There are four reasons why God became man:
- to reconcile us with God
- to show us God’s love
- to be our model of holiness
- to make us partakers in the divine nature.
Quoting St. Peter, St. Irenaeus, and St. Athanasius, the Catechism states:
“The Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature’: ‘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.’ ‘For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.’ ‘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.'”
CCC 460
God became man so we may share in his life as his sons and daughters. He assumed our humanity to infuse us with his divinity. This is so much more than acquittal.
Dr. Swafford uses the analogy of a nail in a piece of wood to demonstrate this point. When you pull out the nail, the hole is still there. Jesus fills the hole with divine life.
How much of the divine life do you want? Jesus offers as much of it as we ask him in this present moment, where time meets eternity.
If you want to go deeper into what Christianity is really all about, we invite you to check out Ascension’s Bible study, Hebrews: The New and Eternal Covenant.
Dr. Andrew Swafford is associate professor of theology at Benedictine College. He is general editor and contributor to The Great Adventure Catholic Bible published by Ascension, presenter of the Bible study Romans: The Gospel of Salvation (and author of the companion book), also by Ascension, and presenter of Hebrews: The New and Eternal Covenant Bible study. Andrew is author of Nature and Grace, John Paul II to Aristotle and Back Again, and Spiritual Survival in the Modern World. He holds a doctorate in sacred theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake and a master’s degree in Old Testament & Semitic Languages from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is member of the Society of Biblical Literature, Academy of Catholic Theology, and a senior fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He lives with his wife Sarah and their five children in Atchison, Kansas. Follow him on Twitter: @andrew_swafford.
