Why did the Son of God become human?
For us and for our salvation.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 10
17God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
6Jesus said to him, "I am the road and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."
12And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
30Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31They said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.
21But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from law, being attested by the law and the prophets. 22This righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, for there is no distinction. 23For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a mercy seat through faith in his blood, in order to demonstrate his righteousness by passing over the sins previously committed. 26This was done in the forbearance of God to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
9That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and trust in your heart that God raised him out from the dead, you will be saved.
6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by that one's grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
25Consequently he is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
The creed turns from who the Son is to what he did, and gives the reason first: "For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven." The catechism takes that phrase as its whole answer. Article II of the Articles of Religion says that the Son "took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin" in order "to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice" for sin. Article VIII of the Confession of Faith states that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself," and ¶102 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline names the incarnation as the place where God's love toward fallen creation is made manifest.
For us means the Son came for the world and for every person in it. (John 3:17). Paul names the need, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and the remedy, that sinners "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24), so that God "might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). ¶102 calls this justifying grace, received by faith.
For our salvation means there is no other way. Jesus said, "I am the road and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me" (John 14:6), and Peter told the Jerusalem council, "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). When the Philippian jailer asked what he must do to be saved, the answer was "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31), and Romans 10:9 joins that trust to confession of Jesus as Lord. Titus adds: "having been justified by that one's grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:7).
Hebrews says "he is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:25), and Article II of the Confession of Faith calls him "eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us." A Methodist can approach God at any hour because the one who came down for us is still at work for us.