke 2:21), raised in the Torah, and immersed in the rituals of Second Temple Judaism. He celebrated Passover (John 2:13), taught in synagogues (Luke 4:16-21), and fulfilled the prophecies of Israel's Scriptures as the promised Messiah, declaring in Matthew 5:17 that he came not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them, in line with promises of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31).

Ethnicity and Culture Are Humanity

This Jewishness is intrinsic to his full humanity--it shapes his language, worldview, and mission (to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," Matthew 15:24). However, centuries of supersessionism (replacement theology), anti-Judaic sentiments, and Gentile-dominated theology led to a de-Judaized Christ, portraying him as a universal figure detached from his ethnic heritage.

This omission, while not heretical in the vein of Docetism, represents a subtle separation of the spiritual (Jesus as divine Logos) from the natural (Jesus as a historical Jew), allowing for a sanitized, ethereal Savior that aligns more with Greco-Roman philosophy than with the gritty reality of Israel's story, as Jesus himself affirmed that "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22), rooted in the Abrahamic blessing for all nations (Genesis 12:3).

This failure, however, is being rectified in our generation through what can be seen as a divine restoration: the rise of messianic Christianity, which reclaims the Jewish roots of the faith. God is awakening believers to recognize that Jesus' humanity encompasses his identity as a Jew, not as an incidental detail but as central to the gospel, fulfilling the priority of salvation "to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16) and the call to be a light to the nations while restoring Israel (Isaiah 49:6). True messianic teaching defends and expands the classical doctrine by emphasizing that Jesus was 100% human, including his connection to natural Israel. He observed the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28), quoted the Psalms in his agony on the cross (Matthew 27:46, referencing Psalm 22:1), and rose from the dead not as a deracinated spirit but as a glorified Jew with a new body--still bearing the marks of crucifixion, still recognizable to his disciples, and still fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant, as evidenced in Luke 24:39 and prefigured in visions of resurrection life (Ezekiel 37:5). This perspective enriches orthodox Christology: the incarnation is not just God becoming man, but God becoming a specific man within Israel's lineage, thereby validating the continuity between the Old and New Testaments, as Hebrews 1:1-2 notes God's progressive revelation through prophets and Son, building on the principle that God reveals His secrets to His servants (Amos 3:7). The benefits are profound--a more holistic defense against ancient heresies, as it roots the spiritual in the tangible history of God's chosen people, preventing any gnostic-like dismissal of the material world.

Crucially, departing from this integrated understanding paves the way for liberal Christianity, which erodes the classical, traditional conception of God. Liberalism, in its theological form, thrives on detaching the spiritual from the natural, reducing Jesus to a moral teacher or symbolic archetype rather than the incarnate God-man. By minimizing historical particulars like the incarnation's reality or Jesus' Jewishness, it allows theologians to reinvent God in humanity's image--progressive, inclusive, and malleable to cultural whims, against the admonition in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 about rejecting sound teaching for myths.

This drift undermines core doctrines: if Jesus' humanity is negotiable, so too are miracles, atonement, and resurrection, leading to a faith divorced from scriptural authority and historical fact. Such liberalism is essentially man's rebellious inclination to fashion God after personal preferences, echoing the idolatry warned against in Romans 1:22-23 and condemned in depictions of futile idol-making (Isaiah 44:9-10).

In contrast, by insisting that Jesus' Jewishness is inseparable from his full humanity, we fortify conservative theological heritage against this onslaught. Maintaining this emphasis counters liberalism's tendency to abstract God into a vague, spiritual force, detached from the natural order and Israel's covenantal narrative. It anchors faith in the unchanging character of the God who revealed Himself through Abraham, Moses, and ultimately Jesus the Jew, as affirmed in His covenant-keeping faithfulness (Deuteronomy 7:9) and immutability (Malachi 3:6). In our battle to preserve the traditional concept of God in Western civilization--against diminishment by secularism, relativism, and progressive reinterpretations--this restoration contributes vitally.

Time To Reconsider

This is a good time for believers to reconsider their theological heritage in light of the truths I have presented. These truths remind us that God is not a construct of human imagination but the sovereign Lord who entered history as a fully divine, fully human Jew, redeeming both spirit and matter in unbreakable union. Thus, embracing the Jewishness of Jesus is not a novelty but a return to wholeness, ensuring that Christianity remains a faith of incarnation, not illusion.

The Incarnation Defended: Classical Christianity, the Jewishness of Jesus, and the Battle Against Theological Drift© 2025 byGeorge Bakalovis licensed underCC BY-NC-ND 4.0