Did you see the Stump the Pastor Section in Decembers Faith Matters?
Q: Was God ever a baby? Does God have a Dad?
A: These questions from a confirmation group are perfect for Advent and Christmas. They go straight
to the mystery and joy of this season.
The answer to both questions is No. The witness of the Bible is that God has no beginning or
ending. Anselm of Canterbury famously defined God as “that, than which nothing greater can be
conceived.” In other words, if you can imagine anything before God, after God or greater than
God, you haven’t gotten to God yet. God is eternal—as hard as that is for us to grasp.
The answer to these questions, though, is also Yes. The great wonder of the Incarnation is that
God’s Son “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Philippians
2:7) God chose to become a human baby, to live among us and to die on the cross to rescue us from
sin and death. And that child, Jesus of Nazareth, revealed God as his Heavenly Father, and also ours.
Just imagine! The eternal, all-powerful God who made heaven and earth also knows what it is to be a
mortal human being, to suffer and to die. God endured all of that in Christ, and then raised him
from the dead, because he knows you and me, and loves us with perfect, steadfast love. That is what
makes the Gospel such immeasurably good news
