Humilation and Exaltation
Theologians normally treat the incarnation-to-burial of Jesus as the humiliation of the Son; resurrection-to-ascension exaltation. That’s correct, but there are other angles too.
God hid His face behind a veil from the time of Moses to the incarnation. This is His humiliation - we might almost say, a display of His modesty. (He does not, like Orual, hide to veil his ugliness but His beauty.) At the incarnation, the Father is seen in the Son, and the Word tabernacles in flesh where we can behold Him - the incarnation is the beginning of exaltation, or at least, of apocalypse.
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.
In Medias Res
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