As you look at the manger—whether liturgically or just historically—do not see a sentimental story. See the warlike wisdom of God. See the “One and the Same Son” who breached the fortress of the enemy not by power, but by humility.

As a good Presbyterian who holds to the Regulative Principle of Worship, I am obligated to remind you that I have no religious reason to be writing this right now. The 25th of December is, ecclesiastically speaking, just another Thursday. We jokingly call it “Mid-Winter No Reason”—a time when the world inexplicably decides to decorate pine trees and eat peppermint.

But I have observed that while we may not recognize a holy day, we must never neglect a holy truth. If the world is going to pause to look at a manger, the least we can do is ensure they see the right baby in it.

The sentimental Jesus of the greeting card—the “little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes”—cannot save you. A silent baby is just a baby. We need the Christ of the Scriptures, the Christ of the Councils, and the Christ of the Confession. We need the “One and the Same Son” who is the Ancient of Days and the Infant of Days, wrapped in swaddling cloths yet holding the universe together.

This mid-winter, let us walk into the fortress of Chalcedon to behold the mystery of the Incarnation—not as a sentimental story, but as the theological engine of our salvation.

The Mind of Christ (Philippians 2)

Our journey begins not in Bethlehem, but in eternity. The Apostle Paul, writing to the fractious church in Philippi, commands them to have the “mind of Christ” (Phil. 2:5 ). He then pulls back the curtain of time to reveal the Pre-Existent Son.

Paul tells us that Christ existed in the Morphe Theou—the “Form of God.” He possessed the essential nature of Deity. Yet, He did not regard this equality as harpagmos—something to be exploited for His own advantage. Instead, He “emptied Himself.”

Loved ones, do not let the modern liberals tell you He emptied Himself of His divinity. God cannot stop being God. The text says He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant (Morphe Doulou). It was not a subtraction of glory, but an addition of humility. He veiled His majesty in the fragile skin of a slave, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This is the “Mind” we are called to imitate: a humility that does not think less of itself, but thinks of itself less, descending into the dirt to lift others up.

The Singular Subject: One and the Same

When the church gathered at Chalcedon in 451 AD to make sense of this, they didn’t invent a new theology; they simply built a fence around Paul’s teaching. The central stake of that fence is the phrase: “One and the Same Son.”

This is the death knell of the heresy of Nestorianism. Nestorius wanted to divide Jesus into two persons—a divine Son and a human Son—partners in a mission. But Chalcedon insisted that the “I” who speaks in the Gospels is singular.

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