Why God Became Man

We confess in the Creed that His Majesty, Christ Our Lord, came down from heaven propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem... on account of us men and our salvation. But the exact nature of the relationship between Christ's coming among us and our salvation remains unspecified/undefined by the Church. This should not surprise us since the effects of original sin are manifold (wounding us in a number of ways such as ignorance, concupiscence, and malice), then we should expect the cure is most likely to be manifold as well. Fallen man must be healed; fallen man must be instructed; fallen man must offer reparation to God Whom he has offended. Thus, we find a number of ways in which the Scriptures and the Fathers/Doctors present the matter, reducible, it seems to seven ways: pedagogical, transactional/redemption, recapitulation, physical, sacrificial, satisfactory, and meritorious. Although we are mostly interested in the physical category at this time, due to the season of Christmas and some modern errors, let us nevertheless look into them all, even if only briefly. Note that there is to be expected some overlapping. In any case, St. Athanasius says about such things: "it is better to put the same thing in several ways than to run the risk of leaving something out" (de Incarnatione, ch. IV, §20).