But it is monstrous and unlawful to compare God the Father, in the generation of His only-begotten Son, and in the substance of the same, to any man or other living thing engaged in such an act; for we must of necessity hold that there is something exceptional and worthy of God which does not admit of any comparison at all, not merely in things, but which cannot even be conceived by thought or discovered by perception, so that a human mind should be able to apprehend how the unbegotten God is made the Father of the only-begotten Son. Because His generation is as eternal and everlasting as the brilliancy which is produced from the sun. For it is not by receiving the breath of life that He is made a Son, by any outward act, but by His own nature. (Book I, Chapter 2, Part 4)

Origen recognizes the imperfect possibility of the analogy and rushes to close-off the possibility. (See yesterday's post.)

In 251, shortly after the death of Origen, the Synod of Antioch declared Christ to be "wholly God" and "wholly man." The confession of faith begins:

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was of God and the Father, who was begotten before the worlds of the Spirit, but in the end of days, was born of a virgin in the flesh, is one compound person of heavenly Deity and human flesh; and also in this, that he is man, wholly God and wholly man;

The Antioch confession continues to finely distinguish this "man" from any other, but at least for me it is a great comfort to understand Jesus as wholly man and as fully fallible and fearful as I can be.

I also understand that in relationship with God - an especially profound relationship - Jesus became more than man, and this too is all the more meaningful because Jesus shared my nature, both weakness and strength.