This content explains the complex theological doctrine of Christology, specifically focusing on Jesus Christ's two natures (divine and human) united in one person, a concept known as the hypostatic union. It emphasizes that this union is essential for Christ's redemptive work and mediatorial ministry.
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there's a story out there about Daniel
Webster the 19th century American
statesman who once was dining in Boston
with several eminent literary figures
and as the conversation turned to
Christianity Webster who was a committed
Christian confessed his belief in Jesus
Christ and in the Lord's atoning work uh
there was a Unitarian minister at the
table with Webster and the Unitarian ad
Minister asked him Mr Webster can you
comprehend how Jesus Christ could be
both God and man and Webster replied
this way no sir I cannot understand it
and I would be ashamed to acknowledge
Christ as my savior if I could
comprehend it he could no be no greater
than myself and such is my conviction of
accountability to God my sense of
sinfulness before him and my knowledge
of my own incapacity to recover myself
that I feel I need a superhuman
savior those are the that's very much in
line with the lyrics we were just
singing uh we all need a superhuman
savior one who is not only human as we
saw last week but but is divine and
welcome back to summer in the
systematics our summerlong study of
systematic theology and specifically
christology the doctrine of Christ and
as has already been announced tonight
our subject of study is the natures of
Christ the word Natures there is
intentionally plural because Jesus
Christ Our Lord has two Natures just as
we saw saw two weeks ago Jesus is fully
God he was and always has been the one
of the three Eternal members persons of
the Trinity and Jesus as we saw last
week is fully human he he walked as we
walked albe it perfectly uh he had
actual hands and feet which were pierced
he shed real tears he wasn't a shadow or
a fantasm he didn't merely appear to be
human as the various false teachers
would teach back in the day he was
actually human human but how how can it
be said that Jesus Christ the second
person of the Trinity is both God and
man how is it possible to have him have
two separate Natures two different
Natures simultaneously for lack of a
better phrase how does this work well
that's what we're going to be looking at
tonight as we take on this admittedly
complex topic now you have five lines of
Blanks on your worksheets there and
you're going to see that there are two
blanks in each line separated by the
word and I've given you the word and but
you fill in the rest of the blanks so
you have 10 blanks in total our first
two for line one would be personhood and
nature I'll give you these upfront so
you can lock in on the content as we go
personhood and nature would be number
one I'll give you more time for number
two that would be nestorianism and utian
ISM sure you're looking forward to
learning about that
tonight I'll come back to it don't worry
third is counsels and
Creeds fourth is deity and Humanity
these seem like Jeopardy categories don't
don't
they and then fifth would be Revelation
and mystery I'll show you to these again
personhood and
nature nestorianism and utian ISM I'll
minute councils and
Creeds deity and
Humanity Revelation and
mystery all right with that let's start
with point one heading one personhood
and nature now I have to warn you that
what we're going to be covering tonight
is is some pretty complex material some
pretty difficult material but I will do
my best with God's help to laid it out
for you and hopefully provide more
clarity uh than confusion as we've seen
over the last two Sunday evenings the
Bible teaches clearly that Jesus was is
both perfectly God and perfectly man and
our task for tonight is to come to a
clear understanding of how Jesus though
one person possesses two Natures in that
one person how can it be said that he
was both God and man in one person well
we first need to address the question by
by defining defining terms specifically
what do we mean when we say that Jesus
had a human nature and what do we mean
when we say that Jesus had a divine
nature and what is a nature to begin
with well a nature is the sum total of
the essential qualities of a thing or
person the sum total of the essential
qualities of a thing or a person uh
here's how Rand mun says it much more
artfully than I just did a nature is
that which makes something what it is
pretty simple a nature is that which
makes something what it is now the
English word that we have for nature
comes from the Latin word NATA which is
tied into the Greek word physis which is
a word that we see all over the New
Testament to describe the essence of
what something or someone is for
instance uh Romans 2:14 says when
Gentiles who do not have the law
naturally that's our word there do the
things of the law these not having the
law are a law to themselves so Gentiles
by Nature are a law to themselves or
Galatians 4:8 when you did not know God
you were slaves to those which by Nature
are no Gods so Idols by Nature are no
Gods Ephesians 2:3 says we were speaks
of how we formally conducted ourselves
in the lust of our flesh doing the
desire of the Flesh and of the mind and
were by Nature children of Wrath so
unbelievers by Nature are children of
Wrath and then 2 Peter 1:4 says for by
these he has granted to us his precious
and magnificent promises so that by them
you may become partakers of the divine
nature having escaped the corruption
that is in the world by lust so
Believers by contrast to the children of
Wrath of Ephesians 2:3 are partakers of
the divine nature so nature in other
words is essential meaning it relates to
the essence it it points to who we are
at our core it speaks to our essential
being I am by Nature a human so are you
God is by nature Divine angels are by
Nature Angelic now in our study of
theology that word nature is used to
refer to either Divine or or human
elements in the person of Christ it
points to the Divine attributes he
possesses and the human attributes he
possesses Jesus in that sense has two
Natures he has a divine nature and he
has a human nature his divine nature
includes all that belongs to his deity
while his human nature includes all that
belongs to his Humanity here's a helpful
quote from Robert Lightner on the
subject he says the Son of God who was
one in person and nature Divine became
two in nature Divine and human while
remaining one in person through his
Incarnation and we're going to go
through the incarnation in a later
Sunday evening message so that's a bit
about that term nature now we need to
consider another term the other term
that I mentioned at the beginning which
is person or personality or a personhood
and we need to cover that because those
terms nature and person are not
