5. The Suitability of the Incarnation: Arguments and Synthesis

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Question of the Incarnation’s Suitability #

• Whether it is fitting (conveniens) for God to become man
• Thomas approaches this through two different organizational frameworks in his two major works
• The inquiry begins from Aristotle’s question in Metaphysics II: how is man disposed toward knowing truth?
• Berquist emphasizes Aristotle’s answer: the knowledge of truth is “in one way difficult and in another way easy”
  • Difficult because of human limitations
  • Easy because no one completely misses the truth; everyone grasps some part
  • Through the efforts of many, large amounts of truth accumulate

The Synthesis of Arguments: Thirteen Total #

Across the Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles, Thomas presents arguments that can be organized as follows:

Six Arguments Common to Both Works:

1. From Faith: God becoming man provides certain knowledge of divine truth
2. From Charity (3rd in ST, 4th in SCG): The Incarnation demonstrates God’s supreme love for us
3. From Example (4th in ST, 6th in SCG): We need visible examples of virtue; only a God-man provides a perfect, infallible example
4. From Human Dignity: Prevents despising our own nature and shows our true dignity
5. From Satisfaction for Sin (10th in ST, 8th in SCG): Only a God-man could make adequate satisfaction for the sin of the whole human race
6. From Full Partaking of Divine Nature: “God became man, so that man might become God”

Arguments Unique to Summa Theologiae (3): 7. Example of Humility (8th in ST): Combats pride 8. Against Pride (9th in ST): Divine humility heals human pride

Arguments Unique to Summa Contra Gentiles (4): 9. From Hope (1st in SCG): Shows the possibility of immediate union with God despite infinite distance 10. From Friendship/Equality (5th in SCG): Friendship requires equality; God comes down to our level 11. From the Certitude of Forgiveness (7th in SCG): Through the God-man, we have certainty that our sins are forgiven—not merely abstract assurance but concrete confidence 12. From Hope (2nd in SCG, distinct from 9 above): God’s love for us grounds hope to receive good things

The Two Different Arguments for Hope #

• Summa Theologiae (2nd argument): We hope because God loves us; one who loves us will do good things for us
• Summa Contra Gentiles (1st argument): We hope because the Incarnation demonstrates that infinite distance between God and man can be overcome; if God can join human nature to his divine Person, he can join himself to our intellects as the form by which we see him

The Question of Sin and the Incarnation #

The Objections:

• If there are many other reasons for the Incarnation beyond sin (as Augustine suggests), then sin may not be its primary cause
• God’s omnipotence and desire to manifest infinite effects would seem to require the Incarnation regardless of sin
• Human nature is not made more capable of grace by sin; therefore, if man had not sinned, he would still be capable of this grace, and God does not subtract from creatures goods of which they are capable
• God’s predestination is eternal; Christ is predestined to be the Son of God in power (Romans 1:4), suggesting the Incarnation transcends sin as a temporal event
• The mystery of the Incarnation is revealed through the union of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5), symbolized in Adam and Eve; Adam could know of the Incarnation through prophetic vision without knowing of his own sin beforehand

Thomas’s Response:

• Thomas acknowledges the diversity of opinion on this question
• He cites Albert the Great and Alexander of Hales as respectable thinkers who held that the Son of God would have become flesh even without sin
• However, Thomas argues that things which proceed from God’s will alone (beyond what is owed to creatures) are known to us only through Sacred Scripture
• Scripture consistently presents the reason for the Incarnation as remedy for sin (Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 1:15; Matthew 1:21)
• All thirteen reasons, though they may seem independent, pertain “in some way to the remedy of sin”
• Important caveat: God’s power is not limited to this; he could have become man without sin, but it is more suitable—more in accord with divine wisdom—to say that sin is the occasion
• The name “Jesus” (from the Hebrew meaning “Savior”) indicates the primary purpose: “He shall save his people from their sins”

The Rectification of All Arguments Through the Lens of Sin #

First Objection (Augustine’s multiple reasons): All 13 reasons pertain to remedy for sin because:

• Without sin, man would have been filled with divine wisdom and perfected by rectitude of justice
• Through sin, man collapsed into bodily things
• It was suitable that God, assuming flesh, might exhibit through bodily things the remedy of salvation
• Augustine: “Flesh blinded thee… flesh will heal thee”; Christ came that “from the flesh he might extinguish the vices of the flesh”

Second Objection (God’s infinite power needs infinite effects):

• The infinite divine power is already shown through creation (which requires infinite power because it bridges the infinite distance between nothing and something)
• The perfection of the universe suffices when creatures are ordered to God as their end
• The union of creature to God in persona exceeds the limits of natural perfection but is not necessary to manifest God’s infinite power

Third Objection (Capacity argument):

