What is the doctrine of the incarnation? Why is it important to the Christian faith?

In
Christianity, the doctrine of the
Incarnation is the idea that God became human in the person of
Jesus Christ,
his son. All forms of Christianity believe in some fashion that Jesus is the
Son
of God. The precise nature of his connection to God has never been
universally agreed upon, but
the orthodox position held by Catholic,
Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican Christians is that
God was incarnated
equally human and divine in Jesus. Two church councils can help to shed light

on the development of the precise relationship between God and Jesus behind the
Incarnation: the
Council of Nicaea emphasized the Trinity and the equality
between three persons of the Trinity
(Father, Son, Spirit), while the Council
of Chalcedon emphasized the equality of a human and
divine nature united in
the single person of Jesus.

Nicene

Christianity

The first Council of Nicaea was held in
325 AD.
As the first ecumenical council of the church, it was especially
important in defining the
beliefs held by todays Catholic, Orthodox,
Protestant, Anglican, and Oriental Orthodox churches.
The Nicene Creed, a
basic outline of Christian belief, professes belief in God, Jesus, and the

Holy Spirit. While the original creed does not explicitly define God as a trinity of
three
persons, one purpose of the Council of Nicaea was to defend Trinitarian
belief.  

Chalcedonian
Christianity

The Council
of Chalcedon was
held in 451 AD. Among the churches who hold Chalcedonian theology are the

Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican churches. The Chalcedonian Definition
declared that
after the Incarnation, Jesus possessed two natures (human and
divine) in one person or
hypostasis. This has since become the orthodox
teaching of Christianity, referred to as
dyophysitism, though some churches
such as the Oriental Orthodox reject the Chalcedonian
Definition. These
churches follow miaphysitism, the position that after the incarnation Jesus

had only a single nature.

Significance

The
decisions of the two councils support the dominant position of the
Incarnation
today: specifically, God exists as a Trinity of three distinct
persons who are all of the same
essence; the second person of the Trinity,
the Son, then became a human called Jesus Christ who
in his singular
personhood contained two natures, human and divine.

This
is
significant to Christianity because by affirming the completely human and
divine natures of
Jesus, as well as his unification with God through the
Trinity, he is equipped in the realm of
Christian theology to be both savior
(from his divinity) and relatable (from his humanity). The
Christian God is
able to understand humans, because he became one, while also being capable of

delivering salvation, thanks to his divinity.

href="https://carm.org/christianity/creeds-and-confessions/chalcedonian-creed-451-ad">https://carm.org/christianity/creeds-and-confessions/chal...


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