synonymous persons have Natures but
personhood involves more than than a
nature I have a nature and I have a
personality some would say say maybe
some would
object but but it'd be right to say I
have personhood I have a nature and I
have personhood so do you as a human
being God though Divine in nature is
personal he has the attributes of
personhood he reveals himself as one who
has intellect and Mo and emotion and
will so there's this distinction between
one's nature one's Essence and one being
a person God is a person with a divine
nature we are persons with human natures
and and then applying these truths again
to Christ Robert Lightner is helpful he
says the Eternal Son of God did not join
himself with a human person it must be
remembered but with a human nature in
other words Christ was always a person
he is an eternal person one of the three
Eternal persons of the Triune godhead
and as we're going to see next he is
singular in his personhood he's not two
persons he's one and the scriptural
evidence for the the single personhood
the unitary personhood of Christ abounds
he always spoke of himself as one he
never distinguished himself as a Divine
person or as being different than a
Divine person or being different than a
human person what I mean to say is he
never revealed himself as being two
persons he's one John 88:18 he he says I
am he who Bears witness about myself and
the father who sent me Bears witness
about me
John 8:23 and he was saying to them you
are from below I am from above you are
of this world I am not of this world
John 16:7 I tell you the truth it is to
your advantage that I go away for if I
did not go away The Advocate will not
come to you but if I go I will send him
to you I've highlighted these scriptures
because they all highlight that that
singular firstperson eye statement that
Christ used to reveal himself to show
among other things that he was a
singular person he wasn't two persons he
was one you'll see why that makes sense
and why that's important later one
person with two Natures now we see
something similar in these next passages
which show aspects of Christ's two
Natures being united to his one person
for instance Romans 13 and 4 says speaks
of his son God's son who is born of the
seed of David according to the flesh who
is designated as the Son of God in power
this takes up both his human nature
according to the Flesh and a divine
nature Son of God being united in one
person he is his son or consider Galatians
Galatians
4:4 but when the fullness of the time
came God sent forth his son born of a
woman it's the same thing the same idea
here there is both a human nature he was
born of a woman the divine nature God
sent forth his son and it's unified
there's there's unity in the single
person of Christ then there's this key
passage in Philippians 2 2 the great
kosis passage where Christ Jesus a
singular person here is spoken of as
being in the form of God but also in he
takes the form of a slave there
references in this one person to both
his deity and his Humanity so we speak
of God being Triune one God one Essence
one Divine Essence three persons and we
speak as of Christ is being one of those
three persons and he's one of those
three persons who has two Natures he's
the only member of the godhead that has
two Natures the key point though is to
be careful and distinguishing this is
our major takeaway for this first
heading we have to be careful this to
distinguish what we mean by the person
of Christ and the natures of Christ in
person he is one and in that one person
he is two he has two
natures that takes us to our second
major heading and I'm going to correct
spelling on this later as you walk out
out of the South Lobby uh nestorianism
and utian ISM um under this heading
we're going to look at two sets of
Errors which especially early in its
history pervaded The Church on this
matter of the natures of Christ first is
nestorianism a Noor noorus was the
Archbishop of Constantinople in the early
early
400s and though nestorianism named after
noorus recognized the two Natures of
Christ one human one Divine noorans
ultimately resolved the issue of Christ
having uh two Natures in one person what
is known as the theanthropic person of
Christ by dividing Christ into two
persons and historians in other words
rejected the idea that Christ existed
with two Natures in one person instead
they held that he had two Natures in two
persons so while historians rightly
recognized that he had these two Natures
it it wrongly denied the union of these
two Natures in a singular person I
appreciate this illustration of
nestorianism by Bruce demerest he says
the idea is that of a play horse where a
cloth painted like a horse is draped
over two people in outward appearance
the horse appears to be one but in
reality it is two that's a colorful way
of illustrating what nestorians taught
well 's enemy back in the 4th century
was serel of exandria Who convinced the
early church at the Council of Ephesus
in 431 ad that noorus was a heretic
because he was as he says here in every
way declaring two sons and dividing the
one Lord Jesus Christ believe it or not
despite a nestorianism being declared a
heresy in
431 it actually still lives on today
there are parts of this teaching that
exist in the South part of India uh even now
now
now here's our other false teaching that
we want to cover tonight that would be
utian ISM this was not named after udus
the guy that fell asleep during Paul's
sermon in Acts chapter 20 uh rather this
was named after a monk from
Constantinople named
udes and utian ISM was actually a
reaction against nestorianism and it it
did so by teaching that there was only
one nature in Christ which was called
here's another fun word monophysitism
monophysitism this is the teaching that
yes he's one person but he is only one
nature not two Natures according to this
teaching Christ's divine nature was not
fully Divine nor was his human nature
fully human and what they did then is
they they they mixed together the two
incomplete Natures making it one it's a
like a co-mingled nature idea and they
made it all kind of one Blended mess um
here are the words of udes on this very
topic he says I admit that our Lord was
of two Natures before the union before
the hypostatic union before the
Incarnation but after the Union One
nature that's monophysitism not two well
utian ISM was condemned as heretical at
the Council of Caledon in 451 ad so
Review Time
nestorianism wrongly divided Christ into
two persons whereas utian is M wrongly
declared that Christ had only one nature
Orthodox Christianity lowercase o as
we're going to see would say the
opposite that that Christ was not two
persons but one and Christ did not have
a singular nature but two and then takes
us to our third heading here this
evening councils and
Creeds in response to the heretical
teachings that we just went over from
the noorans and the uans uh the church
