Iii. Concerning That Which The Son Of God Took Of Us And Which He United To Himself In His Incarnation
III. CONCERNING THAT WHICH THE SON OF GOD TOOK OF US AND WHICH HE UNITED TO HIMSELF IN HIS INCARNATION
(A)
When it is said that the Son of God was incarnated, or that the Word was made flesh, or that He was made man, what do these different expressions signify?
All these expressions signify that the Word, or the Son of God, took, in order to unite it to Himself in His Passion. our human nature such as it is to be found in every individual human being descended from Adam (IV. 1-6).
Does it then follow that in the incarnate Word or Son of God made man there is a human individual?
Absolutely no. There is in Him an individual human nature, but not a human individual or a human person; for the nature He took was united to His divine Person, so that in the Incarnation there is only one person, and that is the Person of the Word or of God the Son (IV. 3).
Is this human nature which is united to the Person of God the Son, as regards its two essential parts, exactly the same as the human nature in each of us?
Yes (V. 1-4).
The incarnate Son of God has then a body like to ours, of flesh and bone, with the same members, senses, and organs?
Yes (V. 1, 2).
Has He also a soul like to ours, with the same parts and faculties, and with an intellect and a will like to ours?
Yes, He has a soul with the same parts and powers like to ours exactly (V. 3, 4).
Were all the parts which constitute an individual human nature in its essence and integrity united to the Person of the Son of God at the same time?
Yes, but He united them to Himself in a certain order (VI. 1-6).
(B)
In what order did God the Son unite to Himself the human nature and its parts?
In such wise that He took the body and all its parts by reason of the soul; and the soul and its other powers by reason of the intellect; and the body, soul, and intellect by reason of the human nature which all the above constitutes in its essence and integrity (VI. 1).
Was this union of the human nature and all its parts with the Person of God the Son made directly and immediately without the intermediary of any created reality whatsoever?
Yes, and this precisely because the term of this union is the very being of the Person of God the Son which is communicated to this human nature and all its parts (VI. 6).