1. The love of God for the human race: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Saint John 3:16).
2. The restoration in fallen humanity of the image and likeness of God, as the holy Church celebrates it (first canon of the Matins/Orthros for the Nativity of Christ, Song 1): Man who, being made in the image of God, had become corrupt through sin, and was full of vileness, and had fallen away from the better life Divine, doth the wise Creator restore anew.
3. The salvation of men’s souls: For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (Saint John 3:17).
And so we, in conformance with the purposes of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, should spend our life in accordance with this Divine teaching, so that through it we may obtain the salvation of our souls.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
