From God Manifestation to the Incarnation: Why Orthodox Christology Matters
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14 (ESV)
Introduction: A Doctrine I Loved But Had to Leave Behind
In my article on God Manifestation, I outlined the Christadelphian theology that shaped how I understood Jesus for 50 years. It’s a beautiful doctrine in many ways – it talks about Jesus perfectly showing us God’s character and calls us to reflect that same character in our lives. There’s something deeply appealing about the idea that we can manifest God’s nature through dedicated spiritual living.
But as I’ve worked through orthodox Christology during my transition from Unitarian to Trinitarian thinking, I’ve come to see that what makes God Manifestation attractive is also what makes it insufficient. The doctrine falls short of what Scripture actually teaches about who Jesus is.
Here’s why I’ve moved from God Manifestation theology to embracing the incarnation – and why that shift matters more than I initially realised.
What I Loved About God Manifestation
For five decades, God Manifestation theology gave me a framework that seemed to honour both Jesus and human potential. Jesus became the ultimate example of what we could achieve through complete surrender to God. The doctrine emphasised character development and gave us a clear picture of what reflecting God’s nature could look like.
John Thomas painted some genuinely beautiful pictures in Phanerosis – Jesus revealing God’s character perfectly, believers growing into that same manifestation of divine qualities. It connected our spiritual development directly to Christ’s example and made us feel like we were participating in something profound.
The language is compelling. We’re called to manifest God’s righteousness, his love, his mercy. We’re meant to show the world what God is like through our transformed lives. There’s something deeply satisfying about that vision.
Where It Started to Unravel
But studying orthodox Christology – particularly working through Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo during my Masters – showed me where God Manifestation doctrine doesn’t match up with Scripture. Anselm’s specific arguments may have been refined by later theologians, but his central insight stands: only God incarnate could accomplish what salvation actually requires.
The problem starts with how we understand Jesus himself. John 1:1 doesn’t say the Word perfectly manifested God – it says “the Word was God” (ESV). That’s not describing a human who achieved perfect divine character, but the eternal Word who is himself God.
When Colossians 1:15 calls Jesus “the image of the invisible God” (ESV), the next verses tell us that “by him all things were created” and “in him all things hold together” (ESV). That’s not human manifestation of divine character – that’s divine activity that belongs to God alone.
Hebrews 1:3 describes Christ as “the exact imprint of his nature” and says he “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (ESV). Only God upholds the universe. This isn’t acquired resemblance to God – this is essential divine nature.
The Heart of the Difference
The difference between God Manifestation and the incarnation isn’t just academic – it’s the difference between Jesus showing us what God is like and Jesus showing us who God actually is.
John 1:14 makes this claim: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (ESV). Not a human perfectly manifesting God’s character, but the eternal Word – who is God – becoming human while remaining fully divine.
Philippians 2:6-7 describes someone who existed “in the form of God” but took “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (ESV). That’s incarnation – God assuming human nature, not a human achieving divine character.
This connects directly to my recent work on forgiveness. When Jesus is God incarnate, his death becomes substitutionary payment that requires only our faith. When Jesus is just a perfect human manifesting God, his death becomes a moral example that requires our full imitation.
Why This Matters for Salvation
Here’s where the incarnation becomes essential, not just interesting. God Manifestation theology ultimately makes salvation depend on how well we imitate Jesus’ perfect example. Even though Christadelphians acknowledge they can never achieve Christ’s standard, this creates either constant anxiety about falling short or a kind of spiritual defeatism. That’s the trap I lived in for decades – knowing I couldn’t measure up but having no secure foundation for confidence.
But if Jesus is the God-man, then salvation works completely differently.
Only God can bear infinite guilt. Human sin creates infinite offense against an infinite God. A perfect human could only make finite satisfaction, no matter how perfectly he manifested divine character. But if Jesus is God incarnate, His sacrifice has infinite worth.
Only a human can represent humanity. Someone had to stand in our place as our substitute. Jesus needed to be fully human to represent us properly.
Only the God-man could do both. The incarnation gives us someone who can represent humanity before God while possessing the infinite worth necessary to satisfy divine justice.
Sitting in church, listening to worship that celebrates Jesus as God incarnate rather than perfect human example, this finally made sense to me. We’re not approaching God through human achievement – we’re approaching through divine mediator.
How We Actually Reflect God
This doesn’t mean we don’t reflect God’s character. Scripture clearly calls us to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29, ESV). But there’s a crucial difference between how we reflect God and how Christ reveals God.
Our reflection is derivative – we’re being transformed by the Spirit into Christ’s likeness. We’re creatures being renewed, not beings who essentially manifest divine nature.
Christ’s revelation is essential – he doesn’t become like God through spiritual development. He is God incarnate who possesses divine nature eternally.
We point to Christ; we don’t become like Christ in his divine-human nature.
This connects to my experience with spiritual gifts. Speaking in tongues wasn’t something I achieved through manifesting divine character – it was the Spirit’s gift. That’s how all spiritual transformation actually works: through grace, not performance.
How the Incarnation Transforms Prayer
Moving from God Manifestation to incarnation theology has profoundly changed my prayer life. As a Christadelphian, Jesus felt like a telephone wire – or even a magic spell we recited at the end of prayers to ensure they made it to God. You’d tack “in Jesus’ name” on the end like a postal code to make sure the prayer got delivered to the right address.
