THE TRUTH ABOUT INCARNATION

CHURCH'S STAND ON INCANATION
The Incarnation is the mystery and the dogma of the Word Made Flesh. ln this technical sense the word incarnation was adopted, during the twelfth century, from the Norman-French, which in turn had taken the word over from the Latin incarnatio. The Latin Fathers, from the fourth century, make common use of the word; So Saints Jerome, Ambrose, Hilary, etc. The Latin incarnatio (in:caro, flesh) corresponds to the Greek sarkosis, or ensarkosis, which words depend on John(1:14) kai ho Logos sarx egeneto, "And the Word was made flesh". These two terms were in use by the Greek Fathers From the time of St. Irenæus--i.e. according to Harnack, A.D. 181-189 (cf. Irenaeus, "Adv. Haer." III, 19, n. i.; Migne, VII, 939). The verb sarkousthai, to be made flesh, occurs in the creed of the Council of Nicaea (cf.Denzinger, "Enchiridion", n. 86). In the language of Holy Writ, flesh means, by synecdoche,human nature or man (cf. Luke 3:6; Romans 3:20). Francisco Suárez deems the choice of the word incarnation to have been very apt. Man is called flesh to emphasize the weaker part of his nature. When the Word is said to have been incarnate, to have been made Flesh, the Divine goodness is better expressed whereby God"emptied Himself . . . and was found in outward bearing (schemati) like a man" (Philippians 2:7); He took upon Himself not only the nature of man, a nature capable of suffering and sickness and death, He became like a man in all save only sin (cf. Francisco Suárez, "De Incarnatione", Praef. n. 5). The Fathers now and then use the word henanthropesis, the act of becoming man, to which correspond the termsinhumanatio, used by Some Latin Fathers, and "Menschwerdung", current In German. The mystery of the Incarnation is expressed in Scripture by other terms:epilepsis, the act of taking on a nature (Hebrews 2:16):epiphaneia, appearance (2 Timothy 1:10); phanerosis hensarki, manifestation in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16); somatos katartismos, the fitting of a body, what some Latin Fatherscall incorporatio (Hebrews 10:5);kenosis, the act of emptying one's self (Philippians 2:7). In this article, we shall treat of the fact, nature and effects of the Incarnation.

The fact of the incarnation

The Incarnation implies three facts: (1) The Divine Person Of JESUS Christ; (2) The Human Nature of Jesus Christ; (3) The Hypostatic Union of the Humanity the Divine Nature in the Divine Person of Jesus Christ.

The divine person of Jesus Christ

We presuppose the historicity, of Jesus Christ — i.e. that He was a real person of history (cf.JESUS CHRIST); the Messiahship of Jesus; the historical worth and authenticity of the Gospels and Acts; the Divine ambassadorship of Jesus Christ established thereby; the establishment of an infallible and never failing teaching body to have and to keep the deposit of revealed truth entrusted to it by the Divine ambassador, Jesus Christ; the handing down of all this deposit by tradition and of part thereof by Holy Writ; the canon and inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures--all these questions will be found treated in their proper places. Moreover, we assume that the Divine nature and Divine personality are one and inseparable (see TRINITY). The aim of this article is to prove that the historical person,Jesus Christ, is really and Truly God, --i.e. has the nature of God, and is a Divine person. The Divinity of Jesus Christ is established by the Old Testament, by the New Testament and by tradition.