Today, we are witnessing the prayer of Jesus in communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ takes His disciples as witnesses. For the Biblical faith is essential to refer to historical events. It does not tell stories symbolizing suprahistorical truths, but is based on history that took place here on this earth. The "factum historicum" is not an intercheangeable symbolic key that can be replaced, but the foundation on which it stands.

"Et incarnatus est": with these words we acknowledge God’s actual entry into real History. If we push this history aside, Christian faith as such disappears and is recast as "some other" religion. So if history (its facticity) is an essential dimension part of Christian faith, then faith must expose itself to a "historic method" for its interpretation. Indeed, faith itself demands this: the "historical-critical method" is an indispensable tool (although not sufficient) given the structure of the Christian faith.

—O Jesus, I acknowledge Your Incarnation as a historical fact, and at the same time, I confess that You are God.