THE CITY
out of a rejection of the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation. Either it is claimed, along with the Arians, that Christ was a man but not God, or it is asserted, along with the Gnostics, that Christ was fully divine but not fully human: he only appeared to wear the flesh. The major religions of the world may also be divided in two around the theological crux of the Incarnation: with Jews and Muslims insisting that God has no Son, and Hindus and Buddhists accepting the Son-ship of Jesus but then hastening to add that we are all Sons of God, if we only knew it. Like the doctrine of Christ Crucified, the doctrine of Christ Incarnate—which precedes and makes possible the former doctrine—has ever proven a stumbling block to the religious minded and rank foolishness to the secular minded. It embodies a mystery that the wise have dismissed as illogical and irrational. And yet, the paradox of the Incarnation (the two-into-one) is a paradox that runs through the very fabric of our world. God created beings of pure spirit (the angels) and pure physicality (the beasts), but we, as human beings, are the great amphibians of the universe: not just part soul and part body, but fully spiritual and fully physical. Marriage is not merely a social institution but a mystical fusion of husband and wife. Sexuality, too, is more than a vehicle for propagation, as husband and wife truly become one flesh. Even in heaven, the paradox of the two-into-one will continue. First, our eternal destiny is not to exist as bodiless souls, but to exist, as Christ himself now exists, clothed incarnationally in a Resurrection Body. Second, we, as the Bride of Christ, will be fully one with Christ the Bridegroom, while yet retaining our individual identity. The Incarnation is what prevents heaven from devolving into a nebulous One Soul, in which individuality is annihilated as the integrity of the raindrop is annihilated when it falls into the ocean. The Incarnation is also, I would argue, what holds nature together and prevents seen, physical matter and unseen, “spiritual” energy from either obliterating or swallowing each other. It is by Christ, Paul assures us in Colossians, that “all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (1:16-7; NIV throughout). 86