Hypostatic Union
The question of the nature of Jesus has plagued the Christian community from the inception of Christ into the world. The Jewish community was the first to be confused by the deity of Jesus. While Jews were certain that he was a man they faced the challenge of understanding that He was also God. This combination of God and man at once in an individual is unprecedented and there is no comparison for such a combination. After the death of Jesus the problem was exacerbated because the thinking of many persons is that if he was God he could not die. So that his death is a clear indication that he was not God. This thinking is manifested in many theological traditions as heresies. As a response to the individuals who believe that Jesus was only man this essay will demonstrate through the use of scripture that Jesus is both God and man, divine and human. That is the mystery that will never be completely understood by finite human beings.
One of the clearest statements in scripture that states the divinity of Jesus is the words of the Apostle John in the Gospel of John. John 1:1 and 14 are crystal clear statements that the "Word was God" and, 14 states that the same "Word" became flesh (Two natures...
Nicene Christology The Councils The Council of Nicaea convened in 325. The Council of Constantinople followed in 381. The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon were convened in 431 and 451 respectively. At all of these councils, the main issues were around the nature and personhood of Christ. His relationship to the Father, the relationship of the Holy Spirit to both, the meaning of the Trinity, the humanity and divinity of Christ—all of
Christology: The Identity of Jesus as Both God and Man In the Bible, Jesus identifies himself as both God and man most explicitly in the book of John. In the first book of John, the Apostle John famously writes: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
Doctrine of the Holy Trinity The basis of the doctrine of trinity is based on the "God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy spirit" epithet among the Christians. God is abundantly regarded as pure spirit who cannot be seen by the eyes of every person (spirit) and associated with a material body (son) who and the material body was sent to the world by the father to save
Scholars like Borg, Crossan, Meier, and Sanders reach into Torah or into Gnostic and other extracanonical traditions such as Greek novels to draw comparisons and contrasts. The range is comprehensive, from Greco-Roman sources to Jewish and other Mediterranean sources. Often the picture of Jesus that emerges is a construction based on social-scientific and literary trends. There have been some important findings. For one, Jesus is understood more politically, proclaiming the
Berulle’s Discourses At a time when Europe was rushing blindly into reform, rationalism and naturalism via the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and later during the Enlightenment, Berulle and the French School represented a return to the kind of mysticism of the medieval world (Howells). Berulle’s focus was on the Incarnation, the mystery of God Made Man through the union of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary. Berulle and the
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