The Hypostatic Union is the teaching that the Word of God became flesh and we call Him Jesus. Therefore, Jesus is God in human flesh. He is not half God and half man. He is fully divine and fully man. That is, Jesus has two distinct natures: divine and human. As the SCripture says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...14and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us..." (John 1:1,14). This means that in the divine word became flesh in the single person of Jesus who is, then, both human and divine in nature. The divine nature was not changed. It was not altered in this union. Rather, the divine holy nature of the Word remains as it is.
Furthermore, Jesus is not merely a man who "had God within Him" nor is he a man who "manifested the God principle." He is the second person of the Trinity. "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word," (Heb. 1:3, NIV). Jesus' two natures are not "mixed together," nor are they combined into a new God-man nature. They are separate yet act as a unit in the one person of Jesus. This is called the Hypostatic Union.
Also, in the incarnation, Jesus was made for a while lower than the angels (Heb. 2:9) and under the law (Gal. 4:4). This means that Jesus cooperated with the limitations of being a man (Phil. 2:5-8). In other words, He really was a man and as a man exhibited the proper restrictions of His humanity such as growing taller, eating, growing in wisdom, etc., which would be expected of a real human being.
2007-09-07
01:32:23
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Graham
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Religion & Spirituality