Why Ever Would God Want to Be Human?

June 6, 2013

Why would God want to become human? Isn’t the very notion preposterous. The entire Muslim world believes it is, and for Buddhists, well, it is thinkable for humans to become God, but certainly not the other way around.

The New Testament presents a God who took on the status of being human. “Jesus, the Son of God…is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses, with us, but has been put to the test in exactly the same way as we ourselves…” (Hebrews 4:15 New Jerusalem Bible). This shows that God wanted to experience what it was like to be human. God knew what he had made from the perspective of an observer, but God wanted to know from the perspective of a participant in life as God had created it to be. God became human because God is a God of relationships, and real relationships don’t exist without meaningful participation in what is going on.

God created the world and gave humans creativity. Then he invited them to use their creativity for shaping his creation into the most beautiful and worthwhile place possible. This reveals the world to be a joint Divine and Human project and shows God to be a God of participation who initiates and maintains relationship. That is why he came to the Garden one evening to met Adam and Eve according to Genesis 3.

The Holy Bible is also a joint Divine and Human project. The Koran reveals God to be someone who sends down his law for guidance and warning, but the Bible reveals God to be someone who comes down and participates, because God loves and enjoys his own creation. The creation was made for God’s pleasure and true pleasure requires participation. In the Biblical story there is a continual conversation going on between God and humanity, and the prophets sometimes actually question and argue with God.

Death is the big problem for humans. God intended for humans to live forever. That’s the mystery of God’s plan, because one cannot find eternal life anywhere in the human DNA. Death is the one enemy humans cannot defeat.  But God is bigger than death, and for humans to defeat death required Divine action. This then,  is why God became human, and  in Jesus Christ the humans won. Jesus death and resurrection made God a participant in what humans all experience, and God did this for the sake of relationship.

Humans can be made perfect if they are like Jesus. If a child walks into the family room with a small amount of mud on its feet, his mother and father will both insist he take off his shoes before entry. The smallest amount of mud on the feet disqualifies the son from entry, even though he is the son and will someday be the heir of the property. That’s the way it is with sin. God’s house is too beautiful to be despoiled by any kind of sin, however small. How faith in Jesus removes sin is another of God’s mysteries, but it is true that over time we do become like whatever it is we love. If you love someone deeply, you begin to imitate the person (or thing) you love and begin to think and act like that person. This reveals a glimpse into the reason  why God became human and why Jesus had to die. God loved his creation and wanted to participate with us at our level in its management. If we truly love God as God presented himself in Jesus, then our character will begin to form in imitation of him, and we will qualify as acceptable children in his house.

If on the other hand we love power, we will take on the behaviors of unbridled power regardless of the consequences, such that only fear can restrain us from the worst behavior. If we love pleasure, we will take on the behaviors of unrestrained pleasure seeking such that only fear can restrain us from the most destructive behavior. But if we love God, whose character is revealed in Jesus, then over time we begin to act like Jesus, and he begins to shape us by his Spirit into the perfection required for heaven where he lives.

So why did God become human? God loved us so much that he chose to become like us in our experience, and to whatever degree we are able to love God, to that degree we will reflect the perfection of God in our character and faith.