I enjoy reading early church fathers’ writings. St Irenaeus is a “third generation” church father. The Apostle John was discipled by Jesus, he discipled Polycarp, and Polycarp discipled Irenaeus. He lived during a time when many heresies were infecting the church, and he was a major defender of orthodoxy. One of the false teachings that he dealt with was the teaching that said “flesh” was sinful so Jesus never became flesh, He just appeared to be flesh.

1 John 4:2-3 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Christmas is the celebration of God becoming flesh just like us in every way. One of St Ireneaus’s famous quotes during the time of this controversy was, “Jesus became just like us so that we could become just like Him, and if He did not become like us than we can not become like Him.”

At the very beginning when God said, “Let Us make man in Our Image,” the purpose was God wanted to fellowship with us, to know us, to love us, to enjoy us, to communicate with us, and He wanted us to fellowship with Him, to know Him. To love Him, to enjoy Him, and to communicate with Him.

For all that to happen we need to grow in character, to become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” That is what life is about, us growing in character, and it is possible because Jesus became like us in every way except He never sinned.