Christology ST302 LESSON 09 of 24 C. Fred Dickason, Th.D. Experience: Chairman of the Theology Department, Moody Bible Institute. Welcome to our ninth study in the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, commonly, among theologians, called Christology. We have up to this point covered Christ in the eternal and pre-incarnate state, and we have begun His earthly life and ministry. Last time we were together, we were talking about His incarnation. We finished up the virgin birth in its significance and purpose, and we began to talk about the kenosis and the hypostatic union. The virgin birth is the means of the incarnation, and these two words, kenosis and hypostatic union, speak of the results of the incarnation. We want to look this time at the hypostatic union. But just briefly reviewing what the kenosis means, we want to say just briefly that the kenosis consisted in the voluntary surrender of His right to enjoy heaven s glory and His independent exercise of divine attributes. Actually He didn t give up possession of, or entirely, the use of His attributes. Second part of that statement of the kenosis involves this: He voluntarily took upon His person the form of servant hood as a genuine man, so that when the Lord Jesus became incarnate, He didn t become anything less than deity. He instead gave up His independent and self-oriented rights, which were proper, and He took upon Himself the form of a servant and became a genuine man. Thus He entered into a new state called the existence as God-man. He is now one person with two natures. And that brings us to a study of this existence of one person with two natures called the hypostatic union. Theologians use this term hypostatic union describing the basic union in one person of the divine and human natures of Christ. Hypo means under, and static deals with state, and so basically it is underlying state or person. That s where we get the term. Now there are some false views that we probably should be aware of in order to appreciate the true view of the hypostatic union. Among those false views: there are those that deny the deity of Christ incarnate. If you re wondering where we are in our outline, the hypostatic union is small b and under this, number one in 1 of 8
parentheses, false views, A in parentheses, those that deny the deity of Christ incarnate. Among those are Arius and Socinus and Schleiermacher and Kant. Let s review briefly what they taught about the hypostatic union. Arius, an early heretic in the church age, denied any eternal preexistence to Jesus. Jesus was a created being, inferior in essence to the Father. Socinus, a heretic a little later on in church history, denied preexistence to Christ all together. To him Christ was just a man with a peculiar fullness of the Spirit. Schleiermacher held that Jesus was, the perfectly religious man. Immanuel Kant said Jesus is the idea of ethical perfection made incarnate. All of those views deny the deity of Christ incarnate. B in parentheses, there are those theories which deny or minimize the true humanity of Christ. Some of these views say that Christ had a seeming humanity, like the Docetists. He wore around Himself a veil of humanity but was not genuinely human. The Gnostics fell in this category too, denying that the Spirit of the Logos could unite Himself genuinely with the material flesh. This was due to their doctrine of dualism, that spirit was good and matter was evil. And so, humanity was a veil over the Logos. There s an incomplete humanity also. Apollinaris said that the divine Logos took the place of the human spirit in Jesus. He had a human body but no human spirit. This would make Him incomplete humanity. These views, the Docetists and Gnostics and Apollinaris, minimized the true humanity of Christ. There are some theories which assume that Jesus was two persons. This theory recognizes two parts in Christ but say, or tend to say, that two persons were brought together, somehow cemented perhaps in a sympathetic union. Nestorius taught this, it seems. He seemed to teach that there was a sympathetic union of two persons so that there was really a God-bearing man, that is, man bearing God around in his body. D in parentheses, there are theories that make Him one person, not two natures. The Monophysites held that He had one composite nature, a sort of third kind of nature. Eutychianism seems to fall along this line. E in parentheses, there are some who hold to progressive incarnation. That is that Jesus began as a man but became progressively Godlike. In this category falls Dynamic Monarchianism. Harnack describes it this way, The divinity in Christ was a mere influence 2 of 8
or power. Jesus had a moral union with God. Through immovable steadfastness in this relationship, He united Himself intimately with God by the influence of the spirit and unity of the will, thus securing the power to perform miracles and fitness to become the redeemer, and in addition, attaining a permanent oneness with God. Paul, a Samosata, a metropolitan of Antioch and Syria, also held this view as well as Dorner. F in parentheses, there is a theory that says the Father became incarnate. This is called Modalistic Monarchianism. It s called modalistic because Christ is just a mode or a manifestation of God the Father. Now this theory was designed to guard the truth of monotheism. Now actually, God is a unity, and these folks who hold this view said that God is an absolute unity. There are not distinctions in the divine being, but God plays three roles or three parts: The Father part as creator, the Son part as redeemer, and the Spirit part as sanctifier. And all three roles are played by the same person. Sabellius was one of those who held to this view and his view is called Sabellianism. Now of these last two views, progressive incarnation or Dynamic Monarchianism and Modalistic Monarchianism, each one of them sacrifices something. The first one sacrifices the deity of Christ because He is a man who becomes somewhat God-like. However, the last view, though it holds the deity of Christ, sacrifices His distinction from God the Father. In fact, denies the trinity. Now all of these are improper views of what we call the hypostatic union or the union of the two natures in Christ, the one person. We d like to come now to what we would think is a proper or biblical view. And we have support for this from the Scripture. I trust you re looking up the Scripture and seeking to substantiate or to follow through on these verses that I give so that you yourself might also study the Scripture along this line. There are four points that we might emphasize as far as describing the proper view of the hypostatic union. First of all, there is Christ s true and undiminished deity. Secondly, there is His genuine and complete humanity. The third point is deity and humanity are united in one person. And the fourth point is forever. Genuine, undiminished deity, genuine and complete humanity, united in one person forever. Now let s take that apart and analyze this and see if we can find biblical support for this point of view. His true and undiminished deity though there are contrasts before and after incarnation there is a continuation of the essential deity of the Son even while incarnate. And this is 3 of 8
