Oct 07 2008
Why did the Word become flesh?
In the Jesus and the Catholic Church Podcast, episodes 1-3, we’ll be talking quite a bit about the Word — one of the titles given to Jesus — and why the Word became flesh. I thought it would be good to spend the next few weeks taking a close look at what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the theology of the Incarnation. That is to say, I want to spend the next few weeks talking about the meaning of the Incarnation, about why the Word became flesh. To do this, our focus will be on paragraphs 456-483 of the Catechism.
In paragraphs 456-460, the Catechism answers this question: “Why did the Word become flesh?” In other words: Why did the Son of God become a man?
Paragraph 456 gives us the answer that we find in the Nicene Creed: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven.” Simply put, the Word became flesh in order to save us.
But what does this salvation entail? Most people, I think, would say, “Yes, salvation means being saved from hell.” There’s no question that that is part of it. We learn more about hell from the lips of Christ himself in the four gospels than we do in the rest of the Old and New Testaments combined. But to define salvation only in this way emaciates both the teaching of Christ as well as the traditional Christian understanding of salvation.
Oddly, in paragraphs 456-460, the Catechism never defines salvation as being saved from hell. Instead, the Catechism, which expresses traditional Christian teaching in a new way, explains salvation not in a negative way (what we’re saved from), but, rather, it explains salvation in a positive way by telling us what it gives us.
Paragraph 457 tells us that the Word became flesh “in order to save us by reconciling us to God.” This is done by taking away our sins. To explain this truth, the Catechism quotes St. Gregory of Nyssa here: “Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us.” In other words, a fundamental truth of the mystery of salvation is that we are healed. The Word became flesh to take away our sins, and by taking away our sins he healed us. We are no longer at enmity with God; rather, we have be reconciled to the Father.
Paragraph 458 tells us that the Word became flesh “so that we might know God’s love.” Whereas 457 spoke of spiritual healing, 458 speaks of intellectual healing. Through human words, and by living a human life that culminates in his death and resurrection, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, reveals God’s infinite and merciful love. Quoting from both John 3.16 and 1 John 4.9, paragraph 458 tells us that God sent his Son into the world so that we might have life. Our intellect is healed by knowing that God’s infinite and merciful love expresses itself in the desire he has for us to share in his own very life.
In fact, paragraph 460 says as much, when it cites 2 Peter 1.4: The Word became flesh “to make us partakers of the divine nature.” What does it mean to be a partaker of the divine nature? In three different quotations, the Catechism shows what the traditional understanding of this biblical verse.
Going in historical order, the Catechism first cites St. Irenaeus (d. 202): “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.”
The Catechism then cites St. Athanasius (d. 373), who in a more emphatic way, says this: “For the Son of God became a man so that we might become God.”
Finally the Catechism cites St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), who says: “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”
It takes awhile to wrap one’s mind around this concept — that through the grace of God we become like God. Yet, that is the truth of the matter. When we are baptized, we receive the supernatural life of God within our souls, thus becoming true children of the Father. In the Holy Eucharist, we receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ, which nourishes the supernatural life of God within us. Both baptism and the Eucharist would not be possible had not the Son of God become man, for both through baptism and the Holy Eucharist we enter into communion with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (see Rom 6.1-12 for baptism, and 1 Cor 10.14-22 for the Eucharist).
Finally, in paragraph 459, we are told that the Word became flesh “to be our model of holiness.” Citing various passages of Scripture, we are reminded that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14.6); that we are take his yoke upon our shoulders and learn from him (Mt 11.29); that God the Father commanded us to listen to him (Mk 9.7); and that we are to imitate his love (Jn 15.12). Simply put, we are to live as he lived.
Thus, when we pray in the Nicene Creed that “for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,” we must recall the Church’s understanding of salvation. It is not a negative understanding — it is not merely being saved from hell. Rather, it is immensely positive. Salvation for the Church means being reconciled with God, knowing that because of his love God wishes us to share in eternal life with him, and that God fills us with his own divine life in such a profound way that we become like him.
Yet, in all this heavy theology, there is a practical side: Part of our salvation depends up us — depends upon imitating Our Lord Jesus. Through his death and resurrection, he reconciled us to God; through his life and teaching, he reveals God’s infinite love; and through the sacraments, we become sharers of the divine nature. That’s what Our Lord does for us. All he asks of us is to be his disciple — to live as he lived.
And that is why the Word became flesh — to give us all the graces of salvation, and to teach us how to live a life worthy of this calling.
