humanity’s fall (lapsus). The ontological divide between transcendent Creator and finite creatures means that human beings simply cannot exist in communion with God (that is, “become participants of the divine nature,” in the words of 2 Pet. 1:4) by the exercise even of their unfallen natural capacities; they can do so only as they become recipients of a gift of grace that supervenes on their nature. In short, God becomes incarnate because God wishes to share the divine life with us, so that the