XXI. On the Necessity of the Incarnation - The Annunciation

sent Nov. 4, 2012

• and was "seen of angels," in His, until then, unseen  I want to remove the comma after angels.

• Such requisitions are difficult, nay impossible by natural means.  I'm tempted to add a comma after nay.  

• What accomplished the Gentile philosophy?  What did the Gentile philosophy accomplish?

• several centres of natural knowledge I didn't change this centre to center because it somehow seemed to subtly change the meaning.  I don't have an understanding of what St. Philaret is saying here, just a limited sense, maybe...

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/english/2005/04/center_or_centr.html

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St. Philaret of Moscow

Elibron Classics

Sermon XXI

On the Necessity of the Incarnation

The Annunciation

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."   I Tim. 3:16

We are now reverently commemorating and celebrating that day of all days, the glorious moment when the great mystery of godliness, "God manifest in the flesh," was brought upon earth by the Archangel Gabriel, not in word alone, but in the power of the Most High, was hidden in the pure heart, and was sealed up in lowly silence in the virgin womb of the most blessed Mary.  Later, "this mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations" (Col. 1:26), became a universal glory: but it nevertheless remains until now a mystery.  "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh."

Undoubtedly, they wondered also at this mystery in heaven, when it was revealed there, when Jesus Christ was risen, and had ascended into heaven, to sit on the right hand of God the Father, and was "seen of angels," in His, until then, unseen glory of the God-Man.  But heavenly wonderment is, as is everything of heaven, beautiful.  The angels were wondering at the mystery and glory of the God-Man, but they were not troubled.  They asked, "Who is this King of glory?" but were neither anxious nor doubtful.  They desired to know that they might revere; and even before their question, "Who is this King of glory?" was answered, they had already received Him as a King of glory, for they already shouted "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in" (Ps. 24:7-8).  The more unfathomable the mystery, the more worthy they find it of the infinite God, the more they revere, the more they glorify God, the more they grow enlightened by His glory, and the greater their happiness.  There, knowledge and glory neither contradict nor envy mystery; and mystery infinitely increases glory and light.

But does the earth receive in like manner the divine mystery of God manifested in the flesh, the earth, for whose peculiar advantage this Mystery was designed, employed, hidden, revealed, brought down, raised up, put to shame, and glorified?  Indeed the holy Virgin is the one blessed among women, who offered herself as a worthy tabernacle of the Mystery sent down from heaven, that it might not turn back, as a ship laden with treasures turns from a shore which affords no harbor; who being raised to the exalted state of the Mother of God, suffered not her mind to be uplifted, even a hair-breadth, from the depth of lowliness; who was able to embrace the infinite Word of God by so small a human word, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).  And after her, let us also bless those by whom the mystery of God manifested in the flesh was "believed on in the world," who received it with faith, kept it faithfully, preached it unto all nations; by whom it came down unto us in unaltered purity and undiminished power.  But those are they of whom it is said, "they are in the world" (John 17:11), yet "are not of the world" (John 17:14).  And the world?  It would not receive the divine, saving mystery, and hearing of it rose up tumultuously to crush it, to obscure it with lies, to entangle it by inventions, to cover it with scorn and calumny, to impede its path by the sword, to flood it with the blood of its witnesses, to bury it in their tombs, to consume it in the flames, to drown it in the waters, and to destroy it by all possible means of destruction.  But in vain!  Despite the efforts of the world, the mystery of God manifested in the flesh, became, as I have already said, a universal glory.  But even now how many there are who either know not this mystery, or knowing it, do not receive it!  And what is still more afflicting, even among those who have inherited it from their fathers and forefathers, there either remain, or appear anew, those who do not know what to do with that incomprehensible mystery; they sometimes ask curiously, – Wherefore were such extraordinary measures employed for the redemption of mankind – as the incarnation of divinity? at other times doubtingly, they ask, – Was it indeed impossible to save mankind without it?  And where there is curiosity there is not yet pure knowledge; where doubt exists there is not perfect faith.

Mystery repels curiosity for the very reason that it is a mystery.  It demands faith, although it does not forbid us to use moderate reflection, in order to remove from its path the stumbling block thrown therein by doubt.

If therefore the believer dares to meditate about the necessity of the incarnation of the Son of God, for us men and for our salvation, he may take as the foundation of his meditation the following utterance of Jesus Christ Himself.

