God Creates Humans to Become Human

Fr. Georges Florovsky, noted 20th Century Orthodox Theologian, made the interesting claim that the very point of creation, and for God of His creating humans, is that God always intended to become human. The Christmas story of the incarnation of God is what God had been planning from before there was time.

“God creates the world and reveals himself in order to become a man in this world. Man is created in order that God may become man and it is by this union that man is deified. Or as St. Irenaeus of Lyons expressed it: ‘The Son of God became the Son of man in order that man would become the Son of God.’ This purpose was realized in the mystery of Christ’s birth…”

“‘If one should ask what are we worshiping and adoring, the answer is ready: we are honoring love.’ (St. Gregory of Nazianzus) ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…’ (John 3:16)” (Fr. Georges Florovsky, “The Year of our Lord”, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly, 1952)

So while all the Eves and Adams of the world want to become God (gods), God for His part was looking to become human! How disappointed He must have been to find out we didn’t want to be human and always are trying to escape our humanity.

The story of Adam and Eve is the story of each of us – it is not so much a historical story but a prototypical one. Adam and Eve are us, and we are them – we share the same humanity, the same human nature, the same human desires and faults. We don’t read Genesis 2-3 to learn ancient history, but rather we read it as our own personal history. We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve and so share their desires and their failures and sins.

God, however, sees something in us which delights Him and He wants to become us. Even if we don’t see what God sees in us and are endlessly trying to escape being human because we see it as limiting us. God however doesn’t see it that way – He doesn’t see humanity or being human as limiting Him!

In the Book of Job (chapters 1 & 2) basically you have Satan telling God that humans are no good. Satan cannot understand why God delights in these human creatures and he sets out to prove to God that even God’s favorite human is no good. So perhaps when we look at the world and consider all of the bad news about what humans do and we get depressed about the human race, we are taking on the Satanic point of view. God for His part loves the world and chooses to fulfill His plan and becomes human so that the humans He loves might be like Him. Christmas is the feast of God becoming human.