eventually re-examined in its beliefs in
light of scripture
at the Council of Caledon in 451 ad and
this Council was made up of about 650
Bishops at the time Caledon was close in
proximity to count to Constantinople and
they met to discuss this matter of of
the Union of the human and the Divine in
the person of Christ and the Creed that
came out of this Council called the
calcedonian Creed U what they did in
this this Creed is first they restated
their commitment to nyine Orthodoxy
specifically their commitment to the
deity of Christ and their commitment to
trinitarianism a robust biblical
trinitarianism all of that was settled
at NAA in 325 ad and then it was
affirmed here at Caledon in 451 ad about
125 years later but then they took on
this other issue the issue we're
covering tonight which is the matter of
Christ being one person in two natures
and this is what we know as the
Caledonian Creed I'm going to read the
thing in its entirety and we'll kind of
work through it section by section says
therefore following the holy fathers we
all with one Accord teach men to
acknowledge one and the same son our
Lord Jesus Christ at once complete in
Godhead and complete in manhood truly
God and truly man consisting also of a
reasonable soul and body of one
substance with the father as regards his
godhead and at the same time of one
substance with us as regards his manhood
Like Us in all respects apart from sin
as regards his godhead begotten of the
father before the ages but yet as
regards his manhood begotten for us men
and for our salvation of Mary the Virgin
the god-bearer one in the same Christ
son Lord only begotten here's the key
here recognized in two Natures without
confusion without change without
division without separation the
distinction of natures being in no way
aned by the union but rather the
characteristics of each nature being
deserved and coming together to form one
person and subsistence not as parted or
separated into two persons but one in
the same son and only begotten God the
word Lord Jesus Christ even as the
prophets from earliest times spoke of
him and our Lord Jesus Christ himself
taught us and the Creed of the father
has handed down to us now what what you
see here in the Caledonian Creed related
to our topic of the natures of Christ um
are really four things one you see this
proper reference to to Christ's deity he
is of one substance it says with the
father as regards his godhead he's God
in other words second is a reference to
his Humanity this is just tracking with
what we've studied so far in this summer
series he is at the one he is at the
same time of one substance with us as
regards his manhood Like Us in all
respects apart from sin third and this
gets into what we'll cover tonight he is
at once complete in godhead and complete
in manhood truly God and truly man
that's talking about the union of the
Divine and the human there and then
fourth is this important and critical um
reference to the proper distinction of
the two Natures he is one in the same
Christ son Lord only begotten recognized
in two Natures without confusion without
change without division without
separation the distinction of natures
being in no way an old by the union but
the characteristics of each nature being
preserved and coming together to form
one person and subsistence not as parted
or separated into two persons but one in
the same son and only begotten God the
word Lord Jesus
Christ you can you can hear some of the
the heresies that they were going after
here both those that that like
nestorianism and those like utian ISM
but what the the calcedonian Creed
ultimately summarized is what has been
known now for centuries as the hypo IC
Union the union of the two Natures of
Christ in the one theanthropic person of
Christ and as this calcedonian
formulation tells us in this Union the
two Natures of Christ are
preserved without confusion without
change without division without
separation now you probably know by now
that I'm not a big Creeds guy I don't
think we often times need to go through
them with all that much detail they're
helpful helpful guard rails in different
ways to make sure that we are aren't
steering too far away from what those
who came before us held to especially in
these early days of church history um
but there are some helpful summaries
like Caledon and others like the belgic
confession that stand for this idea of
the Union of the two Natures of Christ
in the one person the belgic confession
we confess that he is very God and very
man I won't show you the rest of the
belgic confession or the Westminster
Shorter Catechism he continueth to be
God and man in two distinct natures and
one person forever that's that's an
orthodox teaching right there enough of
that let's turn our pages over now as we
head into our fourth major heading here
this evening and we'll be spending most
of our time here which is why you've
been given a lot more space for Point
number four than you have for Point
number five so save room uh here's Point
number four deity and Humanity now we
are with this one getting to really to
the heart of our topic for this evening
on on the natures of Christ as we
consider the deity and the humanity of
Christ there are a lot of moving parts
to what I'm about to lay out here and
and different theologians and Bible
teachers laid them out differently but I
think we need to start here with the
indivisibility of the person of
Christ the indivisibility of the person
of Christ This goes back to what we
looked at earlier where we saw that
Jesus is one person who has these two
distinct and Inseparable natures and the
temptation among theologians and
philosophers has always been we just saw
it with nestorianism and and utian ISM
to either divide his person or to
confound to mix up his Natures that's
how we got those two false teachings so
in working our way biblically and
theologically and methodologically
through the subject of the two person
excuse me the two Natures of the
singular Christ we we first need to
start with the fact that he is singular
in his person which then feeds into the
corresponding tree truth that his
Natures are are indivisible he's not two
persons with two Natures he's one person
with two Natures let's dig into some of
the biblical evidences and in doing so
let's begin with the fact that on the
pages of scripture Christ always refers
to himself as an individual person he
always speaks of himself we covered this
just a moment ago in the singular he
never calls he never speaks of himself
in the plural it would be another way of
saying that here's just one example he
says I am them and you and me as he
prays to God the father or another one
in that same prayer so that the world
may know that you sent me and love them
even as you have loved me note those
singular pronouns I me the point being
indisputably that Christ here is
referring to himself as an individual
