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Dogmatic Theology — Topic 9

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Dogmatic Theology — Topic 9

Christology

The Economy of Salvation

Development of the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation

The definition and use of particular terms played a crucial role in the development of the Church’s teaching regarding salvation.

Incarnation (Greek – ἐνσάρκωσις: lit. taking on flesh; Latin – incarnatio);

Divine incarnation (hardly used in Greek or Latin theological literature);

“to become man” (Greek – ἐνανθρώπησις: used more frequently than ἐνσάρκωσις; Latin inhumanatio).

As the central and pivotal event in the history of the salvation of the human race, the Incarnation became a central theme in the theology of the Fathers. The Church’s teaching on the Incarnation pursued two paths: exegesis of Sacred Scripture and polemics against emerging heresies.

  • The Economy of Salvation
    • Why did the Son become incarnate?
    • The Cause of the Incarnation
    • The Purpose of the Advent of the Son of God into the World
    • The Cause of God’s Delay in Sending His Son and Our Savior
    • Development of the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation
    • Old Testament Witnesses about the Divinity of the Savior
    • New Testament Witnesses about the Divinity of the Savior
    • The Teaching of the Apostles on the Incarnation
    • The Witness of the Old Testament to the Reality of Christ’s Flesh
    • The Witness of the New Testament to the Reality of Christ’s Flesh
    • Summary of Christological Teaching in Holy Scripture

New Testament Witnesses about the Divinity of the Savior

As was already seen in the previous section, the understanding of the apostles in the New Testament is crucial to understand the messianic passages of the Old Testament. Besides these commentaries, the witnesses in the New Testament concerning the divinity of the Savior Jesus Christ are unambiguously clear.

In the dialogue with Nicodemus, the Savior ascribes to Himself “omnipresence,” calls Himself the Only-begotten Son of God, and says that without faith in Him one cannot be saved (these characteristics can only apply to God) ([Jn. 3:13-18](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John- Chapter-3/#:~:text=And%20no%20man,Son%20of%20God.)). In another place He attribute to Himself the Divine attribute of “ever-existing” or “eternity” (Jn. 8:58).

The apostles also witnessed clearly to the Divinity of Christ:

These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name(Jn. 20:31);

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life(1 Jn. 5:20);

Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory(1 Tim. 3:16);

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.(1 Cor. 2:7-8).

The Apostle John the Theologian’s teaching on the incarnation is particularly worthy of note. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (Jn. 1:1-3). And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth…And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:14-17).

Old Testament Witnesses about the Divinity of the Savior

Already in the Old Testament one finds prophecies about the Messiah (Christ – lit. the Anointed One) coming into the world to save man from sin.

The Messiah is called the Son of God: The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee(Ps. 2:2-7). It was in a messianic sense that the apostles understood these words, relating the second psalm to Jesus Christ ([Acts 4:20-28](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts- Chapter-4/#::text=For%20we%20cannot,to%20be%20done.)). The apostle Paul in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia also attributed these words of the second psalm to Christ ([Acts 13:32-34](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts- Chapter-13/#::text=And%20we%20declare,mercies%20of%20David.)).

The Messiah is born from the essence of God before all time: The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek(Ps. 110:2-4). The apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost attributed the words of this psalm to Christ ([Acts 2:32-36](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts- Chapter-2/#:~:text=This%20Jesus%20hath,Lord%20and%20Christ.)).

The Messiah is called the Lord (Adonai) and God (Elohim) and even the name Jehovah (Yahweh). These names apply to God Himself alone. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows(Ps. 45:6-7). According to the Apostle Paul this is a Messianic psalm ([Heb. 1:6-9](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Hebrews- Chapter-1/#:~:text=And%20again%2C%20when,above%20thy%20fellows.)).

Summary of Christological Teaching in Holy Scripture

The essence of Christology according to Holy Scripture can be summarised in the following terms.

  1. In divinity Christ is truly God, equal to the Father. He is the only begotten Son of the Father, He is not the Father: as a Person, as a being, He is different from the Father. He has the same divine attributes and energies as the Father.
  2. In humanity Christ is fully human, having a genuine body and an intelligent soul. However, Christ is perfectly sinless, born of the Virgin Mary in a supernatural way.
  3. Despite the immutability of Deity and humanity in Christ, there is no division in Him. He is one person, one subject, performing both divine and human acts, manifesting both divine and human wills.