First saying: "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27).  That without the knowledge of God none can be saved and happy, no sensible person will doubt.  But if the treasure of the knowledge of God lies hidden in divinity itself, unattainable from its inaccessible elevation, – if to take therefrom for the use of salvation is possible "but to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him," and meanwhile "no man knoweth the Son, who will reveal" to man divine knowledge, "but the Father," – then how can the redeeming revelation of the knowledge of God be accomplished?  It is necessary that the Son of God, from the invisible divinity which is above all form of knowledge, should, so to say, manifest Himself in some visible shape, for He is called "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15).  But under what shape?  Surely, under that which is nearer to divinity, under a spiritual one.  Suppose it to be so.  Thus far we begin to understand how divine knowledge is revealed in heaven, in the spiritual, angelic world.  But earth is not heaven, nor is man an angel.  Especially in the present condition of earth and men, heaven and angels are hidden from earth and from men:  and consequently divine revelation also, which was appropriated to heaven and angels, was no revelation unto earth and to man.  And therefore it is needful that the Son of God when He will reveal the saving knowledge of God unto man in his present state, should still more condescend and manifest Himself in such forms as are accessible to man, that the Word of God, not ceasing to be the Word of God, should adopt the form of human language, that "the image of the invisible God," not ceasing to be what He is, should manifest Himself in a shape visible to the eye of an earth-born mind; that He should appear either in a transient manner as in the revelations and visions of saints; or in a lasting form, as is the incarnation of the Son of God.

Second saying: "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6).  What does it mean to come unto God?  Unto God, Who "dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto; Whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (Tim. 6:16), in His substance.  Certainly no man can come nigh unto God, either walking with his feet upon earth, or on wings through the air.  What does it mean to come unto God?  We can come unto him from whom we are afar off:  but how is it possible to be far from God, Who is Omnipresent?  "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24); therefore also we must come unto Him in a spiritual way.  A spiritual withdrawal or approach emanates principally from the will.  By a sinful, evil will, man separates himself from God, as it is said in the Scriptures: "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (Isa.59:2).  By a repentant and good will, man comes unto God.  And this even cannot take place, save through the incarnation of the Son of God, as He saith Himself: "No man shall come unto the Father, but by Me."  If thou shalt ask, Wherefore should not man come unto God by his will, which is free?  I answer: God speed!  Make the attempt.  But if thou wilt be attentive, then doubtless, thou wilt find and acknowledge that which was confessed by those better than thou and I: "for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not; for the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do" (Rom. 7:18-19).  However strange to the mind this contradiction in human nature may appear, yet it was long ago known by those even who were not taught of it by Christianity: and if we penetrate deeper into the cause of it, we may be convinced, that it even ought to be so under certain circumstances.  The fountain of goodness and virtue is God alone.  If man remains good, and thereby in communion with God, then he will constantly draw from God the power of doing good; and therefore he is free to wish for good, even so has he the power to achieve it.  But if he suffered himself to fall into sin, and thereby hath become alienated from God, the possibility of drawing power from God will decrease in him; and therefore when his will, being naturally free, would return to goodness and unto God, the power of working good no more answers the will; and man can no longer come unto God by himself, without a special, extraordinary sending down upon him of divine power, – without such a mediation, wherewith the distance between God and man should be filled up, the alienation put an end to, the communion re-established, – without such a mediation, which should be in perfectly equal relation to both alienated sides – God and man.  And such a Mediator is the God-Man.

Third saying: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).  God can do nothing superfluous or unnecessary, for this would not be in harmony with His Wisdom.  And therefore, if God has given His only-begotten Son for the world, then evidently this was necessary.  Wherefore?  As the Son of God saith: "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  Is it possible that otherwise the world would have perished, and would not have received everlasting life?  Evidently so.  Why?  To render this clear as possible, let us turn our thoughts to the beginning of creation.  It is written in the Book of Wisdom, "God made not death" (Wis. 1:13).  This short line ought to be copied from the Book of divine Wisdom into every book of human wisdom, that is not thoroughly devoid of the comprehension of God, as the perfect Creator.  God is the principle of life.  The creature, being a creature, is subject to change; but its changes, as created and ordained by the All-perfect Creator, may be well-ordered unto perfection, without suffering, without gross, unclean, deadly corruption, even in the dissolution of its integral parts, which may take place and pleasantly, as for instance (inasmuch as it is possible to find some instance of it in the present imperfect condition of creatures) the solution of pure oil into light, or the distillation of laudanum into fragrant incense.  Whence comes then the disorder, deformity, impurity, suffering, destruction, corruption, in one word – death?