person not only that the singularity of
Christ's personhood is picked up by the
fact that he distinguished himself from
others uh he distinguished himself from
the father like in John 8:18 I am he who
Bears witness about myself and the
father who sent me Bears witness about
me so the father and the son are
distinct in personhood he also
distinguished himself Christ did from
other persons John 8:23 and he was
saying to them you are from below I am
from above you are of this world I am
not of this world so his human and
divine Natures then are are united in
this single indivisible person here's
another one uh though the Bible often
ascribes human names to the Eternal Son
of God and divine names to the man
Christ Jesus so there seems to be like
this mixing of names in on the pages of
scripture scripture never recognizes two
persons rather there's always one
indivisible person being represented for
example the author of Hebrews spoke of
Jesus that's a human name being the same
yesterday and today and forever that's
describing his eternality his mutability
which are traits of God um likewise
Matthew spoke of the Virgin who would
give birth to his son emphasizing his
Humanity yet the child's name here we
see would be Emanuel God With Us which
clearly is a reference to his
deity here's another one though we often
in the gospel accounts see references to
attributes of Christ's two Natures
appearing together they're always
applied to to the one person person like
we see here in Luke 13 Jesus Remember
here he casts out demons and performs
other Miracles those would be evidences
of his deity but he's doing so on this
journey to Jerusalem where he was going
to die it's a statement about his
Humanity just this time some Pharisees
approached saying to him leave and go
from here for Herod wants to kill you
and he said to them go and tell that fox
behold I cast out demons and perform
cures today and tomorrow and on the
third day I finish that's all de
reference nevertheless I must Journey on
today and tomorrow in the next day for
it is not possible that a prophet would
perish outside of Jerusalem meaning I
need to go to Jerusalem to die in his
humanity and all of this happened in the
singular person of
Christ here's another example from Paul
now in Acts chapter 20 he's here
speaking to the Elders of the church at
Ephesus and in doing so he's explaining
how Christ purchased the church that's a
reference to his deity and he did so by
what means with his blood a reference to
his Humanity be on guard for yourselves
and for all the flock among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers to
Shepherd the Church of God which he
purchased with his own blood and again
all of this happened in the singular
person of Christ two Natures one person
another Pauline example comes from
Philippians 2 where Paul explains how
Jesus Christ is God and yet he became a
servant have this way of thinking in
yourselves which was also in Christ
Jesus who although existing in the form
of God did not regard equality with God
a thing to be grasped but emptied
himself by taking the form of a slave by
being made in the likeness of men being
found in appearance as a man he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death even death on a cross
this passage of course and we'll get
into this later when we speak of his
Incarnation and his life and his
humility is speaking both to Christ
deity of course he's the form of God and
his Humanity he took the form of a slave
and all of this and this is the key here
occurred in the singular person of
Christ Christ is our
Advocate John tells us in 1 John 2 1
and2 he says my little children I'm
writing these things to you so that you
may not sin and if anyone sins we have
an advocate with the father Jesus Christ
the righteous and he himself is the
propitiation for our sins and not for
ours only but also for those of the
whole world
and as John does so as he writes this we
have to remember what he says in the
remainder of his letter of First John
like this in 1 John 4:2 where he's he's
assuming Christ's Humanity every spirit
that confesses that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is from God but also
in that same letter he is assuming that
there's understanding that people know
that Jesus is not just perfectly human
but he is God whoever confesses that
Jesus is the son of God God AB es in him
and he in God and again all of this is
centered around the singular person of
Christ I could keep going Christ was
asleep in the boat that picks up on his
human nature but what happens when he
wakes up in the boat he calms the storm
that's a reference to his divine nature
well that's all picked up here in
Matthew 8 and not note here as I read
this this this highlighting of both the
human and the Divine behold there arose
a great storm on the sea so that the bo
was being covered with the waves but
Jesus himself was sleeping very human of
him and they came to him and got him up
saying save us Lord we are perishing and
he said to them why why are you so
cowardly you men of little faith then he
got up and rebuked the winds in the sea
that's a statement of deity and it
became perfectly calm and again this is
all centered in the singular person of
Christ uh Jesus became physically hungry
and wanted figs from a nearby tree we
see that in Mark 11 and on the next day
when they had left Bethany he became
hungry and seeing at a distance a fig
tree that had leaves he went to see if
perhaps he would find anything on it and
when he came to it he found nothing but
leaves for it was not the season for
figs we've all been there before that's
like going through the drive-thru and
not they don't have what you ordered or
the the food that you want or the coffee
you order that you you wanted to
purchase it's a very human indicator
here right but then look what comes next
he curses this tree into barrenness and
he answered and said to it may no one
ever eat fruit from you again that's not
something you and I can do at scooters
right all of this happened in the
singular person of Christ both the human
and the Divine in the account of the
woman at the well Jesus stopped there in
the first place because he was
physically thirsty an indication of his
Humanity Jesus being worried from his
journey was sitting thus by the well it
was about the sixth hour a woman of
Samaria came to draw water Jesus said to
her give me a drink he's thirsty
but at the same time he offered that
very same woman he met there what Living
Water of eternal life John 4 13 Jesus
answered and said to her everyone who
drinks of this water will thirst again
but whoever drinks of the water that I
will give him will never thirst ever but
the water that I will give him will
become in him a well of water springing
up to eternal life a testimony to his
deity and again centered upon the
singular person of Christ at the tomb of
Lazarus Jesus wept
