6. Suitability of the Incarnation and Its Timing

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Thirteen Arguments for Incarnation’s Suitability #

Thomas synthesizes approximately thirteen distinct reasons why God becoming incarnate was fitting:

• Faith as certain knowledge of divine truth
• Hope through demonstration that divine-human union is possible
• Charity through personal union of lover and beloved
• Dignity of human nature ordered to immediate union with God
• Example of virtue and humility
• Remedy and satisfaction for sin
• Manifestation of divine power joining infinitely distant natures
• Perfection of universe through joining human nature (microcosm) to God

Would God Have Become Incarnate Without Sin? #

Thomas’s careful position:

• Scripture’s Testimony: All biblical references consistently present Incarnation as remedy for sin (e.g., Galatians 4:4—“when came the fullness of time”)
• Our Assent: We should give greater assent to this scriptural presentation rather than speculate otherwise
• God’s Power Not Limited: Thomas explicitly does not deny that God could have become incarnate without sin, but Scripture reveals His will ordered it as a remedy
• The Distinction: Between what is owed to creatures (nothing) and what God freely gives (grace); since Incarnation is not owed, we know of it only through revelation

Objections Addressed #

Objection 1: Many reasons justify Incarnation independent of sin

• Response: All thirteen reasons pertain in some way to the remedy of sin

Objection 2: God’s infinite power requires infinite effects

• Response: Creation itself demonstrates infinite power; perfection of universe does not necessarily require Incarnation

Objection 3: Human nature capable of grace should receive it immediately

• Response: God doesn’t fill every capacity; He may do something greater after sin than before (“O happy fault”)
• Example: Matthew 9:12—“I have not come to call the just, but sinners”

Objection 4: Predestination is eternal; God foreknows all things

• Response: Predestination presupposes foreknowledge of future things, including the sin it addresses

Objection 5: Old Testament mysteries reveal Incarnation without revealing causes

• Response: Effects can be revealed without revealing their causes; Adam could know of Incarnation without foreknowing his own fall

Why Not from the Beginning? #

The Problem of Pride

• Man sinned through pride; liberation requires recognizing the need for a liberator
• God left man to himself first under natural law to recognize his limitations
• Galatians 3:19: The law was “ordered through the angels in the hand of a mediator”

The Pedagogical Progression Thomas describes three stages:

1. Natural Law: Man left to himself, discovering his inadequacy
2. Written Law: Man knows what is good but cannot do it, discovering his weakness
3. Gospel/Grace: Man, having recognized infirmity, receives grace from Christ

The Dignity of the Incarnate Word

• A greater judge requires longer preparation
• Prophets and heralds must precede the coming of one of supreme dignity
• Analogy: State of the Union address has a herald announce the president’s coming

Preservation of Faith

• Excessive delay causes faith to grow tepid (Matthew 24:12, Luke 18:8)
• Proper timing maintains the fervor and desire of believers

The Distinction Between Perfect and Imperfect #

Thomas employs Aristotelian language from Metaphysics IX to resolve objections:

• In Diverse Things: The perfect (efficient cause) precedes the imperfect (that which is perfected)
• In One Thing: The imperfect precedes the perfect in time, though after in nature
• Application: Human nature is both imperfect (in need of perfection) and perfected (by union with God); the Incarnation both elevates human nature and is the efficient cause of human elevation

This explains why the Incarnation could neither come immediately (there is an order of progression) nor be delayed until the end (it is the efficient cause of perfection on earth).

Key Arguments #

Why Original Sin Rather Than Actual Sin? #

• Intensive vs. Extensive Magnitude:
  • Actual sin is greater intensively (more voluntary)
  • Original sin is greater extensively (infects the whole human race)
• Christ’s Mission: Christ came chiefly for original sin, the more universal offense
• Aristotelian Priority: “The good of the nation is more divine than the good of one person” (Nicomachean Ethics I)

God Doing Greater Good After Sin #

• Not a contradiction; God’s will freely permits evil to elicit greater good
• The fall occasions the Incarnation—“the greatest making there ever was”
• Example: If one takes your cloak, give your tunic as well (Matthew 5:40)
• Psalmic principle: Psalm 68—“that which I stole not, that I paid”

Personal Appropriation of Christ’s Work #

• Galatians 2:20: “He loved me and handed himself over for me”
• We must account the benefits given to all as given to ourselves alone
• This is the “affection of a faithful servant” described by Thomas
• Yet this does not diminish that Christ chiefly came for original sin affecting the whole race

