Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Two Natures of Christ- Divine and Human- Is this important?


All us Christians need a functional knowledge of the great doctrinal truths revealed in Scripture.  One such doctrine central to the Christian Faith is The Two Natures of Christ.  The huge importance of this belief was the topic of a book I read years ago titled the Cruelty of Heresy, by The Rt. Rev. Dr. C. Fitzsimons Allison.  Bp. Allison highlighted the dangers of veering off course by denying or minimizing either the divinity of Christ or the humanity of Christ.  The Church understood this and addressed it in one of the early councils of the Church, The Council of Chalcedon, in 451 A.D.   Here is an excerpt from the proceedings of that great church council:
Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance (homoousios) with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer (Theotokos); one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us.     Father Rob

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