at that same tomb he asked that a stone
be moved for him Jesus being deeply
moved within came to the tomb now it was
a cave and a stone was lying against
it and the next part says Jesus said
remove the stone I missed that part um
but the point is he's it's a very Human
episode but at the same time he calls a
dead man out of his grave when he had
said these things he cried out with a
loud voice Lazarus come forth that's
about as Divine as you can get um in the
Heavenly court that convenes after the
Rapture of the church the person of
Christ the lamb who was slain is is
pictured here as
human but he also is receiving Dominion
blessing honor glory and eternal Reign
Revelation 5:13 and every created thing
which is in heaven and on the earth and
under the Earth and on the sea and all
things in them I heard saying to him who
sits in the throne into the lamb be the
blessing and the honor and the glory and
the might forever and ever and all of
this again is centered around the
singular person of
Christ now this is where things if this
isn't already confusing enough or
complicated enough this is where things
can get extra complicated and thrown out
of whack because it's common human
nature on our part to want to say Jesus
was acting purely in his human nature
when he did this or Jesus was acting
purely in his divine nature when he did
that but we really have to check the
scriptures to see see if we can make
that case because I don't think the
scriptures characterize our Lord's being
in that way now as we've seen from many
of these different descriptions the
scriptures don't divide the activities
of Jesus ascribing some purely to his
human nature and ascribing others purely
to his divine nature rather what the
scriptures teach is that while in his
actions Jesus may have manifested one
nature over the other at a particular
time or in a particular circumstance all
of his actions were still those of that
one person that that one theanthropic
person the one indivisible God man who
has two
Natures Bruce demerest again can say it
much better than I he says whatever may
be affirmed of either nature may be
affirmed of the one
person or Luther says often Christ has
spoken of only according to the human
nature often only according to the
divine nature although what is said
should be credited to both natures and I
think that's right as you look through
the scriptures and what they teach as
opposed to layering theological
constructs or presuppositions on top of
our reading of the Scriptures it might
be tempting to conclude that as our Lord
lay asleep in the in the in the stern of
the boat or as he wept at lazarus's
tomb his human nature prevailed or that
he was operating only in his human
nature or or that when he stilled the
raging storm or or walked across the sea
that the divine nature was dominant or
that it was only his divine nature that
was operating but the problem with that
is that is dividing
Christ and the fact is that the
scripture upholds one Lord Jesus Christ
who is and was and will forever be from
this point on God and man he was and he
is one person whatever Jesus did he did
as the God
man so we've looked at the fact that
Christ in his person is singular and
indivisible we're going to spend some
more time on the fact now that he
possesses two natures and how those two
Natures relate to each other Christ has
a human and divine nature and as we've
seen already groups like The nestorians
and the uans they deny either the
undiminished deity of Christ or the
perfect Humanity of Christ and when they
do so they put themselves outside the
pale of Orthodoxy what we need to do is
make sure we're seeing what the
scriptures say to make sure we're within
those boundaries let's start with this
basic truth again we'll hit this one
over and over tonight that Jesus has two
Natures one Divine one human Rand mckune
summarizes this nicely he says a nature
is the sum total of all the essential
qualities of a thing it is that which
makes something what it is that's the
quote I gave you earlier Jesus in that
sense had two Natures two complexes of
attributes one Divine and one human now
we've already seen that that Christ is
singular in his person as the the second
person of the Trinity and we've already
noted from a couple of other different
thought trails that we've gone down that
Christ possesses two Natures one Divine
one human now we want to spend more time
analyzing understanding how Christ two
Natures relate to each other what is the
relationship between his divine nature
and his human nature and that brings us
to our next subtopic under heading
number four the hypostatic
union the hypostatic union this is probably
probably
one of the most difficult Concepts to
grasp in all of Christian theology so we
covered the the um virgin conception in
Mary's womb this morning why not cover
the hypostatic union
tonight um the term hypostatic Union was
first mentioned in those terms in a
letter that sirel of Alexandria wrote to
our friend noorus back in the late 300s
ad and we recall that the calcedonian
Creed which we looked at earlier
came later in 451 ad and in that Creed
the calcedonian Creed it stated that the
two Natures of Christ his divine nature
and his human nature were United without
mixture without change without division
without separation that is the
definition of the hypostatic union and
what that means is that the entire
complex of of attributes that are
associated with with Christ's deity and
and that entire complex of attributes
that are associated with Christ's
Humanity have been maintained in Jesus
Christ in this singular theanthropic
person at all times since his
Incarnation he has two Natures
comprising one person
forever so if these two Natures are
perfectly United in one person uh what
is the nature of this Union how do we
describe it how should we think about it
well as is true of any mystery human
reasoning and and human words ultim fail
us and fail to explain the ultimately
unexplainable so what we have to do is
Chase down what the scriptures say and
then allow those scriptures to inform
our thinking of this reality of this
single person of Christ possessing these
two natures and then we trust it's true
because God's Timeless word reveals it
to be true for instance in passages like
these the hypostatic union is revealed
to the fact that both human and divine
qualities and acts are ascribed to
Christ under various names with with
human qualities and characteristics
being ascribed to Christ under his
Divine titles he will be
great and he will be called the son of
the most high we see a little bit of
human and we see a little bit of of
divine there 1 Corinthians
2:8 if they had understood it they would
have not crucified the Lord Of Glory
would be another example of the both
Natures being revealed there crucified
in his flesh of course but he's the Lord
Of Glory he's Divine there are also