It seems to me that even natural reason will find nothing else to say than that which the revealed divine doctrine saith, "sin entered into the world, and death by sin" (Rom. 5:12).  Sin as an alienation from God, is at the same time "alienation from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18), and consequently, sooner of later, temporary death for the corruptible and fleshly being, and for the spiritual, incorruptible – eternal death, for except God, there exists not, neither will exist any other source of life.  And thus do sin and death bear testimony in this world to the presence of each other.  Dost thou see sin all-powerful in this world, – thou mayest say, the world is on its way to death.  Dost thou see death, – thou also mayest say, the world has evidently sinned and passes to perdition.  He who is not too blind to perceive in the world the dominion of the one or the other, either of sin of of death, can understand how much the world is in need of deliverance from perdition, and a renewed gift of life.  And it is for the sake of this great need that "God gave His Only-begotten Son".  Death and perdition come down upon man, both as the natural consequence of his alienation from God, and as the working of the justice of God against sin.  Therefore it is necessary for man's salvation, firstly, to satisfy the justice of God, (for none of the divine attributes can be deprived of its efficacy, and also because the proclamation of an unconditional pardon or impunity, would most surely lead man, standing already in the way of sin, farther on in that way, and consequently not unto salvation, but to perdition); secondly to infuse anew into mankind the life of God which should vanquish and destroy death reigning over it.

Such requisitions are difficult, nay impossible by natural means.  To satisfy the justice of God means then to deliver the sinner over to everlasting death, and thereafter the possibility of eternal life vanishes from him for ever.  How should it be possible to impart the life of the Most Holy unto sinful man?  Such a striking contrast between both the united extremes threatens the destruction of the unworthy creature, like hay by fire, sooner than it inspires the hope of salvation.

But what is the design of the God of miracles?  He sends His own hypostatic life, His only-begotten Son, unto a small chosen part of humanity, prepared by the long hidden working of His providence, and preserved from the contagious influence of sin.  He blendeth divinity and humanity in the God-Man; He lowers divinity clothed in humanity, unto a thoroughly human state, – except that of sin, – even unto infirmities, unto sufferings, unto death.  And what then?  Divine justice is perfectly satisfied, for in the person of the God-Man humanity has undergone that death to which it was doomed, and has undergone it thoroughly, since one moment of the death of the God-Man, by the presence in Him of eternal divinity, is equal to eternity, and it is upon this satisfaction of divine justice that the right of the Saviour is grounded to forgive the repentant sinner without the pernicious hope of impunity for him who repents not; and at the same time, the life of God, having descended into the depth of human death, but being by its nature not to be conquered by death, shines forth from the depth of the grave upon all mankind dead through sin, and infuses life into every soul which opens unto it by faith, and does not repel it by unbelief and hardness of heart.  "God so loved the world."

These meditations lead to the following questions: how then did man live, do good, know God, before the incarnation of divinity was accomplished?  How do they still love, do good, know God even now, who do not enjoy the fruit of the divine incarnation?  Those questions are worthy of attention.  To those who have not sufficiently penetrated the heart of the mystery, of God manifest in the flesh, to be able to see from within its quickening light, and to experience its saving power, the solution of the question just given, may show at least the outward majesty of this mystery, which alone works out of humankind a glorious edifice of wonderful unity in its very variety, spreading throughout all extent of space and time, losing itself in heaven, and out of the pale of which humanity offers but disordered ruins, here and there somewhat raising itself, but generally shattered, scattered and hardly rising above the level of earth.

