Hypostatic Union
Christ is one person in two natures, divine and human.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
What the traditions say
Dogma. CCC 467: "The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man."
Affirmed, but with the communicatio idiomatum taken further than in Reformed theology — the human nature receives real (not merely predicated) divine attributes.
Chalcedonian Orthodoxy is definitive. The Oriental Orthodox churches (Coptic, Armenian) accept a miaphysite formulation that is now largely recognized as linguistically rather than theologically different.
Defined at Chalcedon (451): two natures "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation" in one person.
Affirmed with emphasis on the distinction of natures (extra Calvinisticum). Each nature retains its own properties.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1John 4:2 — Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
- 1Tim 3:16 — And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
- 2Cor 5:19 — To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
- Col 2:9 — For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
- Gal 4:4 — But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
- Heb 2:14 — Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
- Heb 4:15 — For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
- Isa 9:6 — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
- John 1:1 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- John 1:14 — 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 10:30 — I and my Father are one.
- Luke 2:52 — And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
- Matt 1:23 — Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
- Phil 2:7 — But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
- Rom 1:3 — Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Belgic Confession Art19 — The Two Natures of Christ
- Reformed Heidelberg Catechism Q48 — But are the two natures in Christ not separated from each other if His human nature is not present wherever His divinity is?
- Ecumenical Chalcedonian Definition text — Chalcedonian Definition
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 3 — Of the Son of God
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 2 — Of the Word or Son of God, which was made very Man
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Canons) On the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist · Canon 3 — On the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore,…
"Why, sir," I asked, "is the Son of God in the parable in the form of a slave?" "Hear," he answered: "the Son of God is not in the form of a slave, but in great power and might." "How so, sir?" I said; "I do not understand." "Because," he answered, "God planted the vineyard, that is to say, He created the people, and gave them to His…
And when Isaiah calls Him the Angel of mighty counsel, did he not foretell Him to be the Teacher of those truths which He did teach when He came [to earth]? For He alone taught openly those mighty counsels which the Father designed both for all those who have been and shall be well-pleasing to Him, and also for those who have rebelled…
And they respond:- May Christ listen to thy prayers, and be pleased with thy sacrifice, receive thy oblation, and honour thy priesthood, and grant unto us, through thy mediation, the pardon of our offences, and the forgiveness of our sins, through His grace and mercies for ever.
John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that "knowledge" falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that…
And the Mediator executes the Father's will; for the Mediator is the Word, who is common to both-the Son of God, the Saviour of men; His Servant, our Teacher. And the flesh being a slave, as Paul testifies, how can one with any reason adorn the handmaid like a pimp? For that which is of flesh has the form of a servant. Paul says,…