The Cause of God’s Delay in Sending His Son and Our Savior

If God had destined to save man from before the ages, why didn’t He do so immediately after the Fall? Why did the Word of God become incarnate only in these last days (Heb. 1:2)? The answer to this question is found in the whole history of the Divine Economy that led up to the Incarnation. The Holy Fathers reason thus:

  1. it was necessary for men to realize through experience over the ages the full extent of his fall and his moral weakness, and thus more strongly desired God’s help;
  2. it was necessary for the infection of sin, which had deeply penetrated into human nature, to be drawn out little by little, so that the moral sickness of mankind could fully mature and reach the final stage of its development, and then the Heavenly Physician of soul and body could appear to heal it completely and perfectly: where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20);
  3. it was necessary to prepare men for the coming of Christ upon the earth, to announce all the circumstances of His appearance, so that when He came, men might recognize Him clearly and prepare themselves to accept His teachings;
  4. mankind had to undergo a long process of purification and sanctification in the persons of the patriarchs and all the holy men of the Old Testament in order for the Immaculate Virgin Mary to be born in the degree of purity and holiness, which allowed her to become the receptacle of the most holy God the Word.

The Cause of the Incarnation

The motivation behind the incarnation of the Son of God (His coming into the world to perform the work of redemption) is God’s infinite love for His creation, man, who, after the Fall, needed to be redeemed. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved(John 3:16-17), God commendeth(proved) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8) and many other places.

The Holy Fathers, speaking of the reasons for the Incarnation of God, also emphasize the love of God as its cause. It is for this reason alone, that “being incorporeal by nature, and Word from the beginning, (the Son) has yet of the loving-kindness and goodness of His own Father been manifested to us in a human body for our salvation.”[1]

[1] St. Athanasius the Great. On the Incarnation of the Word. 1.

The Purpose of the Advent of the Son of God into the World

The Holy Church states in the Creed: “Who for us man, and for our salvation came down from Heaven.” The Lord Himself testifies that the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost (Lk. 19:10); For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (Jn. 3:17).

The Holy Fathers also spoke of the salvation of man as the purpose of the advent of the Son of God into the world. St. Irenaeus of Lyon writes: “For if the flesh were not in a position to be saved, the Word of God would in no wise have become flesh.”[1] “God Himself, despite His divinity, took to Himself our human flesh, and for no other reason than the salvation of the human race became man.”[2]

However, the Holy Fathers do not simply speak of deliverance, that is, the restoration of man to his prelapsarian state. After the Incarnation, man became united with the Godhead through Christ, Who contains in Himself the fulness of human nature, and thus man received the possibility of incorruption and deification. This new condition is superior to the one that Adam had: “He communicates a Second Communion, far more marvellous than the first, inasmuch as then He imparted the better nature, but now He Himself assumes the worse.”[3] St. Irenaeus of Lyon underlines the necessity of union between God and man: “unless man had been joined to God, he could never have become a partaker of incorruptibility.”[4]

St Athanasius the Great stresses the point not just of salvation, not just of the restoration of the image of God in man, but above all of the deification of man: man is called to deification, but deification is possible only on the condition that the Son is God: “For the Word of God was made man that we might be made God.”[5]

St Gregory the Theologian reasons in a similar way to St Athanasius: “Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become God’s for His sake, since He for ours became Man. He assumed the worse that He might give us the better,”[6]…“He assumes the poverty of my flesh, that I may assume the richness of His Godhead.”[7]

St. Maximus the Confessor has a particularly interesting view of the cause of the Incarnation, one unique among the Eastern patristic Fathers – he writes that the goal of all creation was to reach the Incarnation. Even if Adam and Eve had not fallen, and man was never in need of redemption, the Word of God would have become incarnate nonetheless.

[1] St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies. Book 5, Ch. 14.1.

[2] [St. John Chrysostom. Homilies on Genesis. Homily 3.16.](https://archive.org/details/saint-john-chrysostom-homilies-on- genesis-1-17/page/45/mode/2up#:~:text=God%20himself%2C%20remember%2C%20despite%20his%20divinity%2C%20took%20to%20himself%20our%20human%20flesh%2C%20and%20for%20no%20other%20reason%20than%20the%20salvation%20of%20the%20human%20race%20became%20man)

[3] St. Gregory the Theologian. Oration 38. XIII.

[4] [St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Bk. 3, XVIII, 7.](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/irenaeus- book3.html#:~:text=unless%20man%20had%20been%20joined%20to%20God%2C%20he%20could%20never%20have%20become%20a%20partaker%20of%20incorruptibility)

[5] St. Athanasius the Great. On the Incarnation of the Word. 54.3.

[6] St. Gregory the Theologian. Oration 1. V.

[7] Ibid.

The Teaching of the Apostles on the Incarnation

The term “incarnation” itself goes back to the words of the apostle: And the Word became flesh – Καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (Jn. 1:14). In this verse the word Logos was applied to Christ for the first time and has since become one of the main characteristics of Christ. The apostle John wrote his Gospel in part to counter the delusion of the Jew Kerinthos, who claimed that Christ was a mere man (see below).