How did man live before the birth of Christ?  He lived in the pristine purity of his creation, through communion with the Word of God, in Whom "was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4), as it was in the beginning, and ever shall be.  And since the time when sin alienated man from God, before the Advent of Christ, if man already "dead in sins" (Eph. 2:5) inwardly, was still outwardly alive, and if there appeared yet in him some glimmerings of a higher life, then he lived firstly, by the remnants of the life breathed into him by God in the beginning, just as the branch cut from the living tree lives on until the exhaustion of the living sap, or until its ingrafting on to a living tree; secondly, he lived by the anticipated first-fruits of the life of Christ, which may be looked for farther than the cradle of Bethlehem, and earlier than the salutation of Nazareth, which was, we say, its crowning, and not its beginning; for at the very time when the original life was impaired by sin, it became necessary to infuse into mankind the healing of Christ, and it was infused by the first annunciation of the Incarnation of God the Word, – "the Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head" (Gen. 3:15); and from this time forward it began, and uninterruptedly continued graciously to work, as we may perceive in the patriarchs and prophets.  As to man's natural life, defiled by sin, is it possible not to perceive, both in former times and now, how it progresses not towards perfection, but towards destruction and death; how in the course of time it grew shorter in the individual life, how it was severed and hewn into unconnected groups, which are called tribes and nations, how among many people, estranged from Christ, it has fallen to the lowest degree of animal and bestial life?

How did man know, and does still know God worked and still works good, before Christianity or without it?  I have but one answer, – If he knew God, then he knew Him by the remnants of the primitive light of his mind, and by the aid of godly tradition.  If he did anything in any sense good, he did it through the remnants of the primitive goodness of his will.  By the fall of man into sin, the image of God was broken in him, but neither entirely demolished nor destroyed; the eternal Sun was setting in his soul, but its last rays are still glowing on its heights.  And even by this decreasing light, "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead" (Rom. 1:20).  "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these show the work of the law written in their hearts" (Rom. 2:14-15).

But perhaps it may be said, if there exists naturally in humankind at least some knowledge of God, and at least some good works, then could it not have been possible for him by some natural means, by continued efforts and mutual aid, to be raised, made perfect, and saved?  To answer this is not very difficult, for examples are ready, and it is but necessary to point to them.  Humankind before Christianity, during some thousands of years, had ample space to try its natural powers.  What did it achieve?  After the most ancient traditions concerning the One God, the innocence of Paradise, or as it was called among the Gentiles, of the golden times, we see polytheism, idolatry, vices and evil deeds, of which the very names horrify us by their being contrary to nature itself, – as for instance, not merely homicide, but infanticide and patricide and anthropophagy.  The Gentile world, pitiful in barbarity, when it grows civilized becomes repulsive in its depravity, which commonly progresses with its civilization, and makes of it its instrument.  What accomplished the Gentile philosophy?  Did it bring even one Gentile city or even one village to the knowledge of the true God?  Was it not this philosophy that first raised doubts about the very existence of God and virtue?  At the time of Christianity it became easy for the mind to kindle several centres of natural knowledge by the sun of divine revelation; but even at the present time, has not natural reason, designing to act without Christ, deprived itself of the last remnant of spiritual light; has it not disgraced itself by a frenzy, unknown even to paganism, in proclaiming atheism as a state law?  Let them call this a chance paroxysm, a partial disorder, an abuse of reason by a few swayed by passion, which showed itself in great dimension but outwardly; I do not deny it, if you wish; but if this is an abuse, a disorder, a disease, then show me the usefulness, the order, the health of natural reason without the higher direction, without its Great Physician, Christ?  Let them point out to me, if they are able, in more extensive, or at least in no less ample proportion, the common workings of this reason towards the perfection and happiness of humankind.  And who can warrant that its abuses, disorders, diseases, will not return again and again under new aspects, according to circumstances with new intensity, if you leave it without guidance from above, and allow it independent sway; if, before its rendering you an impossible service, you will proclaim it the Saviour of mankind?  In truth, we have sufficient afflicting proofs to convince us that the self-redemption of humanity, by natural means and by the efforts of reason, is no more than a dream and the sickly delirium of spiritually diseased humanity.  The best and most saving achievement of human reason towards the perfection and happiness of mankind can only consist in the endeavor to know and measure impartiality its own powers, means, and deficiencies towards this glorious end; to understand the possibility, to acknowledge the need of revelation from above; to draw nigh unto "the great mystery of godliness," to lay at its feet its weapon and its crown; and to surrender itself into a noble captivity, into the free obedience of faith in "God manifested in the flesh."

O Christians!  children of faith, heirs of revelation, keepers of the mystery of God!  Let us bless the God of mysteries and revelations!  Let us glorify the God-Man, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  Let us keep the mystery of God, so graciously entrusted to us.  Let us also think at the same time that it were unfitting to keep the mystery of godliness in an unclean soul and impure life.  But it behoveth us to keep this sacred and divine treasure in a chest of pure gold, – "holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience" (I Tim. 3:9).  Amen.