Heritage Booktalk

Daniel R. Hyde is the pastor of the Oceanside United Reformed Church in Oceanside/Carlsbad, California. He is the author five books that seek to introduce aspects of the Reformed Faith to twenty-first century unbelievers, inquirers, and evangelicals: Jesus Loves the Little Children: Why We Baptize Children (Reformed Fellowship, 2006), The Good Confession: An Exploration of the Christian Faith (Wipf & Stock, 2006), What to Expect in Reformed Worship: A Visitor’s Guide (Wipf & Stock, 2007), God With Us: Knowing the Mystery of Who Jesus Is (Reformation Heritage Books, 2008), and With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession (Reformed Fellowship, 2008). He is also a Th.M. student at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.

Why the title, God with Us?
The hope of the prophets for Immanuel, God with us, is the reality our Lord tangibly brought: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The title is so simple, yet is expresses the profound truth that the eternal Son is also truly human. It also expresses the longing not merely of a relationship-starved world like ours, but the longing of all peoples everywhere, that there is a connection between eternity and time, heaven and earth. This is found only in Christ.

Why did you want to write about the Incarnation of the Son of God?
Well, the book developed over many years. As my parishioners will testify, besides justification, nothing moves me more than preaching on the Incarnation. In my various membership classes and catechetical preaching this wonderful doctrine evoked very thought-provoking questions from inquirers and members alike. Every year I would teach a new members’ class was another year to read, reflect, and write in a way that would describe what happened in the Incarnation. Eventually I had a pamphlet on this subject on our church’s literature rack, it turned into a larger booklet, and finally a manuscript. My friends Mike Horton and Dave VanDrunen really encouraged me to seek a publisher.

What was the importance of writing a book on the issue of Christ’s’ incarnation?
Besides the sublimity of the subject, the importance for me, as in all my writings, is to present our Faith to those who know nothing of it. I wanted to write a book that a Christian could give an unbelieving friend as a way of bringing them into contact with the claims of Christ or that a Reformed Christian could give a Word-starved evangelical and open their minds to the full counsel of God that they are missing in their entertainment-driven, doctrinally-empty churches.

If you had one minute to explain why this doctrine is so important (besides reading chapter 6) what would you tell someone?
The Incarnation distinguishes us from every other religion because it demonstrates that Christianity is a religion of God’s initiative; that it is purely gracious; and that Christ alone has done the work that we cannot do. As Jesus said, he came not to be served, but to serve. Apart from his service to us, no amount of service we attempt to do can bring us the life we so desperately need. The Incarnation, then, is pure Gospel.

What implications does God with Us have for Christianity today, and especially in today’s culture?
The implications are 1) that God exists not because we can reason our way into his existence but because he has revealed himself in Christ, 2) that God is a God of grace, love, and intervention, 3) that the Christian God is one who may be experienced relationally because we may pray to his Son who is like us in every way, yet without sin—we have a unique God and Savior, 4) finally, because God has acted in the Incarnation, we need to call all men, women, and children to “do business with God” as I used to say when I was a Pentecostal. This means that our task as ministers in preaching and our task as Christians in witnessing, is to explain that people need to acknowledge their sin, repent of them, call upon the Lord, receive him, and rest in his saving work.

When reading the table of contents one chapter stands out from the rest: “The Christ of the Qur’an vs. the Christ of the Bible.” Why did you feel the need to address this issue?
Ever since I was converted to Christ when I was seventeen-and-a-half, I have been fascinated with apologetics. When I went to college I took every world religions class I could, either through the anthropology department or religion department, including a “Muslim Awareness Seminar.” It was then that I visited a mosque in Los Angeles, sat around a table with some Muslims, and received a copy of the Qur’an. While in seminary I took a course on ministering to people of various faiths and was challenged by the professor to think theologically not in terms of intra-confessional polemics, but especially in terms of the global village with all its faiths. We need to be conversant with our Muslim neighbors so that we can understand their faith and how they view ours. It is only by understanding each other that we can build relationships that will lead to our witness being effective.

At the end of your book, I read fairly large section quoting some creeds and defending your stance, and points made in and throughout the book. My question is, what is the importance of this that you feel in your book, and how do you view today’s society being very not creedal, or confessional?
This was an important appendix to add to the book because I wanted to demonstrate to people that I did not invent this doctrine, but it has been loved and confessed for millennia. Another purpose is that it shows non-confessional Christians, especially, that the creeds and confessions are thoroughly biblical and not the man-made opinions of men they have been led to believe they are. Of course in writing this appendix, I assumed that most Christians are not historically conscious or confessional, since we live in such an a-historical and individualistic time.