Cur Deus Homo?

What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are— the Holy One of God! (Mark 1:24 NIV)

 

This season we remember the fact of Christmas. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). God has visited his people (Luke 7:16). Emmanuel (God with us) is here (Matthew 1:23). But there is more to Christmas than a historical fact. If God is indeed here, it raises the question: did he come? What is his purpose? What are his intentions? Why?

In the ninth century, Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote one of the great classics of Christian theology. Written in Latin, Cur Deus Homo? (Why Did God Become Man?) examined not the fact of the incarnation, but its purpose. Anselm’s conclusion was profoundly simple: Jesus came to die. There was a rational necessity for God to become man because only God could pay the penalty that our sins deserved. But don’t just take Anselm’s word for it. Let God speak for Himself!

,. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

,. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16–17)

,. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. . . . Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. (John 12:23–24, 27)

,. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. (Galatians 4:4–5)

,. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. . . . (I Timothy 1:15)

,. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me . . . Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God.’” And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5–7, 10)

,. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (I John 3:8)

This Christmas, don’t just thank God that He came. Be especially grateful why!

 

Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free,

from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.

—Charles  Wesley

 

point to ponder  •  The reason Jesus came was to give his life for you and me.

prayer focus • Thankfulness for the baby in the manger.