• A twofold capacity exists in human nature:
  • Natural capacity (always filled by God according to the creature’s nature)
  • Capacity relative to divine power (not always filled; God is not obliged to realize every such capacity)
• God is not bound to fill every capacity. He could have made creatures with more grace
• However, nothing prevents human nature from being elevated to something greater after sin
• God permits evil so that something better may be elicited (Romans 5:20: “Where sin abounded, grace super-abounded”)
• The liturgy celebrates this: “O happy fault, which merited such and so great a Redeemer” (Benediction of the Paschal candle)

Fourth Objection (Eternal predestination):

• The predestination of God is eternal, but this does not entail that the Incarnation would have occurred without sin
• Predestination accommodates itself to the actual course of events God foreknows

Fifth Objection (The marriage symbolism of Adam and Eve):

• Though Adam may have had prophetic knowledge of the Incarnation (as the Church fathers suggest through the “mystic sleep”), this does not mean he knew of his own sin in advance
• Augustine argues that neither angels nor men can know their own falls beforehand
• The symbolism of Eve coming from Adam’s side and the Church coming from Christ’s side pertains to the Incarnation but does not establish whether it would have occurred without sin

Important Definitions #

Conveniens (Suitability) #

• The question is not whether the Incarnation was necessary in an absolute sense (without which something is impossible), but whether it was suitable—appropriate to divine wisdom and goodness
• Things that come from God’s will alone, above what is owed to creatures, cannot be known to us except through Sacred Scripture

Two Senses of Necessity #

1. Absolute necessity: Without which the end cannot be reached at all
2. Conditional necessity: Without which the end cannot be reached well

• The Incarnation is necessary in the second sense only (as Berquist notes from the contextual material)

Persona (Person) #

• The critical distinction in Christology: Jesus Christ is a person who is human, but not a human person
• The divine person assumes human nature
• Berquist cautions against imprecise language: saying “Jesus is a human person” can suggest heresy, whereas saying “Jesus is a man” is safe

Examples & Illustrations #

Socrates and Despair (from Phaedo) #

• Berquist opens with the example of Phaedo hearing about Socrates’ final hours and his response: he never admired Socrates more
• The point: Socrates led people out of despair through his way of conducting himself
• This mirrors how the Incarnation is a remedy not just for guilt but for despair about the possibility of union with God

The Modern Philosopher #

• Berquist contrasts Aristotle with modern philosophy:
  • A modern philosopher asks: “Can man know truth?”
  • Aristotle asks: “How adequate is man to knowing truth?”
• This shows a shift from Aristotelian realism to modern skepticism

The Example of Children #

• When you have a small child, you come down to his level (play with blocks) rather than teach theology
• This illustrates why God becomes man—to establish the “familiar friendship” (from the fifth argument of SCG) by meeting us where we are

The Happy Fall #

• Berquist recounts teaching high school students and asking why the Paschal candle blessing calls the Fall “happy”
• One student answered: “They fell down together” (i.e., misery loves company)
• The correct answer: the Fall is happy because it merited such a great Redeemer, showing how God’s providence elicits greater good from evil

Remission of Sins Through Sacrament of Confession #

• The seventh argument of SCG (certitude of forgiveness) extends to the sacramental practice of Confession
• Berquist mentions his mother’s friend making a general confession and experiencing relief and certainty of forgiveness through the human minister of the sacrament
• This shows how the principle—that we need the God-man to assure us of forgiveness—operates in the Church’s sacramental life

Notable Quotes #

“God became man, so that man might become God” — Augustine and other Church Fathers (cited as the 5th argument in ST)

“O happy fault, which merited such and so great a Redeemer” — From the Benediction of the Paschal Candle

“If man had not sinned, the Son of Man would not have come.” — Augustine, On the Words of the Lord

“There is no cause of the coming of Christ the Lord except that he make sinners safe. Take away the illnesses, the wounds, and there’s no need for the medicine.” — Augustine (glossed in Aquinas’s commentary)

“Where sin abounded, grace super-abounded.” — Paul, Romans 5:20

“Flesh blinded thee… flesh will heal thee.” — Augustine on John 1:14

Questions Addressed #

1. Is it fitting for God to become flesh? Yes—it pertains to the highest good to communicate itself in the highest way, and the Incarnation demonstrates this in multiple ways.

2. Were there many reasons for the Incarnation apart from sin? Yes, but all thirteen reasons ultimately pertain to the remedy of sin; they are not independent justifications for the Incarnation in the absence of sin.

3. Would God have become incarnate if man had not sinned? Probably not. Although God’s power is not limited and he could have done so, Scripture consistently presents sin as the occasion and reason for the Incarnation. We should assent to Augustine’s view on this matter.

4. How does one distinguish between the divine person and a human person in Christ? Jesus is a person who is human, but he is not a human person. The divine person (the Word) assumes human nature. Careless language can suggest Christological error.