From the President
The Hypostatic Union
I Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…”
Truly the relationship between the human and divine in Christ will remain a mystery to us. We do not have any analogies to it in our own nature or experience. But the fact of the mystery must not deter us from accepting by faith the constant biblical teaching. Hypostatic means nature, so, the hypostatic union is the two natures (divine and human) forming one person in the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from this union Christ could not have been Mediator between God and man. If He was only man, his death could not have atoned for mankind’s sin. If He was only God He could not die, since God cannot die. If He had not been man, He would not have had a genuine link with humanity and would not have had perfect sympathy with man (Hebrews 4:14-16). The eternal Son of God did not join Himself with a human person, but with a human nature. Luke 1:35 and Hebrews 10:5 teach that the person already existed in God the Son from eternity past. In the union of the divine and human in Christ, each of the natures retained their own attributes. Deity did not permeate humanity, nor did humanity become absorbed into deity. He was Theanthropic (God-Man) in person. Christ never spoke of Himself as two people, only as One (John 8:18); One person, two natures. We see the uniqueness of Jesus in the following passages. Romans 1:3-4, verse 3 His humanity “the seed of David”, and verse 4 His deity “the Son of God”. Galatians 4:4, His deity “God sent forth His Son”, and His humanity “made of a woman”. Philippians 2:6-7, verse 6 His deity “being in the form of God”, and verse 7 His humanity “form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men”.
So this Christmas may we meditate upon this great mystery, “God was manifest in the flesh,” and may we like the great hymn writer Charles Wesley sing His praise “Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the ever lasting Lord: Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the God-head see, hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.”
Merry Christmas,
Dan Boyce
Around the FFBC
At our last Executive Committee meeting on Dec. 4, I resigned as president of the FFBC, and Pastor Joe Roof is now the new president.
The reason for my resignation is the Lord has led Sandy and me to plant a church in the north-western part of New Hampshire. We will be 300 miles away from TSBC and it will be difficult to spend the time needed to effectively minister as president while starting a new church. It has been a great privilege to serve the Lord in this capacity, and we look forward to what the Lord will continue to do through the FFBC in the future. We look forward to seeing you all at Annual Conference in August.
Cassville: The church in Cassville has been sold and there are church furnishings available for FFBC churches and ministers. If you have a need, or are interested please contact Pastor Cotton for information.
TSBC News
Retreats
Winter Weekend 1: Jan. 15-16
Evangelist Seth Ferguson
Winter Weekend 2: Jan. 22-23
Pastor Frank Sansone
Sweethearts Getaway: Feb. 5-6
Dr. Allan Griffith
Get those registrations in soon!
1 The FFBC LINK is sent electronically or by mail each month to the churches in the FFBC and some interested friends. Any news items should be forwarded to Dan Boyce at boyce@cleaninter.net by the end of the month.
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