The Body and Blood of Christ


The doctrine of the Incarnation stands at the center of the Christian faith. It is the mystery of the eternal Son of God taking real human flesh, becoming truly man while remaining truly God. Because of this, any teaching that distorts the nature of Christ’s humanity strikes at the very heart of Christianity itself.

Two errors have recently resurfaced. The first claims that Jesus did not receive DNA from Mary. The second claims that Jesus possessed a human body and human brain before the Incarnation, even before Abraham existed. Both ideas are built on false premises, bad biology, and worse Christology. Nothing, not one verse, word, letter, or vowel in Scripture teaches either of these claims.

Christ Took Real Human Flesh From Mary

Scripture is explicit. Paul writes, “God sent forth His Son, made of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). Made of a woman means biologically derived from her. Luke declares, “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42). A surrogate mother does not produce the fruit of her own womb. Mary was the real biological mother of Jesus.

Jesus was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3). He cannot be the seed of David unless He receives real human flesh from David’s line, and that comes through Mary. To deny this is to deny the plain teaching of Scripture.

Biologically, the conceived child has its own blood, not the mother’s. Jesus did not share Mary’s blood, and sin is not transmitted by DNA or blood chemistry. Sin is not a molecule. Holiness is not a chromosome. The argument that Jesus avoided Mary’s DNA in order to remain sinless assumes a biological mechanism Scripture does not teach and biology does not support.

Modern biology also observes a phenomenon called maternal–fetal microchimerism, where a small number of cells can migrate between mother and child during pregnancy. This does not change the fact that the child has its own blood, its own circulatory system, and its own genetic identity. It does not replace or alter the child’s genome. It does not transmit moral nature, guilt, or spiritual condition. It simply shows that pregnancy involves complex biological interactions. None of this supports the claim that Jesus avoided Mary’s DNA, and none of it suggests that sin is carried in blood or chromosomes. Salvation is spiritual, not biological.

Jesus was sinless because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, because He was the eternal Son, and because He took real human flesh without sin. His sinlessness does not depend on avoiding Mary’s DNA.

The Heresy of a Pre Incarnate Human Body

The second error is even more serious. It claims that Jesus had a human body and human brain before the Incarnation, even when He appeared to Abraham or wrestled with Jacob. This is not biblical Christology. It is a direct denial of the Incarnation and a direct denial of the eternal deity of Christ.

God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Before the Incarnation, Christ had no physical body and no human brain. His human nature began at conception, not in eternity. To claim that the body and brain of Jesus existed before Mary is to claim that Christ’s humanity is eternal. That would make Him a created being. This is not Christian doctrine.

Theophanies are not the Incarnation. When the Son appeared to Abraham or Jacob, He did not take on permanent human nature. Those appearances were manifestations, not flesh. John writes, “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Not appeared in flesh. Not used flesh temporarily. Not brought flesh from eternity. He became flesh in the virgin conception.

Hebrews confirms this. “He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (Hebrews 2:14). He took human nature at the Incarnation, not before it. “A body You prepared for Me” (Hebrews 10:5). Prepared in Mary, not imported from eternity.

Human nature begins at conception. The eternal Son existed before Abraham. His human nature did not.

Sin Is Inherited Covenantally, Not Biologically

How do we inherit Adam’s guilt? Scripture never teaches that sin is transmitted by chromosomes, blood chemistry, DNA, ovum, sperm, or genetics. Sin is not a molecule. Sin is a nature, and that nature is inherited covenantally because Adam was the federal head of humanity.

“By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men” (Romans 5:12). Paul does not say sin passed through chromosomes or blood. He says death passed because Adam represented the entire human race. This is federal headship, not biology.

“By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation” (Romans 5:18). Condemnation is a legal status, not a biological trait. You inherit Adam’s guilt the same way you inherit citizenship, family name, or legal standing. It is a forensic reality, not a chemical one.

David writes, “In sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). He is not saying his DNA was sinful or his blood was corrupt. He is saying he was born into Adam’s fallen nature.

This is why Jesus could take real human flesh from Mary without inheriting sin. Sin is not transmitted by blood, DNA, or chromosomes. A conceived child has its own blood, not the mother’s. Jesus did not share Mary’s blood, and sin is not transmitted by DNA or blood chemistry.

Jesus enters humanity through Mary. Jesus receives real human flesh from Mary. Jesus receives real human nature. Jesus does not receive Adam’s guilt. Jesus does not receive a fallen nature. Jesus is sinless because He is the eternal Son, not because He avoided Mary’s DNA.

“That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Holiness is not a chromosome. Holiness is the nature of the eternal Son united to real human flesh.

The Blood of Christ and the Logic of Atonement

Christ’s blood was sinless because His human nature was unfallen and He was the eternal Son. “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22) refers to sacrificial death, not to sin being physically located in blood. Blood represents life poured out (Leviticus 17:11). It does not represent sin molecules.

The power is in the Person, not the plasma.

The logic of atonement is simple.

Sin deserves death.
A substitute must die.
Death is expressed by the shedding of blood.
Therefore remission requires blood.

This is sacrificial logic, not biological logic.

Hebrews makes the point explicit. “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead” (Hebrews 9:16 to 17). The death of the testator is what gives the covenant its power. It is the death of Christ, the Testator, that secures salvation.

Conclusion

The biblical doctrine is simple.

The Son is eternal.
His human nature began at conception.
He took real human flesh from Mary.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
He was fully God and fully man.
He was sinless because He is the eternal Son, not because He avoided Mary’s DNA.
The Word became flesh. He did not import flesh from eternity.

Nothing in Scripture teaches that Jesus avoided Mary’s DNA. Nothing teaches that He had a human body or human brain before the Incarnation. These claims match ancient heresies: Docetism, Gnosticism, Nestorianism, and Arian distortions. None of them are biblical. None of them are orthodox. None of them are Baptist. None of them are Christian.

This entire heresy is of human invention, of human reasoning apart from revealed Scripture. It is not the faith once delivered unto the saints.

© A.K. Pritchard 2026 – Free to use with proper attribution.