Round the Sphere Again: Concerning Christ

And His Incarnation
I recently posted at Out of the Ordinary on what it means that “Christ upholds the universe by the word of his power.” One question I didn’t answer is “How did he do this while he was a baby in the manger?”

Justin Taylor answers this question by quoting Calvin, Augustine and Athanasius. For instance, here’s a bit from Athanasius in On the Incarnation of the Word:

For he was not, as might be imagined, circumscribed in the body, nor, while present in the body, was he absent elsewhere; nor, while he moved the body, was the universe left void of his working and providence; but, thing most marvelous, Word as he was, so far from being contained by anything, he rather contained all things himself; and just as while present in the whole of creation, he is at once distinct in being from the universe, and present in all things by his own power—giving order to all things, and over all and in all revealing his own providence, and giving life to each thing and all things, including the whole without being included, but being in his own Father alone wholly and in every respect—thus, even while present in a human body and himself quickening it, he was, without inconsistency, quickening the universe as well, and was in every process of nature, and was outside the whole, and while known from the body by his works, he was none the less manifest from the working of the universe as well.

Read the whole post.

And the Gospel
From Jared Wilson, a few of the “all things” that come to us along with Christ:

When you have Christ, you have everything. You have him and therefore all: the eternal riches of his glory. So we receive not just that hell insurance and ticket to heaven, but union with Christ by which we are seated with him in the heavenly places and hidden with him in God forever. We receive the adoption as sons and daughters. We receive the indwelling Spirit. We are totally justified. We are cleansed, declared holy, set apart, and we receive in addition the promise of the fruit of the Spirit and more holiness to come. We receive the promise of the blessed hope, the glorification we will share with Christ, and the resurrection of the body to everlasting bliss in the new heavens and new earth.

Read the whole post.