"De Lubac was, in the end, at once more strictly orthodox and more radically humanistic. For as will later be argued, where von Balthasar celebrated in the end the spectacle of a divine gnostic drama, de Lubac, like Berulle (and like Bulgakov), pointed towards the serene eternity of the God-Man." - John Milbank, The Suspended Middle, 14
St Thomas on Whether, if man had not sinned, God would have become incarnate?
I answer that, There are different opinions about this question. For some say that even if man had not sinned, the Son of Man would have become incarnate. Others assert the contrary, and seemingly our assent ought rather to be given to this opinion.Setting aside the question of whether this is the Angelic Doctor's complete and final answer on this thorny question, I think that it's worth noting what I take to be the central insight of his answer: we first and foremost know Christ as Saviour and Redeemer. We need to beware of any latent anthropological optimism in our theology which neglects this. We may also affirm him as the 'perfect man', the fulfilment of the project began in Adam and as the Word through whom the World was made... but in the order of knowing, these come after and are primarily derived from our recognition of Christ as Saviour.
For such things as spring from God's will, and beyond the creature's due, can be made known to us only through being revealed in the Sacred Scripture, in which the Divine Will is made known to us. Hence, since everywhere in the Sacred Scripture the sin of the first man is assigned as the reason of Incarnation, it is more in accordance with this to say that the work of Incarnation was ordained by God as a remedy for sin; so that, had sin not existed, Incarnation would not have been. And yet the power of God is not limited to this; even had sin not existed, God could have become incarnate.
