Anselm Cur Deus Homo

Given the season we are in, it seemed appropriate to reflect on Anselm’s Why God Became Man. What I learned about the Lord through the brilliant writing of Anselm is that God operates logically. With all the power to wield and will, our Lord chooses to operate in a way that we can understand yet not comprehend totally. He reveals enough for us to grasp and build upon yet without contradiction in his Word and in his ways. There is within him “no shadow of turning”. God became man because only God could pay the debt man owed and no one other than man could pay the debt. As improbable as the combination might seem, it is only logical that the God-man be the one to take it fully upon himself to both initiate and complete the work of salvation.
In Chapter 8 of Book I, Anselm says that there was no humiliation in the incarnation of Christ. Often we think of the “lowly manger” yet there is not enough there to further Anselm’s assertion that in the incarnation, human nature was exalted. In one of the verses of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, we proclaim that Christ was “born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.” This lyric comes closest to expanding on this often overlooked reality—God came not just to make atonement and bring salvation, but to exalt human nature. I suspect we are careful not to stress this point in conversation and in ministry. Understandably, we would prefer to remain lowly, humble and yes, perhaps even sinful. In our preaching and teaching we tend to place this exaltation as an eschatological event yet to be realized—sadly, for many, the later the better. It seems that the process of exaltation has begun in the incarnation and it would be worthwhile to contemplate and discover what areas of our nature have been exalted by Christ. While humility is key, a spiritually mature conversation about the exaltation of human nature may help us live from our identity as joint heirs with Christ while yet still on earth. Our path to “exaltation” would reflect character transformation as eternal realities start saturating our earthly lives.
In reflecting on Anselm’s view of the atonement, it was refreshing to once again see the logic to what God accomplished through Jesus Christ. Christ offered to God what He did not owe. The compensation he was given for this was bestowed upon us. Christ wanted this for us— we are the recipients of his great reward! Sometimes we tend to think everything is about our choosing or believing. It is very humbling that God so intricately and logically, without offense to his holiness and righteousness worked out for us our own righteousness in Christ. Anytime I think we have something to bring to the table, I can reflect on this humbling truth. This was done for us while we were powerless and even after salvation we should humbly remember that we had no active part in our atonement—God accomplished it all.

While at first, I did not understand the purpose of why Anselm explores the idea of angels and whether or not redeemed humanity was meant to make up for the fallen angels, I found the contrast with angelic beings underscored once again why our salvation is so amazing. God could work within the framework of creation to redeem mankind but not so for the fallen angels. There was no God-angel to borrow Anselm’s term. The angelic rebellion occurred before the fall of man it seems to me that God could redeem humanity, although much of it had to play out through time and space, he could work justly to bring about our reinstatement, to enjoy eternal bliss, doing the will of the Father, as he intended in the first place. God took all necessary measures without turning back the clock so to speak. In moving his perfect will forward through history, he made all things work together to redeem us and elevate us.
Contemplating these truths adds an amazing high-definition layer to our often flat but well-intended invitation to have “a relationship with the Lord.” Our message and our exhortation can be so much fuller when we lift up Christ. Perhaps lifting up Christ means to explore the richness of his work (perhaps while dialoguing, as Anselm does) in order to convey something deeper in our presentations of the gospel. We might do well to mine through hidden gems by these writers and present them anew to a generation that might not otherwise be interested in ancient writing yet so desperately needs ancient truth. Jesus Christ is the only quite simply because he alone made the way. He did what no other could do. Exploring the logical steps of salvation will help even the believer to think through the reality they now confess to living in. To the non-believer, this logical approach gives us the opportunity to present an irresistible reality void of the fluff and self-centerdness that sometimes overwhelms the “modern” services of the Western church.
Too many times we engage the emotions and fail to show the logic of the gospel or the logic of our atonement. On the other extreme, we focus on intellectual knowledge of the Bible and trivial facts and figures without any felt purpose or relevance. Prayerfully introducing logical explanations to how and why God works with the intent on moving the heart of the hearer can be more fruitful. Forming logical explanations will not overwhelm us to facts but it will overwhelm our sense to the greatness of God as we are invited to contemplate and reflect on who God is and what he has done on our behalf.