Finite infinite
The puzzle of the incarnation is often posed as “how could the infinite become finite?”
It’s the wrong question. The Son is infinite in all his attributes - His wisdom, power, goodness, truth. But He is not infinite-without-qualification.
He is not infinite in the sense that He has no bounds in any sense. As soon as we call Him Son, we are saying He has a Father; and as soon as we say “the Father is God, and the Son is God, and yet the Father is not the Son,” we are saying that there is a “boundary” between Father and Son Even if that boundary is imagined perichoretically, it’s still there, because the Son who indwells the Father exhaustively is not the Father.
When the Son became flesh, he assumed new, human boundaries. But He knew boundaries already, because He is the eternal Word who is from the Father and “toward” the Father.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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