so rooted and entrenched in all the Bible that an attack upon the deity of Christ is immediately an attack upon the Bible. In Hebrews 13:8 we read, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Actually, this means His deity is unchanged. First Timothy 3:16 speaks about God manifest in the flesh as referring to Jesus Christ. John 1:14, The Word became flesh and tented among us. And it goes on to say, We saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Undiminished deity. Matthew 1:22 speaks of Him as Immanuel, that is God with us. Luke 1:31-35 says the holy thing that s born, that is the holy human nature, is called by identity the Son of God, which is a title for deity. We believe that these are good evidences for His true and undiminished deity. We could also follow up with John 10:30-33 where Jesus claims, I and my Father are one. The word one in this case is in the neuter, which leads us to believe that He s talking about their essence. Of course, He s distinct as He s talking about two persons, I and my Father, but they re one in essence. And the Jews were about to stone him because they said, Thou, being a man, makest thyself God. In Matthew 26:63-64 under oath the Lord Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, and the Jews counted this as blasphemy because He was taking upon Himself the deity and dignity that belonged to God alone. In Matthew 27:43 we have much the same thing. You ought to compare Luke 22:70-71. When the Lord Jesus said He was indeed the Son of God, the high priest at that time says, what further need have we of witnesses? And I would ask the same thing of those who believe His witness, what further need have we if Jesus Christ claims Himself to be the Son of God, we need no further claim. We need no further evidence. In Colossians 2:9 we read, The fullness of deity exists in Him in bodily form. Now in the case where Jesus was on trial and He was accused of blasphemy, if they understood Him improperly, that is, if they understood that He was claiming to be full deity in bodily form and they were wrong, He could have said something like this, Gentlemen, you are mistaken. I don t deserve to be crucified. I don t claim to be the Son of God in the unique sense. I am the son of God as all men are and I am trying to lead you to a recognition of this. But instead the Lord Jesus continued His unique claim, He continued to press His claims, and He went knowingly with full expectation of the results, on with His claim, on to the crucifixion because He claimed to be the Son of God, full deity while on earth. So we have established His genuine and undiminished deity. The second part of the statement of the hypostatic union goes 4 of 8
like this, He has genuine and complete humanity. The life of Christ on earth bears abundant witness to His humanity. He had a human body. The scripture says He was born of a woman. Luke 1:35, The holy thing born of thee said the angel to Mary. In Galatians 4:4, Paul writes that Christ was born of a woman. He had a human birth. He also grew as a man. Luke 2:52 says He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. He grew in mental and physical and social graces as a man would grow. He had a body and that body was capable of hunger according to Matthew 21:18 and Luke 4:2. That body was capable of thirst. He asked for a drink of water and on the cross He said, I thirst, John 4:7 and John 19:28. On one occasion the Lord Jesus is recorded as being tired. He sat down on the well, being wearied from His journey, John 4:6. He actually slept, this time in the rear of a ship, Mark 4:38. He could die like a man. A body thou has prepared me for sacrifice, He said in Hebrews 10: 4-5. He had a body that could be raised from the dead, Luke 24:36-40. It behooved Christ to suffer, to die, and to rise again. Now all of this is in line with what the apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:1-2. He says, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits. He s talking about the teachers that are enabled by spirits. Now there are true teachers enabled by the Holy Spirit and false teachers who are influenced by false spirits. He says, Try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world, and hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. It is God s point of view that Jesus Christ, the preincarnate logos came into this flesh life, into human life, and He was genuinely man as well as God. The Lord Jesus was also human in His immaterial part. Not only had a human body, but He had a human immaterial part. He had passions. He had love and compassion. According to John 11, He wept at Lazarus tomb. He wept over the multitude in another occasion. He had the passion of anger with hypocrites and money changers. He expressed anger. And this anger is not selfish anger but pure, righteous anger reacting against sinful, flagrant distortion of the truth. As a human He had the passion of eager anticipation. He said in Luke 22:15, I have with desire to celebrate this Passover with you. He sorrowed as humans do, Matthew 26:38. He said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. He was troubled in spirit, according to John 13:21. You see, the Lord Jesus had human passions. He also had human intellect or mind that could develop. According to Luke 2:52, He 5 of 8