But when Jesus is God incarnate, the whole dynamic transforms completely.
You’re not praying through a human intermediary to reach God – you’re praying to God through the divine Son who is himself fully God. Jesus isn’t just facilitating the prayer; He’s receiving it as the second person of the Trinity.
John 14:6 – “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (ESV) – takes on completely different meaning. This isn’t just a perfect human showing us the path to God. This is God incarnate declaring that access to the Father comes through him because of who he is essentially.
Prayer becomes divine encounter, not human aspiration.
We’re not trying to manifest God’s character well enough to approach him – we’re approaching through the God-man who guarantees our access because he is both fully human (representing us) and fully divine (with infinite authority).
The intercession piece becomes massive. Romans 8:34 tells us Christ is “interceding for us” (ESV). That’s not just a perfect human putting in a good word for us with God. That’s God the Son advocating for us before God the Father with infinite divine authority and understanding. If Christ is merely a perfect human, his intercession has created value. If Christ is God incarnate, his intercession has infinite worth.
When I pray now, I’m not hoping my prayer makes it through some kind of spiritual postal system. I’m approaching the Father through the Son who is himself God, who knows exactly what I need, who has infinite worth and authority, and who delights to bring me into divine presence.
The incarnation provides assurance grounded in Christ’s identity and work rather than our spiritual performance. Prayer becomes divine encounter rather than human request hoping to reach divine ears. The confidence this creates is hard to overstate – and I’m noticing younger Christadelphians starting to wrestle with these implications. They’re beginning to address Jesus more directly in their prayers and include him more throughout, not just as the obligatory closing formula.
This connects to my experience of approaching God with confidence rather than the anxiety that characterised my Christadelphian years.
The Assurance Question
God Manifestation theology left me constantly measuring my spiritual performance against a standard I knew I couldn’t achieve. Was I manifesting God’s character well enough? Had I surrendered completely enough? The standard wasn’t just out of reach – it was impossible, which created either anxiety or resignation.
The incarnation grounds assurance in who Christ is and what He accomplished, not in how well I’m doing spiritually.
Hebrews 7:25 promises Christ “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (ESV). Our security doesn’t depend on our manifestation of divine character but on Christ’s identity as the God-man and His finished work.
Romans 6:11 calls us to “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (ESV). That’s not something we’re trying to achieve – it’s something that’s already true because of our union with Christ.
Dealing with the Usual Texts
1 Timothy 3:16 talks about Christ being “manifested in the flesh” (ESV), which sounds like it supports God Manifestation doctrine. But this describes God being revealed in human nature, not a human manifesting divine character. The passive voice shows this is God’s action, not human achievement.
Colossians 1:15 calls Jesus “the image of the invisible God” (ESV), but the context makes clear this isn’t about perfect human reflection. The following verses describe creative activity that belongs to God alone – “by him all things were created” and “in him all things hold together” (ESV).
These passages support incarnation, not manifestation doctrine.
Where God Manifestation Gets Things Right
God Manifestation doctrine isn’t completely wrong. It captures some important biblical themes:
Jesus does reveal God’s character. John 14:9 – “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (ESV). The incarnation doesn’t deny this but explains it better. We see the Father in Jesus because Jesus is God incarnate.
Believers are called to reflect God’s nature. Scripture teaches us to display divine attributes like love, mercy, and holiness. But incarnational theology provides a better foundation – we’re transformed through union with Christ, not through imitation efforts.
Moral transformation is central to Christianity. Orthodox Christology agrees while grounding that transformation in what God has done rather than what we’re trying to achieve.
The Practical Difference
In daily Christian life, this distinction transforms everything:
Worship becomes encountering God incarnate rather than honouring a perfect human example.
Mission offers something unique – not human achievement of divine status but God himself entering human history for our salvation.
Suffering finds comfort in knowing that God himself entered our pain, not just that a perfect human showed us how to suffer well.
Growth happens through union with Christ rather than imitation of His example.
The incarnation provides what God Manifestation seeks but can’t deliver: secure access to God, proper motivation for holiness, genuine assurance, and lasting transformation.
Why This Matters Beyond Theology
As I consider potential ministry in Southeast Asia, I’m seeing how crucial this distinction is. Many cultures have ideas about humans achieving divine consciousness through spiritual discipline. God Manifestation doctrine can seem to fit those frameworks.
But the incarnation offers something genuinely unique: God himself entering human history to accomplish what we couldn’t. Not human manifestation of divine qualities, but divine assumption of human nature for our redemption.
For those coming out of Christadelphian theology, this shift isn’t loss but gain. We lose the anxiety of performance-based spirituality and gain the security of divine accomplishment.
The Heart of It All
John 1:14 remains the centre of Christian faith: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (ESV).
Not a human manifesting divine character, but the divine Word assuming human nature. Not achievement but grace. Not performance but gift.
The Word became flesh. God became human while remaining fully divine. That’s the mystery that transforms everything – from human effort to divine gift, from manifestation to incarnation, from anxiety to assurance.
As I continue working through my theological transition, I keep discovering that every doctrine becomes clearer when grounded in proper understanding of who Christ actually is. The incarnation isn’t just one belief among many – it’s the lens that brings all Christian truth into focus.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That’s still the most staggering truth in the universe.
Writer’s Note: This represents my current position, having moved from the God Manifestation doctrine I outlined in my earlier article. For more on my theological development, see my Trinity series and recent work on forgiveness.