Why did the Son of God come down from heaven?
The Son of God was incarnate in order to rescue us, to deliver and save us, from the power of sin, which is unto death. This was accomplished through his entire saving economy: from the mystery of the Annunciation and Incarnation, through his Baptism, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, to his Ascension and Second Coming. In particular, Jesus Christ took upon himself the office of our great High Priest and performed the great atonement, restoring the Covenant and obtaining the remission of sins: “he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb 9:11–12; see Q043).
These truths are proclaimed with special fullness in the anaphoras of the Divine Liturgies of St John Chrysostom and St Basil the Great; as the Church prays in the latter: “when he had cleansed us by water and sanctified us with the Holy Spirit, he gave himself as a ransom to death, in which we were held captive, sold under sin; and descending through the Cross into hades… he loosed the pangs of death, and rose on the third day, making a way for all flesh to the resurrection from the dead” (Anaphora of the Liturgy of St Basil; see Q017, Q024).
The New Testament contains many passages that declare why Jesus came into the world and why the Father sent his Only-Begotten Son, a catena (series of texts) worth committing to the heart: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the first” (1Ti 1:15; see Q353, Q573); “those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mrk 2:17); “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luk 19:10); “the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mat 20:28); “I was born and I have come into the world for this reason: that I should bear witness to the truth” (Joh 18:37); “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of the one who sent me” (Joh 6:38); “I have come as a light into the world, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in the dark” (Joh 12:46); “I came so that people may have life, and have it in abundance” (Joh 10:10); “Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see” (Joh 9:39); “this is why I came forth”, to preach (Mrk 1:38); “for this reason I have come to this hour” (Joh 12:27); “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Mat 5:17; see Q437, Q491); “I came not to send peace, but a sword”, the sword that divides even households for the truth’s sake (Mat 10:34–35); “as the Father has sent me, even so send I you” (Joh 20:21; see Q016, Q051); “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1Jo 4:10; see Q607); “God so loved the world that he gave his Only-Begotten Son… God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (Joh 3:16–18; see Q030, Q383); “God, having raised up to life his servant Jesus, sent him to you first, in order to bless you as every one of you turn away from his wicked ways” (Act 3:26); “when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law and so that we might receive adoption” (Gal 4:4–5; see Q038, Q171); “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. Thus, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Rom 8:3–4; see Q607).
The mystery of the Lord’s incarnation should remain a cause of great wonder and meditation. Among our treasures is St Athanasius’ celebrated treatise On the Incarnation in which he reflects on God’s purpose and mysterious providence:
What then was God to do? Or what was to be done save the renewing of that which was in God’s image, so that by it men might once more be able to know Him? But how could this have come to pass save by the presence of the very Image of God, our Lord Jesus Christ? For by men’s means it was impossible, since they are but made after an image; nor by angels either, for not even they are (God’s) images. Whence the Word of God came in His own Person, that, as He was the Image of the Father, He might be able to create afresh the man after the image. (On the Incarnation, 13–14)
