In my morning devotions (with my mug of espresso) I've been reading through a little book (or collection of letters, really) by St. John Henry Newman, called The Mystical Rose. It's about Mary's role in the Church and in Church history. And he makes a couple of points in passing that I want to share - one now and one tomorrow. The first one is something he says he believes, and he says it very offhandedly, but it's a great answer to a question that medieval philosophers went 'round and around about, and some still to today.

The question is: If humanity had not fallen, would Jesus still have come?

There are variations of the question over the centuries, of course, and a robust answer would have to take into account things like the contingent or permissive will of God vs the absolute will of God (things I do get into in the forthcoming book on prayer in the early Church). But Newman's answer is short and sweet.

He says that God had always intended to come to humanity, but God's original intention was to come in all his glory and visit humanity, but after the fall, he came instead with his glory veiled, not in power, but in weakness. (The implication is, of course, that he will still come in all his glory revealed, but that's the second coming.)

Of course, who knows, maybe it was always God's habit to visit humanity, to walk with his creatures in the Garden (Genesis 3:8), but then after the fall, he stopped doing that, and waited for one decisive visitation.

So then I was thinking, it's as if God was saying to humanity, Since you brought death into the world, the only way I can show you how serious this is, is to take death on myself. Even though you will die, that comes too late in your individual lives for you to make your decisions, and it's not enough to show you both how serious sin is, and how strong my love for you is, so that you can choose to love me by free will, just as you chose to go your own way by free will. So I will become one of you and show you the consequences of sin, because all sin leads to suffering.

So to answer the question of the philosophers, If humanity had not fallen, would Jesus still have come? Newman seems to be saying, Yes, but his coming would have looked different. Now to be fair, that question of the philosophers really includes a part B: If humanity had not fallen, would Jesus have had to DIE? And I guess the answer is, probably not, but then we have to start talking about God's immutability (God's doesn't really change his mind) vs the reality of human free will and God's contingent will. For that, you'll have to read the book ;^)