************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Articles 18 & 19 ************
Doctrine: The Two Natures of Christ
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on November 1, 1998
B.C. 18,19
Matthew 1:18-25
"One Person With Two Natures and Two Wills"
Introduction
There are two main errors when it comes to the person of Jesus Christ. The first denies His full divinity. The second denies His full humanity.
Topic: Christ
Subtopic: Divinity of
Index: 701-718
Date:
Title:
A man was looking over a house before he made a decision to purchase it. He was particularly struck by the beauty of one of the rooms which he wished to turn into his study; but he objected to a cupboard in the corner.
"I will have to remove it," he said to the architect. "No, you won't," was the reply. "But I can do what I like if I buy the house," said the man.
"You cannot do what you like with that cupboard," answered the architect.
"Why not?" he asked. "Is it protected by a clause in the deed?"
"No," said the architect, "it is not on the deed; it is on the plan. You cannot take away the cupboard without taking down the house, it is part of the main structure."
If we take away either the deity or the humanity of Christ, we destroy the whole structure of Christianity. These doctrines are built in. They are central. They are part of the main structure.
The mystery of the eternal Son of God taking on our humanity lies at the very center of the Scriptures. In fact, we see it over and over again from the beginning of the Bible to its end:
-(Gen 3:15) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
-(Isa 7:14) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
-(Jn 1:14) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
-(Gal 4:4) But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,
-(1 Tim 3:16) Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
-(1 Jn 4:2) This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God ...
Article 10 of the Confession of Faith affirmed for us that Christ Jesus is true and eternal God. Article 18 insists that Jesus is also true and eternal man. Article 19 deals with the issue of how the divinity and humanity of Jesus are combined in one person.
I The Incarnation
A As you perhaps know, there were two kinds of people and two kinds of cultures in the early church. The first was the Jewish people and culture. This Jewish connection is mentioned in the second last paragraph of Article 18:
that he is "fruit of the loins of David" according to the
flesh;
"born of the seed of David" according to the flesh;
"fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary";
"born of a woman";
"the seed of David";
"a shoot from the root of Jesse";
"the offspring of Judah,"
having descended from the Jews according to the flesh;
"from the seed of Abraham"--
for he "assumed Abraham's seed"
and was "made like his brothers
except for sin."
As Jesus Himself said, "salvation is from the Jews" (Jn 4:22). It is clear from all of this that the Savior was born into a very Jewish history, lineage, and culture.
The other group and culture making up the early church was that of the Greeks or Gentiles. Because Alexander the Great had conquered such a vast empire Greek culture and influence was to be found in most of the then known world. So, for example, exiled Jews in Egypt soaked up Greek philosophy, language, and religion. And the Old Testament had to be translated into Greek for Jews who could no longer read, speak, or understand Hebrew. Even with the rise of the Roman Empire, Greek language and culture continued to exert a massive influence. As a result, by the time of Jesus' birth Palestine was multi-cultural with two official languages and cultures. What this means is that Jesus and His apostles undoubtedly spoke both Aramaic and Greek. And, when the New Testament was written the chosen language was common Greek rather than the Hebrew of the Old Testament Scriptures.
B I mentioned before that there are two main errors when it comes to person of Jesus Christ. The first denies His full divinity. The second denies His full humanity. The two peoples and two cultures found in the early church helps us to understand the presence of these two errors.
The Jews had no problems with Jesus' humanity. They knew Him to be a carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James (Mk 6:3). Their problems started when Jesus claimed to be divine, when He said that He and the Father were one (Jn 10:30), when He said His kingdom was in heaven and not on earth (Jn 18:36). This claim to divinity offended and enraged the Jews. They believed in one God – Who was high and holy and almighty and definitely NOT a carpenter from Nazareth.
The Greeks had the opposite problem of the Jews. Their tradition included many gods: a god of war, a god of harvest, a god of love, a god of thunder, and so on. This made it easy for them to accept Jesus' claim to divinity. So they had no problem with adding Jesus to their long list of gods. On the other hand, they found it hard to accept that Jesus was also a man. To them it was extreme foolishness to think of a god as being crucified (1 Cor 1:23). Likewise, the teaching of Christ's resurrection seemed outrageous to them. You may remember that the Apostle Paul's speech to the Greek philosophers of Athens was doing rather well until he came to the part about Christ's resurrection (Acts 17:31-32).
The Jews, then, had problems with the divinity of Jesus. The Greeks had problems accepting the humanity of Jesus. It is this Greek problem that is faced by Article 18.
C Whenever the Gospel fell on Greek ears there was a tendency to think that the Son of God did not really take on human flesh, but only seemed to take on human flesh. According to this philosophy, Jesus was not really human; it only seemed He was. This heresy is known as "Docetism," from the Greek word "to appear, to seem." This heresy teaches us that Jesus is like Clark Kent. Clark Kent pretends or seems to be a weak, mild-mannered reporter; in actual fact he is Superman. Likewise, says this heresy, Jesus only seems to be man; in actual fact He is much more.
