Vigils Reading

WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE WORD OF GOD TO BECOME MAN?

an excerpt from the writings of St Irenaeus of Lyons7

We have clearly shown that in the beginning the Word was with God, and that through Him all things were made, that He was also always with the human race, and that, according to the time preordained by the Father, even in these latter days, this same one was united with His handiwork and became man, capable of suffering. Consequently, every objection of those who say, “If therefore Christ was born, then He did not exist before,” is rejected. For we have shown that the Son of God did not begin to exist then, having been always with the Father; but when He became incarnate and was made man, He recapitulated in Himself the long unfolding of humankind, granting salvation by way of compendium, that in Christ Jesus we might receive what we had lost in Adam, namely, to be according to the image and likeness of God.

In fact, it was not possible for humankind, which had once been conquered and had been dashed to pieces by its disobedience, to refashion itself and obtain the prize of victory. Again, it was not possible for the human race, which had fallen under sin, to receive salvation. And so the Son, Word of God that He is, accomplished both, by coming down from the Father and becoming incarnate, and descending even to death, and bringing the economy of our salvation to completion.

This same one was announced by Paul: For I delivered to you, he said, as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures. So it is evident that Paul did not know another Christ besides Him alone who suffered and was buried and rose again, who was also born, whom he also called man. For, when he had said, Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, he continued, giving the reason for His incarnation, for as by man came death, by a man has come also resurrection from the dead. And whenever he speaks of the passion of our Lord, and of His human nature and death, he uses the name of Christ. For example, Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died; again, But now in Christ…you, who were once afar off, have been brought near through the bloodof Christ.

The Lord Himself makes it plain who suffered. When He asked the disciples, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And when Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and when he was praised by Him, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to him, but the Father who is in heaven,then He made it plain that this Son of Man is Christ the Son of the living God.

He destroyed disobedience, because He bound the strong one and loosed the weak ones and gave salvation to His handiwork by destroying sin. For the Lord is most kind and merciful and loves humankind.

Therefore…He caused humanity to adhere to and to be united with God. For if humankind had not overcome the enemy of humankind, the enemy would not justly have been overcome. Again, unless God had given salvation, we would not possess it securely; and unless the human race had been united with God, it would not be partaker of imperishability. For it behooved the Mediator of God and humanity, by His kinship to both, to lead them back to friendship and concord, and to bring it about that God would take humankind to Himself, and that humankind would give itself to God