"He Was Incarnate by the Holy Spirit"

In the Nicene Creed, we confess what the “One Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” has done “for us men and for our salvation.” He came down from heaven and he was incarnate “by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.”

The Son of God was incarnate by the Holy Spirit. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, she asked him, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). The Son of God became flesh in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit.

The angel’s answer to Mary reminds us of Genesis 1:2: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” The state of the earth in Genesis 1 reflects the state of Mary’s womb in Luke 1: empty, dark, nothing formed. Just as the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep, so he overshadowed Mary.

As it was in the beginning, so it is again in the womb of Mary. Just as the Spirit forms life out of the empty darkness of the virgin earth, so he forms life out of the empty darkness of the virgin womb. The Word who was with God in the beginning, when the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep, became flesh and tabernacled among us, when the Spirit of God overshadowed Mary. A new beginning.

This new beginning promises us a new beginning. He became flesh by the Holy Spirit so that we, who are conceived in sin, may be born again by the same Spirit (John 3:6-7).

This new beginning also orients us to a new end. The same Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and who suffered and died for sin, was raised by the Spirit on the third day. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies (Rom 8:11; 1 Pet 3:18).

It’s fitting, then, that this Sunday we will sing, “Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God”:

Holy Spirit, living breath of God
Breathe new life into my willing soul
Bring the presence of the risen Lord
To renew my heart and make me whole
Cause Your Word to come alive in me
Give me faith for what I cannot see
Give me passion for Your purity
Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me