Why did Jesus come? There are levels at which this question cannot be easily answered. The incarnation of the Son of God is the highest conceivable expression of divine grace. It was one thing for God to create the whole universe out of nothing, bestowing existence graciously, out of no inner necessity save love. But it is quite another for God to decide that in order to reconcile and heal humankind God ought to take on our human nature and show [God] to be the servant and lover of us all.
Why would God do that? Why would the awesome creator of all things abase God's self and stoop down to our poor estate? To the question posed in this way, we can only speak of the marvelous grace of our loving Lord.
But there is another level on which to confront the question. Biblical Christians have often felt certain that they have grasped clearly the motive of the incarnation. We have heard the angel's announcement, "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). We know the words of the apostle Paul when he wrote, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). We have therefore received Jesus as our personal Savior, and experienced the peace that follows upon the fact that we have been justified by faith through his finished work on the cross.
Why did Jesus come? We would answer the question in terms of the justification of individual sinners. Unquestionably we are on the right track to keep ever before us the saving purpose of the incarnation. For it has happened in the past that theologians have forgotten what the primary motive of the incarnation was and developed systems quite at odds with the biblical testimony. They have sought to discover some abstract and metaphysical principle latent in that event.
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