For apostle John, the Word is first and foremost a spoken word, not just the mind or thought. It signifies a revelation in which God reveals Himself. Such revelation is not only the words and actions of Christ, but above all He Himself is this revelation. The Logos thus becomes synonymous with the Deity of Christ.

As for the word flesh (σάρξ), apostle John similarly used it not in a literal but metaphorical sense, denoting the fullness of Christ’s humanity (both body and soul) (see the manifestations of Christ’s human psyche in Jn. 11:33).

Thus the Christological paradigm of Λόγος – σάρξ (Word – flesh) is rooted in the teaching of St. John the Evangelist, which emphasizes the oneness of Christ as well as the distance between the Deity and humanity united in Him.

The Witness of the New Testament to the Reality of Christ’s Flesh

If the Old Testament Scripture identified Christ as a genuine human being, there is even more evidence of this in the books of the New Testament.

Our Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament Revelation is plainly called a man: for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5), the Apostle Paul in the Athenian Areopagus states: He (God) hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead (Acts 17:31). But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham (John 8: 40). For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many (Rom. 5: 15);__for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Rom. 5: 19). But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15:20-22). Apostle Paul calls Him the second (final) Adam:the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit (1 Cor. 15: 45); and that men are His brethren: for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee (Heb. 2: 11-12).

The New Testament Scriptures are both historically accurate and quite detailed in their description of the birth of Christ, showing that He was the Son of the Virgin Mary ([Mt. 1:18-25](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew- Chapter-1/#:~:text=Now%20the%20birth,his%20name%20JESUS.); Lk. 1:31, 42; 2:5, 7; 1 Jn. 4:2). The Gospels of Matthew (1 Ch.) and Luke (3 Ch.) list the genealogies of the Lord Jesus Christ, indicating His ancestors according to the flesh. The Savior took on not angelic but human nature: when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman (Gal. 4:4). For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16). The Lord repeatedly calls Himself in the Gospel a man and the Son of Man (Jn. 8:40; Mt. 8:20, etc.). The very term “the Son of Man”, a Messianic name with origins in the Old Testament book of Daniel, is applied to Christ about 80 times in the New Testament. Apostle Paul says that the Lord took the image of a slave, the likeness of man, but this is not an indication of the appearance of humanity in Christ, but a voluntary departure from the glory befitting the Son of God: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:6-8).

The Witness of the Old Testament to the Reality of Christ’s Flesh

There are very definite indications in the Old Testament as to the reality of the human nature of the Savior. As early as in the so-called “pre- or proto- gospel” (Gen. 3:15) it is testified that the coming Messiah must be the seed of the woman, i.e. be born of a woman, and thus take on human nature.

In the book of Jeremiah the Messiah is called a descendant of David: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS ([23:5-6](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Jeremiah- Chapter-23/#::text=Behold%2C%20the%20days,LORD%20OUR%20RIGHTEOUSNESS.)), and the prophet Isaiah proclaimed that He would be born of a virgin: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Is. 7:14), and that he shall die for our sins: He was despised and belittled before men, a man of sorrows and in need… __he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed ([Is. 53:3-5](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Isaiah- Chapter-53/#::text=He%20is%20despised,we%20are%20healed.)).

In the Psalms of the Prophet and King David the different events of the life and death of our Lord are pointed out in many ways: All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him (Ps. 22:7-8); For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him(Ps. 71:10-11); I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me (Ps. 77:1); etc. These and many other testimonies of the Old Testament Scriptures gave firm ground for the people of Israel to expect their Messiah as truly man.

Why did the Son become incarnate?

Why did the Son of God become incarnate and not the Father or the Holy Spirit, both of whom participate in our salvation?

This is a great mystery, but the Holy Fathers, on the basis of what has been revealed to us about the Persons of the Trinity and the Divine Economy, found the Incarnation of the second Person of the Trinity to be most consistent with His hypostatic attributes:

  • as the Son: “the Son of God deigns to become and to be called Son of Man; not changing what He was (for It is unchangeable); but assuming what He was not (for He is full of love toward man);”[1]
  • as the Person through Whom all things were created, including man also (All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made – Jn. 1:3). “(The Apostle Paul) also points out the reason why it was necessary for none other than God the Word Himself to become incarnate; as follows: For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and through Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering (Heb. 2:10); by which words he means, that it belonged to none other to bring man back from the corruption which had begun, than the Word of God, Who had also made them from the beginning;”[2]
  • as the eternal Word Who alone was able to declare to us the doctrine of God in all its fullness, as much as we are able to receive. “For in no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless our Master, existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being had the power of revealing to us the things of the Father, except His own proper Word;”[3]
  • as the Image of God (His Son…Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person – Heb. 1:3), in according to Which man was created.

[1] St. Gregory the Theologian. Oration 39. XIII.

[2] St. Athanasius the Great. On the Incarnation of the Word. 10.

[3] St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies. Book 5, Ch. 1.1.

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