Important Definitions #

Nature (Natura) #

In this lecture, “nature” operates in two senses:

• Active/Formal Principle: The source of motion and activity in a thing (form perfecting matter)
• Essence/Specific Difference: What makes a thing what it is (its quiddity)

Human Nature as Microcosm #

• Man contains elements of all creation: matter (like stones), growth (like plants), sensation (like animals), and reason (unique to humans)
• Therefore, joining human nature to God is, in a sense, joining all creation to God
• This relates to the order of praise in the Psalms: angels first, material creation, then man

Examples & Illustrations #

The Bishop and Augustine’s Mother #

• Augustine’s mother approaches the bishop requesting he speak to her proud, dissolute son
• Bishop responds: “Not yet”
• This is not a lack of charity but recognition that Augustine was not yet in a state to receive correction
• Principle: One must recognize one’s need before one can accept the remedy

The Doctor and the Patient #

• Don’t give medicine before sickness is recognized
• Premature remedy causes more harm than aid
• Application: God did not immediately give the Incarnation after sin; humanity needed time to recognize its condition

The Irishman’s Wish #

• A man in a doctor’s waiting room hopes the doctor finds something wrong with him
• Why? Because he feels so bad he needs it to be something serious
• Principle: Recognition of severity of condition motivates acceptance of cure

Human Friendship and Divine Charity #

• If a man died for you, you would be grateful to that one man
• “As if about yourself alone”—we ought to regard Christ’s sacrifice as made for us personally
• Yet this does not negate that it was made for the common good of all humanity

Notable Quotes #

“Where sin abounded, grace superabounded” (Romans 5:20)

• Cited regarding how greater good can follow from evil; the Incarnation exceeds what would have been given without sin

“O happy fall, which merited such and so great a Redeemer”

• From the Paschal candle blessing, illustrating the paradox of the fall occasioning greater good

“When came the fullness of time, God sent his own son made from a woman” (Galatians 4:4)

• Establishes that the Incarnation occurred at a providentially determined moment, not arbitrarily

“I have not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12)

• Shows that Christ’s work is ordered to the remedy of sin

“It is not necessary to understand two natures, but the one nature of the incarnate word”

• Cyril of Alexandria (cited in lecture as subject to later monophysite misinterpretation)

Questions Addressed #

Primary Questions #

1. Was the Incarnation suitable?

   • Yes, for approximately thirteen distinct reasons, all relating to human salvation and the manifestation of divine goodness

2. Would God have become incarnate without sin?

   • Scripture consistently presents it as remedy for sin; we should assent to this
   • God’s power is not limited to this; it remains possible but not revealed as His will
   • We depend on Scripture for this knowledge, not on reason alone

3. Why was the timing neither immediate nor delayed?

   • Not Immediate: Humanity must recognize its pride and infirmity through natural law and written law before accepting grace
   • Not Delayed: Christ is both the perfection of human nature and its efficient cause; He must be present on earth to perfect human knowledge and grace
   • Proper Timing: Maintains fervor of faith; excessive delay would cause tepidness

4. Why original sin rather than actual sin?

   • Original sin is greater extensively (affects whole human race)
   • Though actual sin is grave, Christ came chiefly for the universal remedy

5. How can God do something greater after sin than before?

   • God’s will is free; He permits evil to elicit greater good
   • This is not a contradiction but a manifestation of divine wisdom and charity

Secondary Questions #

1. How does personal obligation relate to divine gift?

   • When something is not owed but freely given, we must rely on Scripture to understand why it was given
   • Scripture consistently attributes the Incarnation to the remedy of sin

2. How should we regard Christ’s sacrifice personally?

   • We must account the universal benefit as given to ourselves alone
   • This personal appropriation does not negate that He came chiefly for the common sin of humanity

3. What role does humility play in salvation?

   • Man sinned through pride; salvation requires recognizing the need for a liberator
   • God’s pedagogy moves humanity from ignorance (natural law) through knowledge of inability (written law) to reception of grace

Conceptual Difficulties Noted #

• The lengthy delay before the Incarnation puzzles students; why not come immediately after sin?
• The apparent tension between God’s charity (not deferring to aid a friend) and the delay (apparent deferral)
• Reconciling Scripture’s emphasis on Incarnation as remedy for sin with the reality of God’s infinite power to accomplish it without sin
• The distinction between what Scripture reveals about God’s will and what reason might conclude about God’s nature