The
Word of God became man, the Son of God became the Son of Man, in
order to unite man with himself and make him, by adoption, a son of
God.
Only
by being united to one who is himself immune could we be preserved
from corruption and death, and how else could this union have been
achieved if he had not first become what we are? How else could what
is corruptible and mortal in us have been swallowed up in his
incorruptibility and immortality, to enable us to receive adoptive
sonship? Therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, the Word of the Father,
is also the son of man; he became the son of man by a human birth
from Mary, a member of the human race.
The
Lord himself has given us a sign here below and in the heights of
heaven, a sign that man did not ask for because he never dreamt that
such a thing would be possible. A virgin was with a child and she
bore a son who is called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
He
came down to the earth here below in search of the sheep that was
lost, the sheep that was in fact his own creature, and then ascended
into the heights of heaven to offer to the Father and entrust to his
care the human race that he had found again.
The
Lord himself became the first-fruits of the resurrection of mankind,
and when its time of punishment for disobedience is over the rest of
the body, to which the whole human race belongs, will rise from the
grave as the head has done. By God’s aid it will grow and be
strengthened in all its joints and ligaments, each member having its
own proper place in the body. There are many rooms in the Father’s
house because the body has many members.
God
bore with man patiently when he fell because he foresaw the victory
that would be his through the Word. Weakness allowed strength its
full play, and so revealed God’s kindness and great power.
– Saint
Irenaeus of Lyons
from
his monumental work
“Against
Heresies”
Saint
Irenaeus of Lyons'
patronage: Archdiocese
of Mobile, Alabama.
