"The radical humility of Christ" contrasted with the "pretension of Adam" and the "pride of the builders of the Tower of Babel" that ended in "self-destruction", Pope Benedict said on Wednesday. To be happy and reach heaven, follow Christ's lead and not Adam's, Pope Benedict said.
In a lesson on Pauline Christology today during the general audience in St Peter's Square, the Pope explained that Adam's pride ended in his self-destruction, whereas Christ took the opposite route, that of humility, and was "greatly exalted" by the Father.
He noted that St Paul's preaching made clear that "the Resurrection is not an event in itself that is separated from the Death. The risen One is the same One who was crucified. The risen One also had his wounds.
"Paul had understood on the road to Damascus this identification of the risen One with Christ crucified: In that moment, it was revealed with clarity that the Crucified is the risen One and the risen One is the Crucified, who says to Paul, 'Why do you persecute me?'" the Pope said.
Paul's contemplation of this reality leads him to a deep understanding of Christ's "eternal existence in which he is one with the Father," he said.
Analysing Chapter 2 of the Letter to the Philippians, Pope Benedict said that "exegetes mainly concur in considering that this pericope was composed prior to the text of the Letter to the Philippians."
"This is an important piece of information, because it means that Judeo-Christianity, before St Paul, believed in the divinity of Jesus. In other words, faith in the divinity of Christ is not a Hellenistic invention, arising after the earthly life of Christ, an invention that, forgetting his humanity, had divinised him. We see in reality that the early Judeo-Christianity believed in the divinity of Jesus."
"What is impressive," the Pontiff said, "is the contrast between the radical abasement and the resulting glorification in the glory of God.
"It is evident that this second stanza contrasts with the pretension of Adam, who wanted to make himself God, and it contrasts as well with the actions of the builders of the Tower of Babel, who wanted to construct for themselves a bridge to heaven and make themselves divine. But this initiative of pride ended with self-destruction: In this way, one doesn't arrive to heaven, to true happiness, to God.
"The gesture of the Son of God is exactly the contrary: not pride, but humility, which is the fulfillment of love, and love is divine. The initiative of abasement, of the radical humility of Christ, which contrasts with human pride, is really the expression of divine love; from it follows this elevation to heaven to which God attracts us with his love."
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(Source: CTHN)