those scriptures where Divine
characteristics and attributes are
ascribed to Christ under his human names
so it's the opposite like in Acts
17 at the
areopagus Paul there says therefore
having overlooked the times of ignorance
God is now commanding men that everyone
everywhere should repent because he has
fixed a day in which he will judge the
world in righteousness through a man
whom he determined having furnished
proof to All by raising him from the dead
dead
another scriptural evidence for the
hypostatic union would be uh John's
prologue the person who is made flesh
and who dwelt Among Us John 1114 is the
same word who is with God and who is God
John 1:1 and later in John's gospel we
we learn that the very person who this
same one who lived forever is also the
same one who transformed water into wine
in John 2 and then spoke to Nicodemus
about being born again in John 3 and who
washed disciples feet in John 13 there's
there's aspects of divine and human
throughout that same sequence is found
here in 2 Corinthians
89 where we see that the very Lord who
was rich in his pre-existent state
became poor in the Incarnation for you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
that though being rich yet for your sake
he became poor so that that you through
his poverty might become
rich Paul highlights the truths
pertaining to the hypostatic union at
length in I have Romans 1 up here but
also in Philippians 2 we've already
addressed it but we're he said that the
one who is existing eternally in the
form of of God made himself nothing he
took the form of a servant submitted to
the crucifixion and was exalted by God
the father that's Philippians 2 and then
here in Romans 1 we see he was born at
the seed of David according to the flesh
who is designated as the Son of God in
power you see both humanity and Divinity
here and note here that Christ or Christ
was born of a descendant born as a
descendant of David the seed of David
according to the flesh that's the human
nature and he's designated as the Son of
God that's divine nature in power in
Romans 9:5 we see a similar reference to
both Natures he's Christ according to
the flesh who is God over all human and divine
divine
and here's the key and I've mentioned it
a couple times because I just want to
make sure it gets nailed
in this links all that we've said so far
the two Natures of Christ that that the
hypostatic union are anchored in the
singular person of Christ the
theanthropic person of Christ and in the
whole scope or the whole sweep of his
eternal existence from his pre-existence
to his humiliation to his crucifixion to his
his
exaltation it's the same person acting
and the same person being
affected Donald McLoud is helpful on
this he says this means that whenever we
look at the Life of Christ and ask who
did this who suffered this who said this
the answer is always the same the Son of
God we can never say the divine nature
did this or the human nature did this we
must say he did this he the Son of God
he was born baptized tempted and
transfigured he beheld the city and wept
over it he agonized in Gethsemane he was
betrayed arrested and condemned he was
flogged immolated crucified dead and
buried he rose from the dead he reigns
he will come again he will judge the
living and the dead he was the blood
shed his the body broken his the life
poured out he is our propitiation he is
our Ransom Price He is the revealer of
God and the Revelation he is our savior
and our Salvation in him God acts speaks
and suffers for our redemption in him
God provides and even becomes the atonement
atonement
which he
demands Now by understanding it that
way that big picture statement here by
the cloud we can better understand those
scriptures which describe Jesus during
his Earthly Ministry experiencing and
and demonstrating what can only be
called divine
power like here
in John
651 he says I am the living bread that
came down from heaven if anyone eats of
this bread he will live forever and also
the bread bread which I will give for
the life of the world is my
flesh this this text explains how Jesus
could be the living bread that came down
from heaven and the one who could impart
eternal life but at the same time we
know because the text tells us here that
this bread was his flesh speaking of his
Humanity which he would give for the
life of the world Jesus in his human
nature could experience all that's
described here and he did on the cross
but at the same time because of the
Union of his human nature and his
infinite divine nature his death
actually experienced in the flesh would
be of infinite Merit and then the
benefits of the atonement would be
available to
all it would by be it would be by means
of this Union that the divine nature
would be capable of experiencing some of
the experiences that Jesus went through
in his human in his Humanity in his
human nature now it's not necessarily
the case that the divine nature actually
partook of each of these experiences
directly however these experiences
occurred in Union with the human nature
in this singular person of Christ for
instance we know that that the divine
nature is is not capable of death God
cannot die despite what uh nii said but
the divine nature experienced what it
would have been like to go through death
because of the hypostatic Union the
theanthropic person of Christ the
singular person of Christ
went through those
experiences it's this explanation that
also explains the purported ignorance of
Jesus that he expressed on certain
occasions for instance like these
concerning his second coming but of that
day and hour no one knows not even the
angels of Heaven nor the son but the
father alone now we know that the divine
nature being omniscient is incapable of
being ignorant or forgetting or learning
so whatever ignorance is revealed here
had to be predicated on this one person
of Christ the singular person of Christ
having both this Divine and this human
nature shed says it this way Christ's
knowledge was and ever is depended upon
the amount of information vouchsafed by
the deity of his person in other words
the the the divine nature of Christ did
not make this particular piece of
information known to the human consciousness
consciousness of
of
Jesus similarly because of the reality
of the hypostatic Union of the two
Natures of Christ Christ could learn
obedience as we see here in uh Hebrews
5'8 learning obedience as in the
implications of obedience although he
was a son he learned obedience from the
things which he
suffered and in view of these truths of
the hypostatic Union Jesus could Advance
as we see here in Luke 252 in wisdom
and stature and favor with God and with
men it's by means of this hypostatic
Union that the Lord Of Glory we saw in 1
Corinthians 2:8 could be
crucified and and that Christ through
death here Hebrews 21:14 could render
powerless him who had the power of death
that is the devil now this just gives us
