The Revelation of Divinity and Humanity

What does it mean to be God — and how would we even know? We might think we have a pretty good idea by picking up hints from creation or gleaning shadows from the Mosaic Law, but do we really? And do  we even really know what it means to be human? Looking at the goings on in the world around us, it would seem that we do not. 

When we come to the Incarnation, the Word of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us (John 1:14), the temptation is for us to take what we think it means to be God, mix it with what we think it means to be human, and suppose that gives us a pretty good idea of what it means for God to become human. But again, not really.

Jesus Christ is the full and final unveiling of what God is like, “the radiance of his glory and the express image of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). He is “the image of the invisible God,” in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:15, 19). He said of himself, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

The Incarnation is the full revelation of what it means to be God. And it is also the full revelation of what it means to be human, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Colossians 2:9-10). Our completeness as humans is found only in Christ, in whom all the fullness of God dwells in bodily form. And in him we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

This is what we were made for: to participate in the divine nature, to bear the image of God — to be like God (Genesis 1:26-27). When God said, “Let Us make Humankind in Our image, to be like Us,” Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that. For he is the Image of the Living God, and God predestined us to be “conformed” (symmorphos) to the image of the Son — which is to say, formed together with him (Romans 8:29).

This understanding is echoed in the early Church, among such Fathers as St. Irenaeus of Lyons, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, and St. Maximus the Confessor.

It was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and he who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God. (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.19.1) 

He was made man so that we might be made God. (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54). 

In Christ, God is made man and man is made God, so that the Giver and the receiver might be one and the same, wholly God and wholly man, and known in both. (St. Maximus, Ambigua 5)

Yet, what does it mean to be God? And how is it revealed in Jesus Christ? St. Paul shows us in Philippians 2, where he enjoins us:

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8) 

Our Lord Jesus, in his very form and nature, is God — eternally so. Yet, he did not consider it something to be plundered and used to his own advantage. Rather, he emptied himself, humbled himself, sharing in our humanity — and by so doing redefined it — giving himself over for our sake in cross-shaped love. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to hand his life over for ours (Mark 10:45). This is precisely what it means to be God.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

If we would know what it means to be God, however, we must understand this: Christ’s humility on the Cross was not a means to divine glory but was the very expression of it. When we see the humility of Christ in his deep descent, we are not seeing the divine glory in recess but as it is most fully revealed. 

We see that this is also what it means to be human. It is to empty ourselves, humbling ourselves, giving ourselves in cross-shaped love for one another. For Paul entreats us to have the very same mindset toward one another that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we will see what it is to be truly human, and that it is to be like God.

Were it not for the Incarnation, we would not know what God is like — or what it means to be human. These are revealed only in Jesus Christ crucified and risen.

The Mystery of Incarnation and Being

The mystery of the Incarnation, the union of Divinity and Humanity, of God and Humankind is not by halves. That is, our Lord Jesus Christ is not half-God, half-human. He fully shares our humanity so He may fully heal it. This union is not partial, but complete in both natures. He was truly made man, and is said to be of the same nature with us according to the flesh. He is consubstantial — of one substance, of one being — with the Father, and he is also consubstantial with humankind. His consubstantiality with us is as real and complete as His consubstantiality with the Father, and it is for this reason that his Cross and Resurrection are of saving benefit for us.

This mystery is central to the understanding of the Church Fathers, and indeed, to the Christian message. It is enunciated in the Nicene Creed that our Lord Jesus Christ is of one being with the Father, and that for us humans, and for our salvation, he came down from heaven and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became Human. It is affirmed by the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon, in AD 451) in its Definition of Faith: that our Lord Jesus Christ is at once complete in divinity and complete in humanity, truly God and truly man, of one substance with the Father regarding his divinity, and at the same time of one substance with us regarding his humanity. 

Here are a couple of brief quotes from St. Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzus) and St. Athanasius, and an extended one from St. Cyril of Alexandria, whose writings on this are foundational to the theological understanding of the Christian faith.

