COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014

Saint Louis University Revision No. 01

School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 1 of 3

CHURCH TEACHING
Starting from the Biblical perspective, the Church reflects further on the
significance of the incarnation. Pay attention to the new insights contained in this article:

The Incarnation is a unique and singular event. Its truth informs the way we view
God and ourselves (God became man, 2018).

Divine Condescension
When Jesus arrived on earth, he changed the way humanity viewed God. In Jesus,
God came down from heaven to earth without compromising his divinity. The Incarnation
of Christ crowned centuries of divine revelation, God’s slow revealing of himself, making
himself known to humanity over time. God’s divine communication was now to be known
through the Person of his Son. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the
Incarnation as “the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature to accomplish
our salvation in it” (CCC, 461).

This is the most profound meaning behind our Christmas celebrations. [T]he
Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man,
nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and humans. He
became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man.
(CCC, 464)

This holy condescension of God means that we can never accuse God of being
absent or lofty or unreachable or inaccessible. The Incarnation—the taking on of flesh in
the Virgin’s womb—is the moment whereby the inexhaustible, inexpressible, invisible,
omnipotent, and almighty Holy One takes on human visage. The divinity of God shines
through a human person now.

At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, the
Word, and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine
nature, he assumed human nature. (CCC, 479)

Divine Dignity
Jesus, coming as a human person, changed the way we view ourselves. The
Second Vatican Council declared that the Incarnation raises our human dignity. He who
is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) is himself the perfect man. To the sons
of Adam, he restores the divine likeness disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human
 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 2 of 3

nature, as he assumed it was not annulled, by that very fact, it has been raised to a divine
dignity in our respect too. (Gaudium et Spes, 22)

Humanity now counts the face of God among its own. Never again may I look at
another person, or myself, with disdain or disrespect, for there is an inherent dignity in all.
For by his incarnation, the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man.
He worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind, acted by human choice,
and loved a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has indeed been made one of us,
like us in all things except sin. (Gaudium et Spes, 22)

This is why we celebrate Christmas; the Nativity is the realization of the Incarnation.
This is why we kneel with wonder, praying at the manger. The Christ Child gives us insight
into the God who truly knows us, loves us, and still chooses to save us. As we yield ever
more deeply to the love of God, we discover that Christmas’ true meaning brings us a
keener understanding of our true selves.
The Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus, “we see our God
made visible and so are caught up in the love of the God we cannot see.” (Roman Missal,
Preface of Christmas I). The individual characteristics of Christ’s body express the divine
person of God’s Son. He has made the features of his human body his own, to the point
that they can be venerated when portrayed in a divine image, for the believer who
venerates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted. (CCC, 477)

The doctrine of the incarnation, the Church provides us with these two important
themes:
1. The incarnation is God reaching out to the whole of creation.
2. The incarnation is God immersing Himself in the very concrete situation of
people.

As you ponder on what these two themes mean, focus on “reaching out,” “whole
of creation,” “God immersing Himself,” and “concrete situation of people.”

In the understanding of the Church inspired by the Biblical literature, God is

Creator, and He loves what He created. It is no wonder that the Bible starts with God
creating in the book of Genesis and that after each day of creation, he surveys what he
made with satisfaction and exclaims, “It’s good!” The Church also teaches that creation
is an overflow of God’s love. We and the rest of creation, in Biblical understanding, are
fashioned out of boundless love. Because God loved so much, he created.
 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 3 of 3

In Jesus, the Incarnate Word, God continues to reach out in love for creation and
renews creation. Through Jesus, God has shown us the way of life, a way of relating with
ourselves and others, and indeed with the whole of creation, which can lead to the
renewal of our world. Jesus showed us that human beings can sacrifice for one another,
that we can show genuine compassion, that we dare to work for justice and peace
against opposition.

The incarnation is also God’s solidarity with people, especially with the poor and
the oppressed. In Jesus’ life and ministry, we see God’s concern for the sick and the
marginalized. Around one-third of Jesus’ recorded activities in the Gospels are
concerned with healing and giving hope to the sick and those afflicted in any way. In
Jesus, the saving God has visited his people. The Old Testament refers to this as God
“pitching his tent among his people” (Exodus 40: 34-38) so that people will live entire lives
(John 10:10).

Pitching tents with others is a symbol of an intimate relationship, solidarity, or

oneness. Biblical scholars usually use this expression concerning the incarnation. In the
following anecdote from Steven Bouma-Prediger, we understand how pitching tent with
others becomes one way of speaking about the doctrine of the incarnation (Read this
concerning John 1:1-18):

"It was raining, cold and hard, as we finally canoed into our camp for the
night. It may have been spring back home, with blooming tulips, but May in the
Adirondacks is often still late winter. My students and I needed some shelter from
the weather, so we pitched our four-person tents, and after a hot meal of delicious
food and some conversation about the day, we dove into our warm, dry shelters.
You get to know someone well, sleeping in a small tent night after night. You know
who snores and who rolls about, who likes to sleep in, and who is up with the birds.
With tenting comes a newfound level of intimacy."

In this famous passage, verse 14 in Greek says that “the Word became flesh and
pitched his tent among us.” As Eugene Peterson puts it: “The Word became flesh and
blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” God tented with the Israelites in the
wilderness, and in Christ, God pitches his tent with us. God is with us, up close, in person.
How amazing that God pitches his tent among the likes of us! Praise God from whom all
blessings flow.