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Articles: Philosophy | The Incarnation
- Mr. KALIDASU D
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B. On the Human Soul and Will of Christ
This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be unlimited: it was exercised in the historical conditions of his existence in space and time. This is why the Son of God could, when he became man, 'increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man', [101] and would even have to inquire for himself about what one in the human condition can learn only from experience. This corresponded to the reality of his voluntary emptying of himself, taking 'the form of a slave'.[103] The effect of the Incarnation on the human will of Christ was to leave it free in all things save only sin. It was absolutely impossible that any stain of sin should soil the soul of Christ. Neither sinful act of the will nor sinful habit of the soul were in keeping with the Hypostatic Union. The fact that Christ never sinned is an article of faith where the sinlessness of Christ is implicit in the definition that he did not offer Himself for Himself, but for us. This fact of Christ's sinlessness is also evident from the Scripture. 'There is no sin in Him' (I John 3: 5).
C. On the God-Man
One of the effects of the union of the Divine nature and human nature in One Person is a mutual interchange of attributes, Divine and human, between God and man, the Communicatio Idiomatum. We may say God is man, was born, died, was buried. This refers to the Person Whose nature is human, as well as Divine; to the Person Who is man, as well as God. We do not mean to say that God, as God, was born; but God, Who is man, was born. You may say that Jesus is God; Jesus is man; the God-Man was sad; the Man-God was killed, but some ways of speaking should not be used, not that they may not be rightly explained, but that they may easily be misunderstood in an heretical sense
(2) The Adoration of the Humanity of Christ
The human nature of Christ, united hypostatically with the Divine nature, is adored with the same worship as the Divine nature. We adore the Word when we adore Christ the Man; but the Word is God. The human nature of Christ is not at all the reason of our adoration of Him; that reason is only his Divine nature. The entire term of our adoration is the Incarnate Word; the motive of the adoration is the Divinity of the Incarnate Word.
(3) Other Effects of the Incarnation
The effects of the incarnation on the Blessed Mother and us include Grace, Justification, Salvation, Satisfaction, and the Immaculate Conception. The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love. The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness, so that we might attain to holiness. The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God.Properly speaking, the office of a mediator is to join together and unite those between whom he mediates: for extremes are united in the mean [medio]. Now to unite men to God perfectively belongs to Christ, through Whom men are reconciled to God, according to 2 Cor. 5:19: 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.' And, consequently, Christ alone is the perfect Mediator of God and men, inasmuch as, by His death, He reconciled the human race to God. Hence the Apostle, after saying, 'Mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus,' added: 'Who gave Himself a redemption for all.'
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