That which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved. (St. Gregory Nazianzus, Epistle 101.5)

He became what we are, that He might make us what He is. (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54)

Following in all points the confessions of the Holy Fathers which they made (the Holy Ghost speaking in them), and following the scope of their opinions, and going, as it were, in the royal way, we confess that the Only begotten Word of God, begotten of the same substance of the Father, True God from True God, Light from Light, through Whom all things were made, the things in heaven and the things in the earth, coming down for our salvation, making himself of no reputation, was incarnate and made man; that is, taking flesh of the Holy Virgin, and having made it his own from the womb, he subjected himself to birth for us, and came forth man from a woman, without casting off that which he was; but although he assumed flesh and blood, he remained what he was, God in essence and in truth. Neither do we say that his flesh was changed into the nature of divinity, nor that the ineffable nature of the Word of God was laid aside for the nature of flesh; for he is unchanged and absolutely unchangeable, being the same always, according to the Scriptures. For although visible and a child in swaddling clothes, and even in the bosom of his Virgin Mother, he filled all creation as God, and was a fellow-ruler with him who begot him, for the Godhead is without quantity and dimension, and cannot have limits.
     Confessing the Word to be made one with the flesh according to substance, we adore one Son and Lord Jesus Christ: we do not divide the God from the man, nor separate him into parts, as though the two natures were mutually united in him only through a sharing of dignity and authority (for that is a novelty and nothing else), neither do we give separately to the Word of God the name Christ and the same name separately to a different one born of a woman; but we know only one Christ, the Word from God the Father with his own Flesh. For as man he was anointed with us, although it is he himself who gives the Spirit to those who are worthy and not in measure, according to the saying of the blessed Evangelist John. (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Third Letter to Nestorius)

The Incarnation means that our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who is of one being with the Father, 
is also of one being with us. 

When All Creation is Subject to Christ

In First Corinthians 15, St. Paul unfolds for us the gospel and its cosmic dimension. He begins: “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). In the balance of the chapter, he shows the scope and significance of the gospel, and its final resolution:

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that everything has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be All in All. (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) 

The gospel Paul preaches is not merely a local or regional concern but is without geographical boundaries — indeed, it knows no cosmic limitations whatsoever. In several other of his epistles, Paul lays out the “big picture,” the express and eternal purpose and pleasure of God accomplished through Christ.

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:19-23) 

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10) 

 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)

It is the salvation, the redemption, the deliverance, of all of heaven and earth; which is to say, of everyone and everything. All are brought to unity and summed up in our Lord Jesus Christ. “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:22-23). Christ is the one who fills everything in every way, and the Church, which is the Body of Christ, is that fullness of him. In this way, all creation becomes the Body of Christ, and so does God become All in All.

We find this understanding echoed in the early Church Fathers. For example, in St. Irenaeus of Lyons, in Origen of Alexandria, and in St. Athanasius of Alexandria: 

For the Creator of the world is truly the Word of God: and this is our Lord, who in the last times was made man, existing in this world, and who in an invisible manner contains all things created, and is inherent in the entire creation, since the Word of God governs and arranges all things; and therefore He came to His own in a visible manner, and was made flesh, and hung upon the tree, that He might sum up all things in Himself. (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.18.3)

If, then, that subjection be held to be good and salutary by which the Son is said to be subject to the Father, it is an extremely rational and logical inference to deduce that the subjection also of enemies, which is said to be made to the Son of God, should be understood as being also salutary and useful; as if, when the Son is said to be subject to the Father, the perfect restoration of the whole of creation is signified, so also, when enemies are said to be subjected to the Son of God, the salvation of the conquered and the restoration of the lost is in that understood to consist. (Origen, De Principiis 3.5.7) 

For the Lord touched all parts of creation, and freed and undeceived them all from every deceit. As St. Paul says, “Having put off from Himself the principalities and the powers, He triumphed on the cross,” so that no one could possibly be any longer deceived, but everywhere might find the very Word of God. For thus man, enclosed on every side by the works of creation and everywhere — in heaven, in Hades, in men and on the earth, beholding the unfolded Godhead of the Word, is no longer deceived concerning God, but worships Christ alone, and through Him rightly knows the Father. (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 45)

Christ is intimately and inextricably 
united with all creation. It is as all creation 
is subject to Christ, and Christ is subject 
to the Father, that God is All in All.

