One of the principles of scholastic theology is “grace builds on nature and perfects it.” This helps us understand the identity of Jesus. He truly had a human nature — “like us in all things but sin” — and that nature was capable of bearing a divine nature. What we call the Incarnation demonstrates that a human nature is able to be perfected by a divine nature. That undergirds the statement in our Creed; “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” Eternal life is not about about immortal souls but risen bodies. St. Paul puts it that at death: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. Being embodied — our entire history as individuals — is what is perfected in glory.
