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.

Dear Reader,

Can I be direct with you?

War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.

First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.

But we can’t do it without readers like you.

Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.


Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.

Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.

GIVE NOW

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Church in the Age of Therapy

Matthew Loftus

In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…

Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot

Anna Farrow

On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…

The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen

Mike Aquilina

Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…