The Incarnation As Mutual Indwelling

The Incarnation is the mystery of God and humanity dwelling together in unbroken, inseparable union. Christ has taken on our full humanity, not as a vessel or garment to be cast aside but as that which he has become, without in any way detracting from his full divinity. For “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This union is not a blending or confusion of natures but a co-inherence — a mutual indwelling — such that wherever the Son is, both divinity and humanity are fully present. St. Maximus the Confessor speaks of this great and encompassing mystery:

By his gracious condescension God became man and is called man for the sake of man and by exchanging his condition for ours revealed the power that elevates man to God through his love for God and brings God down to man because of his love for man. By this blessed inversion, man is made God by divinization and God is made man by hominization. For the Word of God and God wills always and in all things to accomplish the mystery of his embodiment. (Ambigua 7)

“God became man” in order to save lost man, and — after he had united through Himself the natural fissures running through the general nature of the universe ... to fulfill the great purpose of God the Father, recapitulating all things, both in heaven and on earth, in Himself, in whom they also had been created. (Ambigua 41)

The deified person, while remaining completely human in nature, both in body and soul, becomes wholly God in both body and soul, through grace and the divine brightness of the beatifying glory that permeates the whole person. (Ambigua; Patrologia Graeca 91, 1088)

In the Incarnation, Christ did not become merely one of us but one with us. He is not simply one man among many but the one in whom God’s eternal purpose to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth — all are summed up in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). Christ is in all and all are in Christ. This mutual indwelling is the heart of salvation. 

Christ has united human nature to himself, and so is present in all humanity, sustaining each one of us. In him, humanity is healed, restored, and brought into union with God. As St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, “That which he has not assumed he has not healed; but that which is united to his Godhead is also saved” (Epistle 101, To Cledonius).

The Co-Inherence of Divinity and Humanity in our Lord Jesus Christ means that salvation is not some abstract, legal declaration, but a real and transformative union. Through such tangible means as baptism and the Eucharist, we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection, and by the Holy Spirit we share in his divine life. “It is no longer I who live,” says Paul, “but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

The Incarnation is the co-inherence,
the interpenetration, the mutual indwelling
of divinity and humanity, of God and humankind.
It means Christ is in all and all are in Christ.

Forgiveness is All of One Piece

St. Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the whole world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). This forgiveness by which we are forgiven is all of one piece with the forgiveness by which we forgive each other. All humankind is one, also, for there is only one human nature, only one human being, of which we all partake. Through the Incarnation, the Human Being in which we all participate is defined in Jesus Christ, who reveals for us exactly what it is to be human. And in him we are all forgiven from before the foundation of the world.

Through our participation in Jesus Christ, the only Human Being there is, we are intimately and inextricably bound to each other, and the implication runs deep. We belong to each other so deeply that none of us can finally be whole until each one of us is finally whole. So we must learn to forgive one another, allowing the forgiveness of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, to have its full work in us. Until we do, we will not be whole. In a very real way, and as the ancient Desert Fathers would say, “My brother is my salvation.”

The Gospel Begins With Jesus Christ

The Gospel begins with Jesus Christ. He is what God meant when God said, “Let us make Humankind in Our image, and to be like Us.” He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the Fullness of Divinity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 1:15; 2:9). By the Incarnation, he is the one Human Being, of which we all partake. He is what it means to be human, and in him we are made complete, and become partakers of the Divine Nature (Colossians 2:10; 2 Peter 1:4).

To be created in the image of God — which is to be truly human — is to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible God. To be like God is to be like Christ, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. 

God is Love. Self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped Love. To be created in the image of God, and to be like God, is to love with the divine love, to live the life that is self-giving, other-centered and cross-shaped. The image of God is most profoundly revealed at the cross, where our Lord Jesus Christ shows us what it is to be God and so what it is to be human. 

The Gospel begins and ends with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, Crucified and Risen. For all in heaven and on earth are created by him, through him, for him and in him, and all hold together in him (Colossians 1:16-17), and the express, eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity in Christ — all summed up and headed in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). If we begin with anything else, we make Christ and the Cross secondary.

In Christ Humankind is Born Again

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Firstborn of the Dead is also Firstborn of Creation (Colossians 1:15, 18). We may say that he is Firstborn of Creation because he is Firstborn of the Dead, for the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth is Christ crucified and risen. St. Paul shows us that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ encompasses all humankind:

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

It is through the resurrection of Christ, St. Peter tells us, that we have been given new birth, that we have been born again, regenerated:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Paul understands this new birth to be related to baptism: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5). How is baptism related to the new birth that has been given through the resurrection of Christ? Paul shows us in Romans 6:

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:3-8)

Through baptism, we are immersed — plunged — into the reality of this new birth in a very tangible way. Dying with Lord Jesus, we are buried with him, so to be united with him in resurrection, and to live this new life. For as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And so, through the faithfulness of Christ, by the Cross and Resurrection, what is universally true of humankind, of human being, is personally experienced.

