Faith & Works: The Big Question & Why it is ever Asked
Creation, Incarnation, and Salvation by the Word
There is definitely more coming, those are just the current things that are floating around in my head.
Today, for my religion class, I wrote about the hypostatic union of Christ (that is His full Divinity, and humanity). I didn't get to share it because of time, but I'm praying that happens soon. For now it is title-less, but here's the exposition.
At the Council of Chalcedon, Christology was finally settled. It was at this Council that the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ was finally accepted and publicized. The doctrine states that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man; eternal God existing in the flesh of His creation for the purpose of bringing redemption to it. It is often assumed that it was at this council the doctrine was created, but in fact, Jesus Himself was the initiator of the doctrine, claiming to be God in the flesh. In his talking with Nicodemus in John 3, Jesus asserts, "He [God], gave His only begotten Son." The word begotten is separate and distinct from create, for that which is begotten is of the same essence as the one who begets, while that which is created is of a different kind. Just as what man creates is not human, and what he begets is human, what God creates is not God, but that which he begets, Jesus Christ, is God. This message is repeated throughout Jesus’ teachings in the gospel of John: He proclaims "I and the Father are one." [John 10:30] and "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." [John 14:9]. Also, in chapter 8, verse 58, Jesus refers to Himself, using the very name of God that was presented to Moses before the Exodus, saying, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." It is with the certainty of Jesus' own words combined with the corroboration of the prophecies of the Old Testament as well as the witnesses and writing of the New Testament that the certainty of Christ's complete Divinity is established. The human-ness of Jesus is also certain. The writer of Hebrews explains, "Therefore, since the children [man] share in flesh and blood, He Himself [God, in the person of Jesus] likewise also partook of the same" [2:14]. And so it seems as if we are left with two seemingly irreconcilable truths: Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. It is no wonder that the early church [as well as the modern church] struggled to comprehend this essential fact about the Messiah and that it was almost 450 years after His death and resurrection that the doctrine of the hypostatic union of Christ was finally penned.
The question remains, however, as to the importance of the doctrine, and biblically speaking, it is paramount. The apostle Paul summarizes all of this In the second chapter of Philippians: "...although [Jesus] existed in the very form of God...[He was] made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." [2:5-8]. All of this is essential to the basis of Christianity: salvation. The Bible teaches that the sin of man has separated him from God; because God is holy, meaning without sin, He cannot be in the presence of sin. This means separation. The Bible also teaches there is nothing man can do of himself to make payment for his sin. Paul corroborates these facts in the book of Romans (3:23, 6:23). Then we come to the most well-known verse of the entire Bible, John 3:16 where Jesus states that it is because of LOVE that the Father gave His Son to bring eternal life to the world. This is where the hypostatic union of Christ enters the picture. Jesus, being fully God, had the righteousness of God in Him and therefore was sinless in His life. It is this sinlessness, or holiness, in conjunction with His complete humanity that He was eligible to become a sacrifice to make payment for the sins of the world. Through His death, the wrath of God was poured out upon Him, as a substitute for all of humanity. In His resurrection, God demonstrated His power of sin and death and brought and end to them. It is because of Christ's duel nature that His sacrifice was possible, by which salvation is now available to all who ask. It is with all of this in mind that Paul responds to the question "What must I do to be saved? with a simple answer: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" [Acts 16:31].
For HIS glory and HIS renown.
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