Why God Became Man
Insights on the Incarnation from the Church Fathers and the Catechism
Part I: The Logic of a Saint
A Pillar of the Church
St. Athanasius of Alexandria, who lived in the fourth century, was a true champion of our faith. He is often called the "Father of Orthodoxy" because he defended the core truths of Christianity. The word "orthodoxy" here simply means "right belief." In his time, long before the split between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, it referred to the true, universal faith handed down from the Apostles. His short book, On the Incarnation, explains the divine logic behind why the Son of God had to become human to save us. It shows that the Incarnation is not just one doctrine among many, but the very heart of our faith.
The Problem: A Return to Nothing
A Good Creation
St. Athanasius begins with a simple truth: God is perfectly good. Out of His goodness, He created the universe ex nihilo—from nothing—through His eternal Word (Jesus). Humanity was the masterpiece of this creation, made in God's own image and likeness.
Jesus as "The Word"
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
When we call Jesus "the Word" (or Logos in Greek), we mean He is the eternal self-expression of the Father. Just as our words reveal our thoughts, Jesus perfectly reveals who God is. He is not a creation, but the eternal Son through whom all things were created.
The Catastrophe of the Fall
But humanity turned away. By choosing created things over the Creator, we turned from Being itself toward non-being. This was a disaster for our very being, one that fundamentally damaged our human nature. Our nature became subject to "corruption," an active process of decay.
The Divine Dilemma
This created a profound problem for God. Of course, this does not mean the all-knowing God was truly confused. St. Athanasius uses this idea as a powerful way to show the perfect wisdom of the Incarnation as the only possible solution that keeps God's character perfectly consistent.
Uphold His Truth
God had declared that turning away from Him would lead to death. For God to go back on His word would be a lie, which is impossible for Him. His truthfulness, a core part of His nature, had to be maintained.
Uphold His Goodness
At the same time, it was unworthy of God's goodness to let His own creation, made in His image, simply perish. What would be the point of creating us just to abandon us to ruin? Such an act would suggest a lack of care or power.
Simple repentance was not enough. Repentance might stop us from sinning, but it could not reverse the corruption that had taken root in our nature. Our very being was damaged and needed to be remade. How could God be both perfectly true and perfectly good?
The Solution: A Dual Remedy
1. Conquering Death
Only the Word of God, who created us, could re-create us. Since the Word is immortal, He took on a human body that could die. He offered this body to death "as a substitute for all," paying the debt required by God's law. But because this body was hypostatically united to Life itself, death could not hold it. His Resurrection destroyed the power of death forever.
2. Restoring Knowledge
The Fall also clouded our minds. So the Word of God became visible. By becoming a man, the invisible God could be seen, heard, and touched. Jesus' life and works were a divine act of teaching, a condescension to our weakened state. He met our senses halfway, allowing those who were lost to find their way back to the Father.
Why the Saviour Must Be God
St. Athanasius's entire argument rests on a crucial truth: only God can save us. This was his powerful answer to the most dangerous heresy of his time, Arianism. The Arians taught that Jesus was not truly God, but was instead the first and greatest being God ever created. To them, the Son was a creature, not the Creator. Athanasius saw that this idea destroyed the very possibility of salvation. If Jesus is a creature, he is part of the created world that is subject to death and decay. A creature cannot save another creature from corruption any more than one drowning person can save another. Only the Creator can re-create.
The Goal: Becoming Like God
"For He was made man that we might be made God."
This famous line from St. Athanasius captures the breathtaking goal of our salvation. This concept, called theosis or deification, does not mean we become God by nature. It means we are invited to share in God's own life by grace. This is only possible because our Saviour is not a creature, but is truly God, able to unite our human nature to the divine. An Arian Christ (a created saviour) could be a good moral example, but he could not make us partakers of the divine nature.
Part II: Why the Word Became Flesh
Building on the wisdom of saints like Athanasius, the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the purpose of the Incarnation in four beautiful and interconnected reasons. They show us that God's plan was not just to fix a problem, but to draw us into a relationship of love far greater than we could have ever imagined. The Incarnation was not something God was forced to do, but was the most "fitting" way for His perfect wisdom and love to save humanity.
1. To Save Us by Reconciling Us with God
The first reason is the most direct: Jesus came to save us from our sins. The offense of sin against an infinite God created an "infinite chasm" that no finite human could bridge. As both true God and true man, Jesus was the perfect representative for humanity. His willing sacrifice on the cross was an act of love with infinite value, capable of paying our debt, satisfying divine justice, and reconciling us to the Father.
2. So That We Might Know God's Love
God did not want to save us from a distance. In Jesus, we see God's love made visible and tangible. The Incarnation is the ultimate proof that God's love is not an abstract idea, but a personal, sacrificial reality. He entered into the depths of human suffering to show us the incredible extent of His care for us. As St. John says, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world."
3. To Be Our Model of Holiness
Jesus does not just tell us how to live; He shows us. His entire life is the perfect model of holiness. His humility in the manger, His obedience in His hidden life, His compassion for the sick, and His ultimate self-sacrificial love on the cross reveal what true humanity is meant to look like. By following Him, we learn how to love God and our neighbour. He is "the way, and the truth, and the life."
4. To Make Us Partakers of the Divine Nature
This is the most astonishing reason. The ultimate goal of the Incarnation was not just to restore us to our original state, but to elevate us to a destiny beyond imagination. By uniting our human nature to His divine Person, Jesus invites us to share in God's own life. Through grace, we become adopted children of the Father and are drawn into the inner life of the Trinity. This is the gift of theosis, or deification.
The Enduring Legacy
Because God became man, the Church teaches that every single human person has an incredible, sacred dignity. This isn't a philosophical idea, but a theological truth: God so valued human nature that He united it to Himself forever. Furthermore, the Incarnation sanctified the material world, showing that physical things like water, oil, and bread and wine can become channels of God's grace. This is the foundation of our sacramental life, where the mystery of the Word made flesh continues to touch and transform our world today.