By Daniel L. Sonnenberg, 2003.
Introduction
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1.5). He came for no other purpose than to redeem those whom the Father has given Him. Hodge affirms this declaration when he says, “the only reason Christ came in the flesh was because of the fall…Christ came into the world voluntarily to save his people from their sins; to seek and save the lost.”[1] Christ’s coming into the world as not only God, but also Man, is of critical importance to anthropology and Christology. It was necessary for the Word, the second Person of the Trinity, to become man to fulfill God’s plan to redeem fallen humankind. A survey of some of the Christological and anthropological literature supports this premise and supplies several listings of the reasons Christ had to become a man.
Introduction
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1.5). He came for no other purpose than to redeem those whom the Father has given Him. Hodge affirms this declaration when he says, “the only reason Christ came in the flesh was because of the fall…Christ came into the world voluntarily to save his people from their sins; to seek and save the lost.”[1] Christ’s coming into the world as not only God, but also Man, is of critical importance to anthropology and Christology. It was necessary for the Word, the second Person of the Trinity, to become man to fulfill God’s plan to redeem fallen humankind. A survey of some of the Christological and anthropological literature supports this premise and supplies several listings of the reasons Christ had to become a man.