The Incarnation's fittingness and the question of its truth
having found the moral atmosphere of the Incarnation to be common sense
A theological distinction helps clarify why finding the Incarnation morally illuminating need not complete the argument. In Summa theologiae III, question 1, Thomas Aquinas separately asks whether the Incarnation is fitting and whether it is necessary for humanity's restoration. Article 1 answers objections based on the distance between God and flesh; its positive argument treats God's communication of goodness as the reason the union is fitting. Article 2 distinguishes something indispensable to an end from something by which the end is better attained. God could have restored humanity otherwise, Aquinas says, while the Incarnation particularly strengthens faith, hope, charity and recognition of human dignity. Aquinas, III, q. 1, aa. 1–2.
This supplies a precise comparison for Chesterton's movement from moral atmosphere to intellectual objections. One can discuss what a doctrine makes intelligible, or why it befits divine goodness, without thereby proving that its historical claim occurred. Chesterton signals that additional burden by promising an account of objective truth. The comparison does not make him a Thomist or identify Aquinas as his source; it shows an older theological vocabulary for keeping moral intelligibility, necessity and historical actuality distinct.
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