In Christ was united the human and the divine. His mission was to reconcile God to man, and man to God; to unite the finite with the infinite.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The life of Christ was a life of humble simplicity, yet how infinitely exalted was his mission. Christ is our example in all things.
Religion unites man with God, or forms a communication between them; yet do they not say, 'God is infinite?' If God be infinite, no finite being can have communication or relation with him.
In consequence of our limited ideas of the sufferings of Christ, we place a low estimate upon the great work of the atonement. The glorious plan of man's salvation was brought about through the infinite love of God the Father. In this divine plan is seen the most marvelous manifestation of the love of God to the fallen race.
For Christ, both God and man, must lay hold on us in order that there may be a union between Him and us.
Think of something finite molded into the infinite, and you think of man.
In God becoming human in Jesus Christ, God has established solidarity with the human condition.
Christ had given the apostles a world-wide commission, embracing all the nations; but intellectually they did not understand what He meant. They found that out as they followed the impulse of the Spirit.
The finite is annihilated in the presence of the infinite, and becomes a pure nothing. So our spirit before God, so our justice before divine justice.
How can finite man commune with an infinite God? To both Christians and Jews, God himself has made that possible by irrupting into the temporal world. To Christians, God became man in the Incarnation; to Jews, the God that spoke out of the fire on Mount Sinai gave his Torah.
There is therefore a tremendous mystery in the fact that God may be united with man and the man with God.