a taste of of some of the key issues and
the key passages supporting the reality
of the hypostatic union and in and the
two Natures of Christ and and this I
know is like deeply theological deep
Waters I'm sure I'll get objections at
the South Lobby tonight that's okay um
but when we get to the Life of Christ we
will also work through some of these and
work through some of the mystery that that's
that's
involved but before we get to our next
uh heading probably running out of room
on point number four that's sorry about
that I want to give you some of a taste
of some of the key issues and the key
passages um
well actually I've just given you those
but I want to I want to address a couple of
of
misconceptions concerning the hypostatic
Union uh first would be this the the the
thought that the hypostatic union of
Christ two Natures in the one person is
comparable to a human marriage
relationship that that doesn't work um
in a marriage the two parties to that
Union though become though they become
one flesh we know they are still two
distinct persons Christ we've seen is
not two distinct persons he is one
person person with two Natures um second
it's also not true that the divine
nature dwells in Christ the same way
that Christ dwells in a Believer because
if that were the case then he would be a
man filled with God and not God himself
now as we've seen though there are two
Natures there is but one person and so
complete is this Union that in this one
person as as John walber mentions here
Christ at the same moment has seemingly
cont ictory qualities he can be weak and
omnipotent increasing in knowledge and
omniscient finite and
infinite which ties into some of the
examples that we've just looked through
where we've seen attributes of both
Christ's human and divine Natures
belonging to his single person without
mixing the natures or dividing the
person practically speaking this this
concept of the hypostatic Union is how
we reconcile those passages which speak
of Christ demonstrating some form of
lack or weakness with those passages
that describe his
omnipotence it's this doctrine that
helps us recognize how to U how to
reconcile those passages that that
seemingly reveal Christ being ignorant
with those which describe his
omniscience and it's these passages that
help us speak of Christ limitations on
the one hand and at the same time him
being infinite as walber notes so the
person offered living water but the
person also
thirsted the person knew all things yet
the person doesn't know the day and the
hour both are true because both are
revealed by God in his word and we're
charged to accept both as a matter of of
faith that brings us to our next
subheading and yes we're still under
number four the necessity of the
hypostatic Union uh so far we've covered
more of the
what next we're going to cover more of
the the why the why the ne the necessity
of the hypothetic union and and the
first one to mention is that the the
hypothetic union the union of his Divine
and human Natures is necessary for his
I'll call it his mediatorial
ministry the union of the two Natures in
the one person of Christ is necessary
for him to be the mediator between God
and man we think back to
job in chapter 9 it says says for he is
not a man as I am that I may answer him
that we may go to court for judgment
this is job speaking of of Yahweh there
is no adjudicator between us who may lay
his hand upon us both he's articulating
here man's need for a mediator between
God and Mankind well in the Hebrews
author notes in detail here how how
job's yearnings back in job 9 were
fulfilled in Jesus Christ therefore
since the children share in Flesh and
Blood he himself likewise also partook
of the same that through death he might
render powerless him who had the power
of death that is the devil and might
free those who through fear of death
were subject to slavery all their
lives and of course Paul in 1 Timothy
says there is one God and one mediator
also between God and Men the man Christ
Jesus Robert letham is helpful here he
says if he were not one integrated
person but instead some kind of skitso
God could in no sense be said to have
identified himself with us in our
suffering we instead would be left by a
h with a hollow Savior and a god aloof
and detached from us in our greatest
need so there's a mediatorial component to
to
this not only that the hypothetic union
and the of of the Divine and the human
in the one person of Christ is necessary
for the accomplishment of redemption
salvation from sin if Christ were less
than human he could not be the Savior
for all human beings and if he was less
than Divine he wouldn't be an authentic
revelation of God the Revelation 1118 or
the John 1118 statement that he
explained God he exed God what he is
then as the God man the singular person
of Christ with two Divine Natures is
determinative of what he can do he's the
Redeemer Lorraine betner we would
disagree with him on a lot of things but
I agree with him on this it is necessary
that the Redeemer of mankind should be
both human and divine it was necessary
that he be human if he was really to
take man's place and suffer and die for
deity as such was not capable for that
and it was necessary that he should be
divine if his suffering and death were
to have infinite value in other words
human sin could only be atoned for by a
sinless human who is also completely and totally
totally
Divine next subheading still under the
heading four is this the permanence of
the hypostatic Union meaning the union
of Christ Divine and human Natures began
at the conception of Jesus in Mary's
womb what we studied this morning and it
permanently holds even though he
experienced physical death on the cross
Rand mun says it this way the
theanthropic person began with the Holy
Spirit affecting the Virgin conception
the hypostatic bond that holds the two
Natures together will forever hold so
did Christ have a human nature before
the Incarnation the answer is no but he
had one as of the Incarnation and going forward
forward
forever Colossians
2:9 in him all the fullness of deity
dwells body bodily that's not a past
tense statement that's a a present tense
statement I'm going have to skip these
two for time's
sake but we do see this in other places
as well the Bible teaches that Christ
physically and presently is seated at
the right hand of the father today from
which he will return to Earth as the son
of man that's Matthew 26 uh the Bible
teaches that Jesus appeared in in
visible bodily form following his
resurrection and also at his Ascension
acts 1:9 after he said these things he
was lifted up that's a bodily reference
while they were looking on and a cloud
received him out of their sight all that to
to
say this hypostatic Union of Christ
Divine and human Natures began at his
Incarnation and will exist into
perpetuity one more under this heading
