Was the incarnation of the Lord Jesus in addition to his heavenly role, or instead of it?

This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1991.

Your comment, 'the incarnation of the Lord Jesus was in addition to his heavenly role, not instead of it', finds support in the variant reading at the end of John 3:13: 'who is in heaven', though most modern texts omit these words. More clear is the statement of John 1:18, which refers to our Lord as the one 'who is in the bosom of the Father'.

It is also a fact that some hymns try to give poetic expression to what, for instance, Ephesians 4:9–10 is saying, that our Lord descended, that is from heaven, before he ascended higher than all the heavens; and to what our Lord himself says in John 16:28: 'I came forth from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father'.

How we are to reconcile these two different sets of statements is a problem that has exercised the minds of the systematic theologians for many centuries. It is surely right that we think about these things and try to understand them; but I personally doubt whether we shall ever be able to comprehend both sets of sayings in one neat system of thought, since, by definition, the relationship between the manhood and deity of our Lord contains elements that go completely beyond our human powers of comprehension.

Yours very truly in Christ,