"The reason of Incarnation"

"THERE ARE different opinions about this question. For some say that even if man had not sinned, the Son of Man would have become incarnate. Others assert the contrary, and seemingly our assent ought rather to be given to this opinion.
 
"For such things as spring from God's will, and beyond the creature's due, can be made known to us only through being revealed in the Sacred Scripture, in which the Divine Will is made known to us. Hence, since everywhere in the Sacred Scripture the sin of the first man is assigned as the reason of Incarnation, it is more in accordance with this to say that the work of Incarnation was ordained by God as a remedy for sin; so that, had sin not existed, Incarnation would not have been. And yet the power of God is not limited to this; even had sin not existed, God could have become incarnate."
 
~St. Thomas Aquinas: S.T. III, Q. 1, Art. 3.


The Incarnation with Six Saints, by Fra Bartolomeo.
Panel, A.D. 1515; Musée du Louvre, Paris.