CUR DEUS HOMO

CUR DEUS HOMO, God became man

That statement will become major misunderstanding Christian doctrine, especially when we try to share it with the Muslims. For them, it sounds too pagan. God became man, it means that God being crucified, died, buried etc. Allah (the God) for them is sacral, just likes YHWH (God) for the Jews. It’s too rude for a Muslim and a Jew to say “Allah/YHWH became man”. And because of Christianity have same root with the Jews, so it’s impossible to say “the God (the Father) became man”. We can compare it with Islamic Theology (called ‘Ilm al-Kalam). In ‘Ilm al-Kalam, the God (Allah) can’t be understood in His Ousia (Dzat) but can be understood through His Hypostasis (Shifatullah). Shifatullah are “not God but not different with God”. Logos (Word of God, Kalimatullah) is one of the Shifatullah in Islam. “Power” and “Life” of God (called the Holy Spirit in Christian faith) are also Shifatullah, that ‘qaimah’ (paste or stand) on Dzatullah (Ousia). Sifatullah are “not God but not creation”.

In Islam, “Logos, Power and Life” of God are not to be understood as having a reality of self-identity entity, but in Christian faith both of them are having hypostasis (a reality that underlining identity). Logos is not the Father (God), but Logos is God (because He is immortal and not different with God), “The Word was God” (John 1:1).

The Word (the Son) is different with the Father, it’s explained by the Word himself when He became a man (nuzul, tajjasud): Jesus Christ and by the Bible statement in: John 1:1, 3:2, 3:17, 3:35, 5:24, 17:3, 20:17, 14:28 and many more. The Father (YHWH) that is transcendent, communicate Himself to mankind through His Word (called Memra in Targum). John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” Logos (the Word, the Son) is eternally coexisting with the Father. Origen of Alexandria appoint Christ as Logos, “if the first born of every creature, is the image of the invisible God, the Father is his arche.”

Because of this difficulty, so the Arabic Christian (may God protect them always!) never use term “God became man” (Allah al-Mutajjasad) but use term “Son of God became man” (Ibnullah al-Mutajjasad). So, clearly that Judaism tawhid (Unity), which is defending the God transcendency, in the same time give some space for Memra (Logos) that will be come in His Messiah, is still guarded and defended in the early church, because of it’s Judaic roots. And if we have open mind, we can more clearly understand this topic through reading The Epistle of St. Ignatius to Ephesians (VII) and to Magnesians (VIII), Adversus Haraeses (III) by Irenaeus, De Haraesibus by John of Damascus, The Dead Sea Scrolls, etc. It’s not just for Catholic or Orthodox Christian but for all Christian of any denomination. Haleluyah, Amen.