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The Two Natures of Christ (Blogging the Belgic: Article 19)

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Christians believe that Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God, but how exactly does that work? Does that mean that Jesus had some sort of split personality that would jump back and forth between the divine and the human, like the Incredible Hulk? Or is he some sort of mixture of these two natures so that he resembles something like a modern labradoodle? Whether you have been wondering that for years or just started thinking about that right now, there is good news – you are not alone and there are resources to help you think about it! In fact, this was an issue that the early church pondered, discussed, and debated, leading to the Council of Chalcedon in 451, with the teachings of that council (often called the Definition of Chalcedon) then contained and explained a bit in article 19 of the Belgic Confession. I highlight this connection to this council that is also discussed by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches to remind us of the fact that one of the purposes of the Belgic Confession was to show that the Reformed Church was in continuity with the early church.

This article of the confession connects back to article 18 (The Incarnation), noting that “We believe that by being thus conceived,” and then advances it, “the person of the Son has been inseparably united and joined together with the human nature, in such a way that there are not two Sons of God, nor two persons, but two natures united in a single person, with each nature retaining its own distinct properties.” I realize these words might sound technical and complicated, so let me do my best to explain them a bit – the confession notes that the Son (the eternally existing second member of the Godhead, who “has always remained uncreated, without beginning of days or end of life, filling heaven and earth”) has joined together with a human nature (as the last article noted, body and soul) and that this union is inseparable. Since there is a union, there are not two persons in Jesus – a single person as the confession notes – but one that has two natures (God and man), existing side by side and not mixed together (as they retain their distinct properties) but united together. Jesus does not hit a switch between God and man, but acts in these natures together because they are united. The confession later goes on to note that “these two natures are so united together in one person that they are not even separated by death.” They also were together from Jesus’s earliest days, “his deity never ceased to be in him, just as it was in him when he was a little child, though for a while it did not show itself as such.”

In fact, the confession even notes something that we might forget – that Jesus retained his union at his death, resurrection, and ascension. That idea is found here: “His human nature has not lost its properties but continues to have those of a creature – it has a beginning of days; it is of a finite nature and retains all that belongs to a real bod. And even though he, by his resurrection gave it immortality, that nonetheless did not change the reality of his human nature; for our salvation and resurrection depend also on the reality of his body.” Jesus still has this body. Because Jesus rose, we will rise and know we will have new bodies. If Jesus did not rise with this new body, we would not have that hope.

The idea of Jesus’s union of divine and human natures also speaks a bit to what happened to Jesus when he died and where his spirit and soul went. “So then, what he committed to his Father when he died was a real spirit which left his body. But meanwhile his divine nature remained united with his human nature even when he was lying in the grave; and his deity never ceased to be in him, just as it was in him when he was a little child, though for a while it did not show itself as such.” Jesus’ human spirit went into the presence of God, just as our spirits do when we do and await the resurrection; the divine and human did not divide at that moment with the divine going to one place and the human going to another.

Why does all this matter? Well, if Jesus became some sort of mixture of God and man, he would not really be human nor would he be God. If this was the case, there would be no salvation, as this confession seeks to drill home at the end: “These are the reasons why we confess him to be true God and true man – true God in order to conquer death by his power, and true man that he might die for us in the weakness of the flesh.” These two natures had to be united together in one person in order for us to be saved; he had to be human to save humans and had to be God in order to have the quality to save humans. We don’t always fully understand how something work, such as how the two natures exist side by side, but we can know the why; we also have a knowledge of the what (two natures, one person) that we must be careful to guard and maintain. Hopefully, this article and these reflections help you know the what and the why, with the how driving you deeper into worship of God, as there is always mystery when God and humans are brought together.

Questions about Bible or theology? E-mail them to Pastor Brian at Theology@wearefaith.org.

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