#886 A Klingon Christ?
May 05, 2024Greetings, Dr. Craig and RF team,
I have been watching the Defenders class on the doctrine of Christ and was blown away by the teachings of the incarnation. I've believed in God since I was a child but the nuances of Jesus's incarnation alluded me until I came across your work, which at first confused and intimidated me, but as I continued in trying to understand I've found that the incarnation is something that has made me even more fond of our God that He should so condescend as to add another nature, lesser then His own for our sakes.
My question is this. You briefly mentioned in one of the Q and A portions of those lessons that it is possible that another person of the Trinity could become incarnate if there was another sentient alien race who were in need of saving. Is it possible that Christ could add to His nature yet another nature, say that of a Klingon in order to save them? Is there something about the incarnation of Christ that would prevent Him from adding a third nature to His person and thus requiring a different member of the Trinity to become incarnate?
Thank you for your persistent work for the Kingdom,
Markus
United States
Dr. craig’s response
A
I’m always delighted to receive a Question of the Week on the topic of my current study, which is presently Christology, specifically, the person of Christ. What a wonderful testimony you give, Markus, to the spiritually edifying effects of thoughtful reflection on the doctrine of the incarnation!
Your question is one that the medieval theologians like Thomas Aquinas addressed. I do think that multiple incarnations of the Logos (Word), the second person of the Trinity, are possible. On my understanding, the Logos on the Klingon planet would not have the same conscious knowledge that he does on our planet. In each case, the conscious knowledge of the incarnate Logos would be limited and appropriately restricted to what an ordinary human or Klingon would be able to be aware of, though perhaps sometimes illumined by his divine subliminal knowledge.
So we needn’t be worried that some extra-terrestrial, intelligent race would be left abandoned by God because the Logos has exhausted himself by his incarnation on Earth. Again, we thereby see the greatness of God, even if we have no reason to think that such multiple incarnations have actually occurred.
- William Lane Craig