The Incarnation: Christ's Doxa

Take a look at John 1:14 again to refresh your memory.

We wrapped up last time with talking about the parallels between Christ and the tabernacle. The last one talked about how the tabernacle was the center of Israel's camp and how Christ should be the center of our lives. Continuing that thought process, if Christ is the center of our lives, we should see His glory, just like Israel saw the Lord's glory resting on the tabernacle. The Greek word used here for glory is the word "doxa." This word means literally "to seem." This is referring to the lofty reputation that a person has in another person's eyes. So, in this case, a man's glory is his reputation.

OK, so if glory here means reputation, then how can we "behold Christ's reputation"? Isn't that something internal? What does this mean????

Well, glory in this context means more than a person's reputation. It means that when we behold Christ, we are basically viewing God's reputation...in other words those attributes that God alone possesses and can reveal. So, in the midst of discussing Christ's incarnation, John still takes the time to make another reference to Christ's deity. Almost like he is saying, "Christ is a man, but wait, don't forget he's God too!!!"

Let's take a second and look at these attributes and how Christ is the only one as fully man to live up to these attributes. If you recall from Christianity 101, sin is our failing to measure up to Christ's perfection. In other words, God is holy and anything that we do that is unholy, we are sinning.

God is omnipresent (or everywhere at once) and whenever we try to hide from Him, we are sinning. God is omnipotent (or all powerful) and whenever we fail to trust Him, we sin. God is merciful and whenever we are unforgiving or seek revenge on others, we sin. God is patient and whenever we are impatient, we sin. God is sovereign and whenever we try to run our own lives, we sin.

WHEW!!!! Talk about conviction! We see how we fail to measure up to God in this idea of God's glory being His reputation and we see how desperately we need a Savior. Which is why (I think just from looking at this test with fresh eyes) John takes the time to reference not only Christ's deity, but the fact that He was fully man so that we would know that we are not walking this human life alone. We have an advocate whose reputation (His doxa) is flawless and can represent us to His Father. What wonderful peace we can find in this!!!!

To wrap up this week, look at Ephesians 1: 6 and 12. Look at what "we are saved to the praise of." Kind of changes the perspective in light of Christ's doxa, doesn't it.

Questions to ponder:
1. Which of the above attributes of God convicts you the most? Why?
2. What does this idea of Christ's glory/reputation mean to you?