In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, all humankind is
born again, in Him who is the
Firstborn of Creation. 

The Reciprocal Truth of the Incarnation

On the Cross, we see the reciprocal truth of the Incarnation: Jesus Christ is not only God’s faithfulness toward us, he is also our faithfulness toward God. 

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Where Adam was unfaithful and disobedient to God, resulting in death and corruption for all, our Lord Jesus Christ was faithful and obedient to God, resulting in justification and life for all. 

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

As fully divine, Christ did not consider being equal with God as something to be plundered and exploited, to be held on to at all costs, and used for his own advantage — Christ reveals that God is simply not like that! As fully human, Christ was fully obedient and faithful to God, even to the point of the shameful death of the Cross. So, by the Incarnation and the Cross, we see exactly what the faithfulness of God is, and what the faithfulness of humankind is — what it means to be God, and what it means to be human.

The Distinction Between Heaven and Earth

When we behold Christ in everyone and everything, 
the distinction between Heaven and Earth disappears.

Incarnation and Deification

We have been created in the image of God and to be like God, and though it has often been tarnished and obscured, the divine image nonetheless remains. God has never backed away from his purpose. Indeed, Jesus Christ has himself become the image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form, and in him we are made complete (Colossians 1:15; 2:9-10). 

By his Incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, and through the work of the Cross reveals both what it means to be human and what it means to be divine. So the Incarnation shows that human nature was meant to be the bearer of divinity. We are expressly created for it.

Deification is the fulfillment of what it means to be human. It is to become in Christ, “partakers of the divine nature.” To be like God, becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. To be conformed to the image of the Son, who is himself the image of the Father. To be who we truly and inherently are, what God planned for us even from before the foundation of the world. To enjoy in Christ the relationship he has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. For it is the gracious work of the Father, through the faithfulness of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:4)

The Mystical Supper

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all participate in the one loaf. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

For I received [paralambano] from the Lord what I also handed over [paradidomi] to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over [paradidomi], took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance [anamnesis] of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance [anamnesis] of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

St. Paul tells us about the Last Supper, the Mystical Supper, in his Letter to the Church at Corinth. This Supper is a participation in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is a participation in Christ himself, and so, in the Body of Christ. For the Cup of Thanksgiving (Eucharist) is a participation in the Blood of Christ. That is, it partakes of the Blood of Christ, takes part in its reality, making it present. Likewise the Bread we break in Eucharist partakes of the Body of Christ, takes part in its reality, making it present. And we who participate in the One Bread become the One Body, the Body of Christ. Eucharist is where we become the Church.

This is not some doctrine Paul devised. It was something that was handed down to him (paradidomi), something he received (paralambano), and he in turn handed it on. This language of handing down, and receiving, and handing on, is language of tradition. It is precisely what tradition is. And so it has been handed down to us, generation after generation, in the Church.

Paul tells us about the night Lord Jesus was handed over and betrayed. At the Last Supper, our Lord took the Bread and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in anamnesis of me.” Likewise, he took the Cup, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in anamnesis of me.”

Anamnesis, the Greek word rendered as “remembrance” in this passage, is not merely a mental recollection. Much more than that, it is the making present and participating in the reality of a thing. The Bread and Wine of the Eucharist makes present and participates in the reality of Christ, in the Body and Blood of Christ. When we eat the Bread and drink the Cup, we are not merely remembering something that happened a long time ago, we are sharing in it in the present, for it is made present to us (or we are made present to it) in those elements. 

It is sacrament and mystery. It is mystical participation in the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen. And in partaking of it, we are the One Body of Christ.

Part of the Plan or Unintended Consequence?

It is really a question about the character and sovereignty of God: If Eternal Conscious Torment were part of God’s plan from the beginning, then what would that say about the character of God? On the other hand, if it were an unintended consequence, then what would that say about the sovereignty of God?

