The human qualities of Jesus

Abstract

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, full of Grace and truth" (Jn I: 14). This Johannine passage embodies a most sublime mystery through which God had to accomplish the work of Salvation - the mystery of the Incarnation. Faith teaches us that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity having the same nature with God the Father became also truly man by taking a body and soul like ours "The Word became flesh" - God the Son became the Man Jesus Christ, a real man belonging to this world of ours, with all the implications that fact implies but also with an earthly history which He lived out to end. Jesus therefore is truly God and truly man. He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before time. He is man of the substance of a mother, born in time. As man, Jesus Christ belongs to authentic history. In sketching Christ's character through His human qualities we will ignore every word and act of His that show Him to be God. We will disregard all direct evidence of His Divinity. We will view Christ from a merely human stand point to find the most perfect man, the most perfect teacher of Natural Religion that ever lived [...].