Because of Docetism the early creeds of the Christian church always mention the very human events of Christ's life. The Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, for instance, insist that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, that He suffered, that He was crucified, that He died, that He was buried. Many of the early church councils also made a special point of condemning the ever-recurring forms of Docetism that appeared in the church.
D Article 18 faithfully follows the teachings of Scripture and the early church. It says:
The Son took the "form of a servant"
and was made in the "likeness of man,"
truly assuming a real human nature,
with all its weaknesses,
except for sin;
being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
without male participation.
Article 18 says this in opposition to the Docetists of the sixteenth century whom it identifies as being the Anabaptists. We do not know exactly who or what is in mind here because Docetism certainly was NOT the belief of most Anabaptists.
E Article 18 looks not only at Jesus' human body but also at His human soul:
And he not only assumed human nature
as far as the body is concerned
but also a real human soul,
in order that he might be a real human being.
For since the soul had been lost as well as the body
he had to assume them both
to save them both together.
II The Relation of the Human and the Divine in Jesus
A The thoughtful Christian is puzzled, confused, and intrigued by the relation of the human to the divine in the one person Jesus Christ. How is one's mind to comprehend the idea that there is a person Who is both fully human and fully divine at the same time? All sorts of questions come to mind:
-If He was fully divine, why did He get tired?
-Why did He weep?
-How are we to understand His temptations?
-Was Jesus all-powerful? For instance, was the weight of the 400 pound cross as light to Him as a feather?
-Was Jesus omniscient? Did He know the earth was round in an age when many believed it was flat and square? Did He know Einstein's theory of relativity 1900 years before it was discovered?
-If Jesus was and is God, how come He did not know the day or the hour of the second coming?
B In the fourth and fifth centuries the attempts to relate the divinity and humanity of Jesus fell into two main groups or schools of thought. One school emphasized the separation of the two natures in Christ. This school said that Jesus was two persons with two natures and two wills. This position tore apart the unity of the human and the divine in Christ. Jesus, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, became a person with a multiple personality: sometimes He was God and sometimes He was man.
The other school of thought stressed the unity of Christ's two natures. This school said the Christ was one person with one nature and one will. This position destroyed the uniqueness of Christ's two natures – unlike the first school the two natures of Christ were no longer separate; instead, they were mixed or interwoven with each other.
One of the Council of the church declared both schools of thought to be heretical. Jesus is both God and man – without division or separation. He is also both God and man – without confusion or change. Jesus Christ is one person, with two natures (a human nature and a divine nature) and two wills (a human will and a divine will).
C Once again the Confession of Faith is very faithful to the teachings of the Scriptures and the early church. Against those who would say Jesus is two persons with two natures and two wills, the Confession says
... there are not two Sons of God,
nor two persons,
but two natures united in a single person.
The two natures and two wills of Jesus are joined together in the one person. It was this way when He was a baby in Bethlehem. It was this way upon the cross. It was even this way in the grave. Listen to how the Confession states this:
But these two natures
are so united together in one person
that they are not even separated by his death.
So then,
what he committed to his Father when he died
was a real human spirit which left his body.
But meanwhile his divine nature remained
united with his human nature
even when he was lying in the grave;
and his deity never ceased to be in him,
just as it was in him when he was a little child ...
And, against the teachings of those who would say Jesus is one person with one nature and one will, the Confession says
... each nature retains its own distinct properties.
Thus his divine nature has always remained uncreated,
without beginning of days or end of life,
filling heaven and earth.
His human nature has not lost its properties
but continues to have those of a creature--
it has a beginning of days;
it is of a finite nature
and retains all that belongs to a real body.
And even though he,
by his resurrection,
gave it immortality,
that nonetheless did not change
the reality of his human nature
Conclusion
Now, why all this stress on the humanity and divinity of Christ? Why is it so important that we confess He is both true God and true man? Why is it so important for us to confess that He is both God and man without division or separation, without confusion or change?
At the end of Article 19, we are told why this is important for you and for me:
These are the reasons why we confess him
to be true God and true man--
true God in order to conquer death
by his power,
and true man that he might die for us
in the weakness of his flesh.
In saying this the Confession undoubtedly has the words of the Apostle Paul in mind:
(Rom 4:25) He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
If Jesus were God and not man, then He could not have died, for God cannot die. On the other hand, if Jesus were man and not God, then He could not have been raised from the grave, for man is incapable of conquering death.
Now consider what this means for you and for me. If Jesus were God and not man, then He did not die for our sin and there is for us no forgiveness. On the other hand, if Jesus were man and not God, then He was not raised for our justification and there is for us no new life and no future life.
Do you see why Jesus has to be true God and true man at one and the same time? He has to be or He is but half a Savior and ours is but half a salvation.
"Praise God," I say. "Praise God." For ours is not half a Savior and ours is not half a salvation. Our Savior is true God and true man. And our salvation is full and complete. To paraphrase Paul:
He had to be man to be delivered over to death for our sins; and He had to be God to be raised to life for our justification.
