Christian faith. After all, that he was bom as a human being of a human being
SERMON 229H
PREACHED ON THE TUESDAY AFTER EASTER
Date: after 412
All we know in this region is being born and dying; Christ brought us from his region the new thing of resurrection
1. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the distinctive mark1 of the Christian faith. After all, that he was bom as a human being of a human being at a particular time, while being God from God, God apart from any time; so, that he was bom in mortal flesh, in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom 8:3); that he endured infancy,2 passed through boyhood, reached young manhood and lived through this until his death—all this was at the service of the resurrection. I mean to say, he wouldn't rise again unless he had died, unless he had been bom; and thus the fact that he was bom and died led up to the resurrection. Many people, both alien to us and godless,3 have believed that the Lord Christ was bom a human being, of a human being. Although they didn't know that he was bom of a virgin, still both friends and enemies have believed that Christ was bom a man; both friends and enemies have believed that Christ was crucified and died; that he rose again, only his friends have known.
Now what's the reason for this? Well, that the Lord Christ, in being willing to be bom and willing to die, aimed at rising again; it was precisely at that point that he defined faith for us.4 You see, in our race, that is to say the human race, there are two things we had always been familiar with: being bom and dying. To teach us also what we were not familiar with, he took upon himself what we were. It was the normal thing in the earthly region, in our condition of mortality, it was absolutely the normal thing for people to be bom and to die; so normal that it couldn't happen in heaven, never ceases on earth. To rise again, though, and to live for ever, who was ever familiar with that? This is the new thing that the one who came from God brought to our region. For the sake of humanity he became human; a great act of pity, the maker of humanity becoming human. It wasn't a particularly great thing for Christ to be what he was; but he wanted there to be a great thing, his becoming what he had made. What's that, his becoming what he had made? His becoming man, having made man. That is his divine pity.