the self-consciousness and wills of
Christ goodness I'm running late there
is considerable debate over whether
Christ had though he had two Natures
whether he had one or two wills and also
whether he had singular or dual
Consciousness as a person with with two
Natures let's take that second one first
this idea of Consciousness the
self-consciousness of Christ did he have
a singular self-consciousness or a dual
self-consciousness well the scripture
teaches a dual
self-consciousness for instance he was
conscious of himself as a human being
that's why he would say things like I am
thirsty but he was also conscious of his
as a Divine being I and the father are
one he was always aware of both his his
deity as well as his Humanity how about
the matter of two
Wills you have one or two Wills um at
the Council of Caledon in four 51 we saw
this earlier we saw that Christ had
those two Natures United in one person
over the next 150 years there was this
group called The monothelites Who
maintained that though Christ had two
Natures he had only one will that's what
that word means and that was declared
heresy at the Council of Constantinople
in 680 to say that Christ had two
Natures but one will was declared
heretical at this
Council so we're not going to go with
that we're going to instead note what
the scriptures say and again it's not
about counsels and what they say it's
about what the scriptures say and we do
see that there are two Wills revealed on
the pages of scripture it was in his
human will that we see here that he he
desired in some sense to avoid going to
the cross my father if it is possible
let this cut pass from me yet not as I
will but as you
will at the same time it was in his
Divine will to always do the father's
will as we see here in Hebrews 10: 8:9
and of course that will always be fully
accomplished we're almost done I hope I
haven't lost too many of
you here's number five finally
mercifully heading number five
Revelation and
mystery now clearly and I've alluded to
this a couple times already the relation
of the human and divine Natures in the
singular person of Christ just like this
morning's message and the the conception
of of Jesus in the virgin's womb
is a mystery and and the Apostle Paul
under the guidance of the spirit said
this of Christ The One Singular and
person to dual in nature he said and by
Common confession great is the mystery
of godliness he who is manifested in the
flesh look at that link between the
mystery of of godliness being connected
to being Jesus being manifested in the
flesh God being revealed in the
flesh like the Trinity like the Virgin concept
concept
like that relationship between Divine
sovereignty and human responsibility uh
we have no comparisons to make we have
no analogies to draw in attempting to
express this Union of these two Natures
in the singular person of Christ this is
an area of of deep mystery I mean ask
the man on the street how can a single
person have have two natures and he'll
look at you like you have two
heads well if you're feeling confused
and perplexed about all that we've
learned tonight and I hope you're not I
hope you're
encouraged I hope your head hurts in a
good way I take comfort from these words
from a very intelligent man BB Warfield
Seminary professor at at Princeton back
when it was still decent
Princeton he said we can never hope to
comprehend how the infinite God and
finite Humanity can be United in one
single person that's really the heart of
it and it is very easy to go fatally
astray in attempting to explain the
interactions in the unitary person of
natures so diverse from one another
that's right that's why I've tried to
take it back to the scriptures tonight
to say hey both it's one person who's
described admittedly he has he's two
Natures here's Martin Luther reason
cannot comprehend this but we believe it
and this is also the testimony of
scripture that Christ is true God and
that he also became a
man so yeah the study of the person of
Christ is very difficult and yet it is
sometimes headache inducing as we go
through that blessed despair that we we
talked about a couple of summers ago but
it is totally worth it popping a couple
of Advil is totally worth it the the
feeling of those wrinkles embedding in
your forehead as you squint and wonder
what I'm saying up here it's totally
worth it the furrowed brow is worth it
as you try to wrap your mind around it
it's all worth it these are difficult
Concepts to understand uh but our charge
is not to try to figure all this out
immediately on the back of a napkin or
on the drive home tonight so we can you
know diagram it perfectly or explain it
brilliantly our charge is to accept what
scripture has revealed about our savior
the God man one person two natures and
accept it by
faith two more quotes and then we're
done demerest again says wherever God
and man meet there is Mystery we should
accept the doctrine of the unique God
man in the same way we accept the
Trinity by faith in God's word the
Bible and then Clarence McCartney gets
the final
word says if God was in Christ and if he
loved me and gave himself for me then
all problems are solved and all wants are
are
satisfied that's about the best way I
can think to end our time together this
evening let's
pray Lord thank
you for this time together tonight um in
your word
which has been sort of like biblical
Buckshot all over
again God thank you for the patience of
everyone here I know this is a deep
topic it's a perilous topic it's a topic
that sometimes if we're not thinking of
it right- mindedly we can wonder why
does this
matter but this does matter this is you
revealing yourself revealing the person
of your son who existed and exists in
two Natures according to your perfect
will and wisdom and as those who are
called To Worship in spirit and in truth
we should labor to figure this out and
we should dig deep to figure out what is
this all about but at the same time we
should sit back and and in awe and
wonder at the mystery of this and
worship you for who you are God thank
you for a wonderful day of worship thank
you for the songs that we were able to
sing thank you for the precious children
who were singing their hearts out this
morning thank you for the time that we
got to fellowship with one another thank
you for the time in the word this
morning in Luke and the time this
evening in this deeper study thank you for the privilege that
study thank you for the privilege that we have to be children of God to be
we have to be children of God to be attached to a local church that that
attached to a local church that that loves you and loves your word God I pray
loves you and loves your word God I pray we would always be that church and seek
we would always be that church and seek and strive to bring you glory in all
and strive to bring you glory in all that we do in Jesus name we pray amen
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