Incarnation Anyway

Would the Son of God have become incarnate had Adam not sinned?

Some argue the question is far too speculative and impossible to answer, especially since it is based on a counterfactual. In addition, some questionable teachers have affirmed a type of Incarnation Anyway, which may prejudice some today against the position. However, in more recent times, some have spoken more favorably of the idea that the Son would have become incarnate if Adam had not sinned. And while it is true Jesus came to save sinners, we do not need to say that it is exhaustively true.

In fact, this question, far from being overly speculative, gets to the heart of God’s intention to create, namely, what was God’s desire for himself in relation to humanity? Clearly, we should be careful with counterfactuals, but there are some theological ideas that are worth teasing out based on teleology and what the fact of the incarnation (as it happened) teaches us.

If the Son became incarnate merely because of the entrance of sin, then Christ, as God-man, might be what is called an “accidental identity.” In other words, the glory of his person as the visible image of the invisible God occurs only because sin entered the world (felix culpa).

The creation of the world exists for the sake of the Son (Col. 1:16, “…all things were made for him…”), which has in view the Son as God-man (i.e., Christ). Hence, Adam and Eve were created not only by Christ, but for Christ. They would glorify him, regardless of the entrance of sin. But was it certain, regardless of whether they had sinned or not, that they would see the God-man? Indeed. God’s purpose for the creation of humanity is to commune with and reveal himself to us. There is no better way for God to reveal himself than as he has done, namely, in the person of his Son as God-man.

Salvation from sin is not the highest end for humanity. That view conceives of the purposes of God too negatively. Rather, the highest end for humanity is uninterrupted (eternal) union and communion with God through Christ by the Spirit. However, to enjoy the fullest and highest blessings of communion with the triune God, we need to be glorified. Because of the Creator-creature distinction, God must “condescend” before we can “ascend.” The incarnation provides the way God can have perpetual, unimpeded communion with man whereby man lacks nothing in terms of his ability to fully enjoy and know God because man is now Spirit-filled by the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9).

Adam was without sin, but that does not mean he was perfect; nor in the Garden did he reach glorification. Even Christ eventually reached “perfection” (“and once made perfect”) in his high priestly role and awaited glorification (Jn. 17:5; Heb. 2:10; 5:9). Adam was naked in Eden. He was not yet clothed as he needed to be. The Son is clothed in the flesh of humanity. This formerly “weak” flesh is now glorified flesh (Rom. 1:4). We reach this same destiny when we are given new “clothing” in Christ (resurrected bodies, 1 Jn. 3:2; cf. Rom. 5:15-17).

Adam could not have gained for humanity what Christ was able to gain. He simply could not merit anything from God, much less could he merit the same blessings as Christ was able to merit as the God-man. Our union with the God-man brings us into a state far greater than what would have happened if Adam did not sin. The incarnation adds an incredible and immense dignity to our nature. Moreover, our adoption is on a higher level, for we are united to the God-man, not just a man. In Eden, Adam was a son indeed, by the grace of creation, but not a son by the grace of adoption through Christ.

Adam’s personal sonship required development, just as Christ’s own mediatorial sonship required development. Jesus, who was “for a little while” lower than the heavenly beings, is now superior to them in every way and for all eternity (Heb. 1-2). Adam desired from God what he was not yet ready for concerning the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Christ, however, remained patient, eagerly desiring the gift of the Father according to the timing and promise of the Father. Christ did not snatch his bride but waited for his reward.

What does this idea of the Son’s incarnation apart from sin mean for us? Very simply, God’s ultimate intention for humanity could only ever be fully realized through the incarnation. Why did God create humanity? To bring into being a bride for his Son, who would assume a human nature.

Christ is not only God’s reaction to sin. Sin did not necessitate the incarnation. True, things were made more difficult for the Son and for us because of sin, but God’s basic goal has not been altered. The king of creation, to whom creation would bow, could not ultimately have been Adam. It had to be Christ. Christ, the heavenly man, makes possible what was ontologically impossible for the earthly man (1 Cor. 15:49). Full rights of eternal sonship must come through the eternal Son, not the temporary son (Adam), who was of the dust.

So, however it would have happened, the Son would still have become incarnate, ruled over creation, and brought about the possibility of full communion with the Father through the Spirit.

Perhaps most importantly, the incarnation gives us the highest blessing possible: the beatific vision. We know God and we see the face of God in the man, Christ Jesus (Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 3:18, 4:6; 1 Jn. 3:2). We behold God’s glory in the God-man (Jn. 14:9). Apart from the incarnation, we would be without this great blessing. But the incarnation gives us a sight of God that Adam could never have attained to. We were always intended to bear the image of the heavenly man: the man “from heaven.” Incarnation Anyway means we are sons in the Son, far to be preferred than sons in Adam.

Thus the incarnation best displays God’s love for humanity, by gifting us with the greatest gift possible: knowledge, sight, and enjoyment of the God-man. To think that we would have missed out on this if Adam had not sinned makes little theological sense to me. Indeed, it makes little sense that a loving God towards his creatures would withhold from them the greatest blessing he can give to them: an ocular, not just intellectual, sight of God in the flesh.

Satan’s Envy

If Adam had not sinned, we still must reckon with sin: the Fall of the Angels. Would Christ have offered himself up in a certain manner to deal with the destruction of all evil, thus showing us the greatest act of love even in a world where humanity had not sinned? To bring godly order back to the world, the devil and his angels needed to be defeated (through sacrifice). Hence not only incarnation but resurrection are integral to God’s purposes for humanity. Incarnation Anyway does not negate death and resurrection; in a sense, it demands it.

The fact of the Son’s incarnation may have also been the occasion for the rebellion of Satan. If Christ is incarnate, even apart from sin, he can, by grace, elevate his offspring above the angels. We were created lower than the angels but that was meant to be temporary.

Jesus became flesh for us and for our salvation. The “for us” was going to happen, regardless of Adam’s sin.