B. THE PERSONHOOD OF CHRIST:
TWO NATURES IN ONE DIVINE PERSON

4. WHY CHRIST ASSUMED A HUMAN NATURE FOR OUR SALVATION

Since the purpose of the Incarnation was the salvation of the sinful race of Adam, it was also fitting that the Son of God should assume to Himself an individual nature of the race of Adam. In this way, the same human race that had offended God in Adam and had lost God's grace could satisfy God for man's sin and regain the grace of God.

For this reason, too, the Son of God assumed to Himself a complete, perfect human nature, a human body united to a human soul, a rational, intellectual soul. If He had not done this, then he could not have satisfied God for sin as a real Man, a true representative of the race of Adam. We cannot escape from this mystery, then, by saying either that God only appeared to us as a man, but that His body had no human soul, no human intellect or human free will. In all these hypotheses, Christ would not have been a real Man and He would not have been able to offer God a man's reparation for sin.

The Son of God assumed to Himself a complete human nature. Now, because this human nature is the human nature of a Person Who is God, it is only natural that this human nature will have all the perfection that is possible to a human nature and that is not opposed to the purpose of the Incarnation ----- the redemption of mankind. We must consider briefly both the perfection of Christ's human nature and its weaknesses.

In the order of Divine grace, the human nature of Christ is the most perfect of all human natures. Since the human soul of Christ is so intimately united to the Person of the Son of God, it is only natural that His soul should be perfectly sanctified by Divine grace.