God is Love. Whatever the sovereignty of God is, it cannot be anything other than a manifestation of the love of God. In St. Paul’s wonderful description of  Love in 1 Corinthians, we know that love is not coercive. From the same source, we also know that love never fails, never gives up. Love always perseveres.

Did God choose to create a world in which some would suffer eternal conscious torment, knowing full well that such would be the case? Knowing the end from the beginning — indeed, the end is in the beginning — did God choose to create some who would suffer eternally? That does not sound like the God who is Love (1 John 4:8) but rather a monstrous deity, not worthy of worship.

Or imagine a scenario where God really did not know who would accept or who would reject God. To proceed to create in that situation would mean that the eternal torment of any soul — any one of us — would be an acceptable risk, therefore an acceptable loss, to God. Surely that is not the way of Love.

For God to create a world in which all finally turn to God does not require that God must overcome human will, for the problem of human will has never been anyone freely choosing to act against God and the good. Free will is not the ability to choose against one’s inherent nature, for there would be nothing to distinguish such from random event. But free will is the ability to act according to one’s true and inherent nature. 

What is the true and inherent nature of humans? It is that of creatures created in the image of God, to be like God. But the problem of the will is that because of darkness, deception, sin, and ignorance, the human will was impaired, defective, and in bondage. Shall we then imagine that God would allow anyone whose will is defective because of darkness, deception, sin, bondage, or ignorance to suffer eternal torment because of the defective choice of a impaired will is to imagine God as a pitiless and petty being.

The doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment is not a biblical one but is cobbled together from various strains. Nor is it a benign doctrine but one that does great damage to both the character and sovereignty of God — and so also to God’s holiness.

Christ and the Fullness of Time

By the Incarnation, Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, heaven with earth — and eternity with time, in such a way that time is transfigured. It is not so much what happens in time as it is what happens to time. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not merely come in the fullness of time. Rather, he is the fullness of time, the fulfillment of time. He is the end of time, the reason for which time was created. All of creation, including time, consists and coheres in him.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end! (Revelation 22:13).

Christ is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), and we are chosen in him from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He is the starting point and the ending point. He is at once the Origination and the Conclusion, the Purpose and the Fulfillment of time, and of all things.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10)

He has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

Christ is the singularity of time and space and all creation. Though we experience time in linear fashion, there is no temporal sequence in eternity, no before or after. There is, then, no pre-Incarnate Christ; there is simply Christ the Eternally Incarnate One. 

The First and the Last,
The Beginning and the End,
The Fullness of All,
Ever the Same.

Eternally and Inextricably United

The Incarnation cannot be undone. If it could, it would be the undoing of our salvation, for the Cross and Resurrection would be of no benefit to anyone. Nor could it be undone for some without undoing it for all. It is all of one piece, just as humankind is, for we all partake of human being, the one and only way of being human.

When Christ the Word became “flesh” and dwelt among us (John 1:14), he did not merely put on human being as a suit, which could later be discarded when it served its purpose. No, he became human being, and is so eternally. He defines what it means to be fully human — yet he did not cease to be fully divine.

Nor did Christ become merely a singular instance of human being. That, too, would have done us no good, for his actions would have been of benefit only to himself. But he became human in such a way that in his death all died, so that in his resurrection all might be raised.

In Romans 5:18, St. Paul compares/contrasts Adam and Christ. “Consequently, just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people.” Just as the connection between Adam and humankind was universal, such that Adam’s disobedience resulted in condemnation for all, so also the connection between Jesus Christ and humankind is universal, such that Christ’s obedience has resulted in justification and life for all.

Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” Just as the connection between Adam and humankind was universal, such that in Adam all die, so also the connection between Jesus Christ and humankind is such that in him all will be made alive.

By the Incarnation, Christ is united, eternally and inextricably, with us all. For humankind, which was once headed up in Adam, is now headed up in Christ.

That We May Become What He Is

Our Lord Jesus Christ became human, that humankind may become divine. Though Christ was rich, for our sake, he became poor, just as we are, that through his poverty we might become rich. Christ had no sin, and knew no death or corruption, but he became what we are and shared in our condition, that we might  become the righteousness of God in him, escaping the power of death and know divine life. In Jesus Christ, we become partakers of, participants in, the divine nature.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

The early Church Fathers grasped this well, and taught it without hesitation. It is what they understood the Scriptures and the Gospel to mean concerning Christ, the Cross, and our Salvation.

