Incarnation (Christianity)
In Christian theology, the incarnation is the belief that the pre-existent divine person of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, and the Logos (Koine Greek for 'word') was "made flesh,"[1] "conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary,"[2] also known as the Theotokos (Greek for "God-bearer" or "Mother of God").
The verb incarno does not occur in the Latin Bible but the term is drawn from the Gospel of John 1:14 "et Verbum caro factum est" (Vulgate), King James Version: "and the Word was made flesh".
While all Christians believed that Jesus was indeed the Unigenite Son of God,[6] "the divinity of Christ was a theologically charged topic for the Early Church.
Ignatius of Antioch taught that "We have also as a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses the Incarnation in paragraphs 461–463 and cites several Bible passages to assert its centrality (Philippians 2:5–8, Hebrews 10:5–7, 1 John 4:2, 1 Timothy 3:16).
The Roman Catholic Church's current translation is: "For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man.
"[2] According to Pope John Paul II, by his incarnation Jesus is a figure of and has united himself to every human being, including the unborn at the moment of their life at conception.
[16] Approaches such as Nestorianism, Ebonism, Arianism, Appoliniarianism, and Eutychianism have attempted understanding of the two natures of Christ; some of them have been condemned traditionally as heretical.
[18] The incarnation of Jesus is also one of the key factors which, alongside humans made in the image and likeness of God, forms Christian Anthropology.
The former, on the other hand, speaks of the incarnation as a fulfilment of the love of God, of his desire to be present and living amidst humanity, to "walk in the garden" with us.
For instance, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (c. 400), as used by Eastern Orthodox Christians and Byzantine Catholics, includes this "Hymn to the Only Begotten Son": O only begotten Son and Word of God, Who, being immortal, Deigned for our salvation To become incarnate Of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, And became man without change; You were also crucified, O Christ our God, And by death have trampled Death, Being one of the Holy Trinity, Glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit— Save us!
Additionally, the Divine Liturgy of Saint James includes this chant of "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" in its offertory: Let all mortal flesh be silent, and stand with fear and trembling, and meditate nothing earthly within itself:— For the King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ our God, comes forward to be sacrificed, and to be given for food to the faithful; and the bands of angels go before Him with every power and dominion, the many-eyed cherubim, and the six-winged seraphim, covering their faces, and crying aloud the hymn, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
[23] The West Syriac Churches – Syriac Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox, Syro-Malankara Catholic, Syriac Catholic and Maronite Catholic – principally celebrating the Holy Qurbono of St. James (c. AD 60) have a similar ma‛neetho,[note 2] a poetic hymn, traditionally attributed to St. Severus, the Patriarch of Antioch (c. 465–538): I exalt Thee, Lord and King, Only-begotten Son and Word of the heavenly Father, immortal by nature, Thou came down by grace for salvation and life for all human race; was incarnate of the holy glorious, pure Virgin Mary, Mother of God and became man without any change; was crucified for us.
[25] In describing Servetus' theology of the Logos, Andrew Dibb (2005) comments: "In Genesis God reveals Himself as the Creator.
Whiston considered the incarnation to be of the Logos Who had pre-existed as "a Metaphysick existence, in potentia or in the like higher and sublimer Manner in the Father as His Wisdom or Word before His real Creation or Generation.
Fausto Sozzini and writers of the Polish Brethren such as Samuel Przypkowski, Marcin Czechowic and Johann Ludwig von Wolzogen saw the incarnation as being primarily a function of fatherhood.
[39] To explain this divergence from Trinitarian oneness as literal rather than symbolic, Latter-day Saints commonly cite [40][41] Christ's Intercessory Prayer in John 17:20-23, which reads: This conception of the Godhead differs from the Trinitarian view of the Incarnation in which only God the Son, temporarily possessed an incarnated, physical body while God the Father is and has always remained unembodied.
Despite these differences, Latter-day Saint doctrine accepts a similar version of so-called ethical monotheism (which developed out of the Jewish tradition), in that Latter-day Saints believe that the Light of Christ (alternatively referred to as the Spirit of Christ) emanates from God the Son throughout the world, thereby influencing all people everywhere to do good and eschew evil.
