When Jesus came to earth He took on human flesh. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14) In that moment, the second Person of the Trinity took on human form. He became a man. He was fully God and fully man. Jesus is reigning right now as I write this in a resurrected body as the head of the church, His bride.
Now when Jesus died of course His spirit left his body. That is what ours will do when we die, but through the power of the Spirit His body was resurrected and reunited with His Spirit.
What we have to remember is that Jesus is not two separate persons in one body. He is one person with two natures. Once he took on human nature, He never gave it up, while also keeping His divine nature.
Jesus had to become a man in order to represent the human race in His death. His humanity and divinity allows Him to be our mediator between us and the Father. (Heb 2:17)
Jesus did not renounce His divinity on the cross because only God could pay for our sins because the payment required the perfect sacrifice. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible says that salvation is from the Lord. If the Christ did not die on the cross then redemption was not accomplished.
The view that Todd is advancing is called "Nestorianism." Nestorias was a popular preacher in Constantinople in the 5th century. His view was that Christ was two persons in one body, rather than one person with two natures. Nowhere in Scripture do we see the divine person and the human person talking, struggling against each other, or doing separate things like one dying on the cross while the other leaves. Jesus was a single person acting in wholeness and unity.
This view was declared heresy and in A.D. 451 the church crafted a statement to attempt to solve these problems about the person of Christ, called the Chalcedonian Definition. Here it is:
"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 and 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 annulled by the union, but rather 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 and 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 fathers has handed down to us."
I think this whole debate is a blessing because it has directed our attention to our Savior. Anytime we can clarify who Jesus is, it is a good thing.
Blessings,
Durham
7 comments:
That's pretty good research. Let me guess...wikipedia...youtube??
Ha. Good post!
interesting stuff. Wonder what life was like for baby Jesus? Fully God and fully man. was He like "i'm just acting like I don't know how to speak when actually i gave you a toungue to speak with? Sounds like a stupid question...just always wanted to know...and makes me laugh every time
What's crazy was that he was so ordinary growing up that those closest to him didn't believe he was the Messiah.
It is definitely a mystery.
another interesting area of this comes to mind
Though I am unaware of it mentioning anything of this in the Word, but i was wondering. Jesus was holy, and mary was not, she was a sinful being just as all of us so, my thought is, did unborn baby Jesus' blood ever mix with hers? If it did, i would think that would taint His holiness, His purity. I mean God did place His son in a virgin's womb, I would think it would be possible and totally amazing that Jesus was sustained in the womb only by God, and not dependent on Mary's body for life.
Ummm...I think that it's not mentioned in the Word is because it's completly irrelevant.
But since you ask...
Jesus was fully human and fully God. Part of being fully human is obeying the laws of biology. Who was it that created biology anyways?? Jesus wasn't violating any of His Godly rules by being born and nourished of a human...BECAUSE HE CREATED THE RULES!!
Todd...if your arguement was valid then Jesus would have been tainted just by being around us here on earth. Because perfection, by definition, cannot be around any imperfection at all. He's perfect...we're not...was he tainted by coming to earth?? (rhetorical) NO he wasn't!! He wouldn't have been tainted by any of the earthly process of biology that He created either.
well, it is not an argument brother, simply a question to maybe think about, nolan ill give you the benefit of the doubt seeing as i don't know you and i am new to the group, but it seems to me that you sometimes seem to belittle with your comments
i just like trying to grow on here, and with that i am going to prod and poke at the way we have always thought
Man I'm sorry...seriously. Tyler Parker already scolded me on that. This isn't a good excuse, but for those who know me I'm not a hateful person. I am sarcastic...but I need to be careful about how I come across when I'm not face to face.
I should filter everything through Terry...who is gifted with a tactful approach in his posts.
Todd...thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt.
I'll try to use fewer exclamation marks!!!
Let's keep growing...
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