The Incarnation of Christ

[wuppas]

i was asked an interesting question in RCIA
if Jesus is 100% God and human
and the Trinity is eternal
which is believed by Catholics
and stated in the Nicene Creed
was Jesus human before the Incarnation?

John 1… Word made Flesh tells me the answer is no but i wanted to be sure first since this is a good question

thanks
marco

 

[steve99]

I believe the answer is no, the second person of the trinity took flesh in the womb of Mary at a point in human history.

But it raises an interesting question. We are told that God is unchanging, but here we have the second person of the Trinity taking a second nature, so God does seem to change. I’m sure there is an answer to that.

There is also a second point. We are told that we are made in God’s image and likeness, which is taken to be a spiritual likeness. But someone said to me that since God always knew in what form his Son would become incarnate, that likeness extends to our human likeness as well. I don’t know if that is correct either, but I’m sure someone will put me right on that.

 

[DavidFilmer]

steve99:

But it raises an interesting question. We are told that God is unchanging, but here we have the second person of the Trinity taking a second nature, so God does seem to change. I’m sure there is an answer to that.

This was the very first question that I ever asked on this Forum. As you can see from the discussion, the answer is related to the distinction between “assuming” a human nature and “absorbing” one. But I must admit that the significance of that distinction are still not clear to me.