• “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.” (St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies)
  
• “For we hold that the Word of God was made man on account of our salvation, in order that we might receive the likeness of the heavenly, and be made divine after the likeness of Him who is the true Son of God by nature, and the Son of man according to the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ.” (St. Gregory the Wonderworker)
• “For He was made man that we might be made God.” (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation)
  
• “He Himself has made us sons of the Father, and deified men by becoming Himself man.” (St. Athanasius, Against the Arians)
• “For therefore did He assume the body originate and human, that having renewed it as its Framer, He might deify it in Himself, and thus might introduce us all into the kingdom of heaven after His likeness.” (St. Athanasius, Against the Arians)
• “For as the Lord, putting on the body, became man, so we men are deified by the Word as being taken to Him through His flesh, and henceforward inherit life everlasting.” (St. Athanasius, Against the Arians)
• “But the Incarnation is summed up in this, that the whole Son, that is, His manhood as well as His divinity, was permitted by the Father’s gracious favor to continue in the unity of the Father’s nature, and retained not only the powers of the divine nature, but also that nature’s self. For the object to be gained was that man might become God.” (St. Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity)
• “Believe that the Son of God, the Eternal Word, Who was begotten of the Father before all time and without body, was in these latter days for your sake made also Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary ineffably and stainlessly (for nothing can be stained where God is, and by which salvation comes), in His own Person at once entire Man and perfect God, for the sake of the entire sufferer, that He may bestow salvation on your whole being, having destroyed the whole condemnation of your sins: impassible in His Godhead, passible in that which He assumed; as much Man for your sake as you are made God for His.” (St. Gregory Nazianzus, Oration 40:45)
• “If the divine Logos of God the Father became son of man and man so that He might make men gods and the sons of God, let us believe that we shall reach the realm where Christ Himself now is, for He is the head of the whole body, and endued with our humanity has gone to the Father as forerunner on our behalf.” (Maximus the Confessor, The Philokalia, On Theology)

Through the Incarnation, in which our Lord Jesus Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, He has become what we are, that we may become what He is.

The Last, the Least and the Lost

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. 

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. 

Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. 

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy. 

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. 

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God. 

Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds
of evil against you because of me. 

Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.
(Matthew 5:3-12)

Come to me,
all you who are
weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I am gentle
and humble in heart,
and you will find rest
for your souls.
For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28-30)

For the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to
give his life as a
ransom for many.
(Mark 10:45)

Our Lord Jesus Christ
has come for the
Last, the Least
and the Lost.

God is Love!

Yielding to the Life of Christ

Faith in Christ is not merely mental acquiescence to some proposition about him. More than that, it is personal engagement with Christ, entrusting ourselves to him, yielding ourselves into his hands. That is the substance of repentance, abandoning false mindsets and perceptions that are at odds with God and the truth of our being, and giving ourselves over to God revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The false mindset we have long suffered under is that we are separated from God. The reality is that we have never been separated from God, for all have been created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ and in Christ — indeed, all of creation holds together and continues to have its being in Christ (Colossians 1:16-17). So, it is impossible that we could ever have been separated from Christ, or else we would have simply ceased to be. 

Even more, by the Incarnation, Christ has united himself to us, divinity with humanity, God with humankind, becoming not just one of us but one with us. Christ became not merely an individual instance of human being, he became Human Being itself, of which we all partake.

But the mind darkened by demonic deceit, by death and the fear of death, and so, by the enslaving power of sin, rejects the reality of our being, the truth that we have always been in Christ. And so we have lived as though we are fundamentally apart from God. Yet the only apartness there has ever been between us and God has been in our own compartmentalized minds. St. Paul says, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace ” (Romans 8:7), and, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior” (Colossians 1:21). 

We were at enmity with God, but God has never been at enmity with us. Rather, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). Notice the directionality of that: God was not reconciling himself to the world — he had never turned away — but has reconciled the world to himself. And Christ has broken the power of all that darkened our minds and held us in bondage:“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

This is the truth of the gospel, and those who have come to know Christ, have the privilege of making him known to others. “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). It is the joyful anticipation, the positive expectation of participation in the divine glory, for in Jesus Christ, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Christ in you! This is true of all, not by our own faith but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ — in the Creation, the Incarnation, and the Cross. But it is by faith that we yield ourselves to Christ in us, and confess with Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NET).

