Required reading
Systematic Theology by Charles Hodge (Vol 2) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Continue Chapter 3 (Person of Christ) by reading up to the heading '5. Erroneous and Heretical Doctrines on the Person of Christ'.
My summary
Firstly today Hodge teaches us about the natures in Christ. We learn that:
(i) there are two natures (human and divine)
(ii) the two natures are united but not mingled or confounded;
(iii) there is no transfer of the attributes of one nature to the other;
(iv) the union is a personal union.
Secondly we see the consequences of the hypostatical union. We are taught about:
(i) the communion of attributes;
(ii) the acts of Christ;
(iii) the man Christ Jesus as the object of worship;
(iv) Christ sympathising with his people;
(v) the incarnate logos as the source of life;
(vi) the exaltation of the human nature of Christ.
What grabbed me
Very difficult concepts today.
But I appreciated Hodge's clarity on the personhood of Christ: 'It was a divine person, not merely a divine nature, that assumed humanity, or became incarnate. Hence it follows that the human nature of Christ, separately considered, is impersonal. To this, indeed, it is objected that intelligence and will constitute personality, and as these belong to Christ's human nature personality cannot be denied to it. A person, however, is a suppositum intelligens, but the human nature of Christ is not a suppositum or subsistence. To personality both rational substance and distinct subsistence are essential. The latter the human nature of Christ never possessed. The Son of God did not unite Himself with a human person, but with a human nature. The proof of this is that Christ is but one person. The possibility of such a union cannot rationally be denied. '
Christ's divine nature and personhood have existed eternally.
When the Word became flesh, the human nature alone began to exist
Next week's reading
Continue Chapter 3 (Person of Christ) by reading up to the heading '7. Lutheran Doctrine'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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