The importance of the incarnation

The incarnation is the other essential pole of the Christian confession. God’s own self is totally, unreservedly, unconditionally invested in the self-offering “even to death on a cross” of the man Jesus. If God is not truly incarnate in Jesus as he accomplishes his work on the cross, then nothing has really happened from God’s side and we are thrown back on ourselves. If there is no incarnation of the Godhead in Jesus’ sacrifice, then there is no salvation apart from what human nature can contribute.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 32