What is Faith?
It is Yielding to the
Life of Christ in You.

God’s Eternal Purpose Fulfilled

In Ephesians 1, St. Paul lays out the “Big Picture,” God’s eternal purpose in Christ, from beginning to end. It begins with God choosing us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. This is the Incarnation, by which Christ united divinity with humanity, God with humankind — but also eternity with time. Time itself is transfigured in Christ, such that the Incarnation is not merely temporal but eternal.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his good pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

Thus chosen in Christ from the beginning, we have also been predestined for sonship through him. This is God’s eternally good pleasure, plan and purpose, God’s will and delight. It is the glory of God’s grace and is most praiseworthy in every way.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-10) 

God’s divine grace has been showered upon us beyond all bounds. Here again is the “good pleasure” and purpose (Greek, eudokia) of his will, revealed by the wisdom of Christ and understanding by the Holy Spirit, making known the eternal mystery, purposed in Christ from the beginning, and now revealed — unveiled — to us through the message of the gospel. From eternity, God purposed in Christ to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity, with Christ as the head and summation of all. It is the recapitulation (Greek, anakephalaiosasthai), the “recap” of all Creation — of everyone and everything.

Then Paul offers a pastoral prayer that God would give us wisdom and understanding by the Holy Spirit, that we may see what God has done in Christ, and what that means for us. That we may know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe.”

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:19-23)

Here is the consummation of all things, the eternal purpose of God in its fulfillment. It is Christ raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms, far above all rulers and powers and dominions. In Ephesians 2:5-6, Paul tells us the God has raised us up as well, together with Christ, and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms — this is present reality, not future promise. Further, God has placed all things under his feet and has given him as head (Greek, kephale) over the Church, which is his body.

What is this body? Paul says it is the fullness of him who fills All in All (Greek, panta en pasin). Put another way, Christ is the One who completely fulfills everything in every way — and the Church is that Fullness! Seen from this endpoint, then, all of Creation becomes the Church, the Body of Christ.

Christian Universalism is the belief that this is indeed so, that God’s eternal purpose in Jesus Christ will be completely fulfilled, and so will God be All in All.

Christ is the Meaning of All Creation

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3) 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Word, the Logos of God. Which is to say that he is the Reason, the Purpose, the Plan, the Blueprint, the Way, the Meaning of God. Indeed, he is God, of one being with the Father, eternally begotten of Him. 

All things were made through the Christ, the Word, and so reveals him as the logos, reason, purpose, blueprint and meaning of every created thing. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). He became human, not merely one of us but one with us, not merely an instance of human being but Human Being itself. He is what it means to be human. His very being defines it.

Paul puts it beautifully in Colossians 1:15-18: All things in heaven and on earth have been created in Christ, through Christ and for Christ — all holding together in Christ. In Ephesians 1: 9-10, we discover that the express and eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth together into unity, all summed up in Christ. From beginning to end, Christ is the meaning of all creation.

Theology is Not the Road

A good map can be a very helpful guide, but a poor map can be a disaster. Theology is like that. A good theology can be quite enlightening. But a poor theology? Not so much. However, a map is not the road, nor is theology the realm it seeks to understand. For it is one thing to know about God but quite another to actually know God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come to bring us theology or to plot out a religious map for us to follow. On the night of the Last Supper, he said to his disciples:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
     Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
     Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1-7)

Jesus is not the map. He does not merely show us the Way; he is the Way. He does not merely tell us about the truth; he is the Truth. He does not merely give us Life; he is the Life we are given. And it is only through him that we are able to know the Father. This knowledge is not merely theological knowledge, or conceptual, theoretical, or propositional knowledge. But it is personal and experiential, even mystical and mysterious in its knowing. 

It is through our Lord Jesus Christ that we know the Father, for he fully and perfectly reveals the Father. Whoever knows Lord Jesus knows the Father as well. Whoever has seen Lord Jesus has seen the Father as well. To know the Father and the Son is the essence of Life, now and forever. “Now this is eternal life — that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent” (John 17:3).

Theology is just a map, not the road. Jesus is the Way through whom we come to know the Father. Even as we learn the road by walking it, so also do we learn the Way, Jesus, by following him.