grew in wisdom. Now God wouldn t grow in wisdom, but since the Lord Jesus limited voluntarily His development unto the Father s hand to His human existence, He grew in wisdom. He also had a human will. In Luke 9:51-53 it says, He set His face toward Jerusalem, He determined to go up. In John 6:38 He said, I came to do the Father s will. In one case He said, Not My will but Thine be done. The Lord Jesus not only had true and undiminished deity, genuine and complete humanity, but this deity and humanity are united in one person forever, and this is the third part of the statement of hypostatic union, united in one person. And while the distinction of His two natures may be observed, He is always addressed and considered as one person. Frequently the pronouns I, Thou and He are used, these describing the one person. In fact, in Philippians 2, that great passage on the kenosis that we studied in one of our past lessons, we read that there is a one person view from start to finish. Who (that is, the Lord Jesus) being in the form of God did not count it a thing to be grasped after, to be equal with God, or to have equal privileges with God, but, you notice the same person, emptied Himself, took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. The same person who preexisted became also man and this one went to the death of the cross wherefore God hath highly exalted Him. There s only one person in view. Whether it s preincarnate, incarnate, or post earthly life here, so that the Lord Jesus, whether He is in His primal deity or in His earthly existence or whether He has resurrected and ascended back to heaven, it s always one person that s in view. That the name of Jesus, the name He used here on Earth, every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So He is one person according to this evidence of personal pronouns and singular personal reference to Him all the way through Philippians 2. The logos, who is the Son, is the basis of His person. Charles Hodge said this, The Son of God did not unite Himself with a human person, but with a human nature. You may find that statement in his Systematic Theology volume 2, page 391. Actually the basis of the person is the eternal logos. He is the one who is the same all the way through. He added to Himself a human nature, thus continuing one person. One person, with His previously held deity and His added humanity. Now the fourth part of this definition is found in the word forever. 6 of 8
Undiminished deity, genuine humanity united in one person forever. It is assumed by some that Christ, having finished the work of redemption and His kingdom reign, will divest Himself of His body. That is, He will cease to be genuinely human. He ll put off His human nature. I want to say there is no such evidence in Scripture. The body continues. The immaterial human part continues. The whole humanity continues forever united to the logos. You see, in death He was buried in the body, according to John 19:38-42. In resurrection He came alive again in a human body, Luke 24:36-40. Now in a human body, He is seated at the right hand of God, and of course, this is a figure of speech for the place of authority, but He is seated and He is in a location, Hebrews 1:3, 1 Corinthians 15:47, Revelation 1:13 and 14:14. These all picture Him as, even now, in a human body. He will return in a human body. Jesus said while under oath in Matthew 26:64, Ye shall see the Son of Man coming with power and great glory, seeing Him in a body. Zechariah 12:10 says, They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced. This is a reference to the body of the Lord Jesus which was pierced by His rejecters and the same nation who rejected Him will one day see Him and receive Him as one who was pierced for them. And in Zechariah 14:3-4 we read that when the Lord Jesus descends His feet shall touch the Mount of Olives. Certainly His return is in a human body, and He will return to reign in a human body. He will rule and reign forever as the God-man. In Hebrews 2:5-9, we read about the Lord Jesus who became human to taste death for every man. This is a wonderful passage that speaks about the fact that He is our kinsman redeemer. He says in verse 5, the author does, For unto the angels has He not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak, but in the certain place He testifies, What is man that Thou art mindful of him? The idea is that Christ is superior to angels as the Son of Man, and the world to come or the age to come, the kingdom age that the author is speaking of here as salvation; this age will be ruled not by angels but by man. And Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. That is, He became human and He became crowned with glory and honor so that God could put under the God-man all things. And we don t see all things under man now, but we see Jesus, verse 9, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. He s now crowned with glory and honor that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. In other words, the rule of the coming kingdom age is given to the incarnate God-man and all those who are aligned with Him. Man shall rule in the coming kingdom under the God-man, Christ Jesus. 7 of 8
In Revelation 19 and 20 we read that the Lord Jesus returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He returns in visible and bodily form. In fact, in Acts 1, the angels, who were present when the disciples saw Him, ascend gradually into heaven and said, This same Jesus shall so come again in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. So He went personally, visibly, bodily into heaven. He shall return in the same way, and in the eternal state according to Revelation 21:22-23, He is called the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is the light of the New Jerusalem in the eternal state, in the new heavens and new earth when God makes all things new. When all things are restored and recreated, the Lamb is still there. Now I ask you, what significance to this title Lamb? The word lamb speaks of a sacrifice, and a sacrifice must have a body to shed blood just as lambs did in the Old Testament. Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And I submit to you that in eternity the Lord Jesus will be honored in His body as the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. He is indeed one person with two natures, divine and human, united forever. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 8 of 8