Why the Incarnation? (4)

“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” John 17.4

The honor of God
In his great dialog on the reason for the Incarnation of the Son of God, Cur Deus Homo, Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury at the turn of the 12^th century, explained to his student, Boso, that God had to become a man because He desired the salvation of men so much. And, since there was nothing men could do to save themselves, God would have to restore them to His original purposes in the same way they had initially fallen from them. As a man had been the occasion of humankind’s fall from grace, so only a Man, and only One capable of perfect obedience, and thus also God, would be able to accomplish the salvation God desires for us.

Jesus Christ became the God-Man to take away the pains of death and restore men to a path of obedience before God, by bringing them salvation through His own active and passive obedience. Thus He set God’s eternal plan on a fast-track toward glorious fulfillment.

A third reason for the Incarnation, Anselm explained, was to restore to God the honor that sin had taken from Him. Anselm explained, “to sin is nothing else than not to render to God his due.” To which Boso asked, “What is the debt which we owe to God?” And the Archbishop replied, “Every wish of a rational creature should be subject to the will of God…For it is such a will only, when it can be exercised, that does works pleasing to God…He who does not render this honor which is due to God, robs God of his own and dishonors him; this is sin. Moreover, so long as he does not restore what he has taken away, he remains in fault; and it will not suffice merely to restore what has been taken away, but, considering the contempt offered, he ought restore more than he took away.”

The demand of justice
Now God cannot restore His own honor merely by compassion, Anselm explained. He cannot simply wave off our sins and forget them. This would be to dishonor Himself by ignoring His justice. As Anselm explained, “It is not fitting for God to pass over anything in His Kingdom undischarged.”

Further, to simply forgive sins without appropriate payment for them would be to remove any difference between those who are guilty and those who are not, “and this is unbecoming to God,” Anselm insisted. Moreover, to do this would be to equate injustice with justice, and even to equate injustice with God Himself, because He forgives injustice without proper judgment.

“God maintains nothing with more justice than his own dignity,” Anselm wrote. “Therefore the honor taken away must be repaid, or punishment must follow; otherwise, God will not be just to Himself, or He will be weak with respect to [the just and the unjust alike].” God’s justice must be satisfied if His honor is to be vindicated and restored, and for God to allow His honor to be neither vindicated nor restored would be to make injustice equal to God.

When Jesus prayed that He had accomplished the work for which God had sent Him, and had glorified Him on earth (Jn. 17.4), this is what He had in mind. Jesus restored the honor of God by His work of obedience, and, by so doing, He has made it possible for us – on whose behalf God’s honor was restored – to honor Him henceforth in every aspect of our lives. But the greater glory of God, which Jesus had already fulfilled in His heart and mind, would be accomplished on the cross of Calvary, and then, out of the tomb on the first Easter morning.

To glorify God in all things
“Man’s chief end,” the catechism declares, “is to glorify God.” We could not glorify God, but would instead only continue to dishonor Him, apart from the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dead in our trespasses and sins and inclined in our hearts only to disobedience, we need a power beyond this world to rescue us from our transgressions and to set us on a path of knowing and glorifying God.

This is why we were created, and this is the life in which we know the greatest satisfaction and fulfillment. But more important than this, the life of redemption is that life which alone can give to God the honor and glory and praise which are His due, and which we are enabled to supply by the grace of Jesus Christ our Savior and King.

Next steps: Jesus glorified God, thus making it possible for us, through His obedience, to glorify God as well. But what does it mean to glorify God? Talk with a pastor or church leader about this question.

T. M. Moore

We’re taking a 3-week intermission from our series on The Disciplined Life to review three archive series on the meaning of Christmas. This week’s study, Why the Incarnation?, is part 1 of a 3-part series on Christmas, As Advertised, and is available as a free download.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.