Incarnation: The Perfection of 1 Person, 2 Natures [Nestorianism]

Title: Incarnation: The Perfection of 1 Person, 2 Natures

Text: Hebrews 1:3

Series: Incarnation

Date: December 5, 2021

Introduction:

“Christianity stands or falls on the [truth of - added by Fernandez] incarnation.” - Mohler [Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Hebrews, p. 34]

In A.D. 451 a council of church leaders came together in modern day Istanbul, Turkey. The controversy was over the Person and natures of Jesus Christ. In response to various concerns, they put together a statement, and this is the part that is important for us to look at today:

our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [coessential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin;...to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son,

Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine (p. 557). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

One of the reasons that this needed to be put together was because of the teaching which became known as Nestorianism. It is a teaching that Jesus Christ was actually two persons in one body — that he possessed two wills, two knowledges, two psyches…etc and that they were separate from each other. In short, Jesus Christ “existed as two distinct persons” (Beeke, A Puritan Theology, p. 348]. Jesus was both a human person and a divine person and they were separate persons in one body.

Grudem Picture - Two Bowling Balls in Bag

________________

Illustration #2:

[Wellum, Stephen J. God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ, p. 300] Nestorius’ view has been likened to a two-partner firm. One is the silent partner [that’s the divine Person of Jesus] and the other is the evident partner [the human Person of Jesus]. Though the human partner is evident, he is highly influenced by the divine person — the wizard behind the curtain.

Consequently, the Council at Chalcedon said that Jesus was not two persons in one body, but Jesus was actually One Person with two natures (divine and human nature),...

the characteristics [idiomata] 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.

Beeke, J. R., & Jones, M. (2012). A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (p. 348). Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books.

[Subject] It is of supreme importance that we strive to understand the Person of Christ. [One Person or Two?]

[Need] Previously [Apollinarianism] - Representation requires full identification.

The incarnation is Christ’s identification in perfection without separation [of persons].

How can we be sure that Jesus was NOT a lunatic? or that Jesus did not have Dissociative Identity Disorder [Multiple Personality Disorder] and that salvation in the Son is possible?

Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct or split identities or personality states that continually have power over the person's behavior.

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder

[Text] Hebrews 1:3

Hebrews 1:3 KJV 1900

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Preview

The Problem with Nestorianism - what’s the big deal?

The Solution to Nestorianism - how is this fixed?

The Application in response to Nestorianism - why should it matter to me?

Body:

The Problem with Nestorianism

If Jesus was two separate persons, then you have one of two major problems:

(1) He either did not fully represent us as human

What I mean here is that when Jesus lived, he lived as a divine person that was unbound to his human person. Thus, there was nothing really human about his divine person.

He only appeared at times to be human but really, he was able to do all that he could because of his divine person.

Did he experience hunger as his divine person or his human person?

Did he weep as his divine person or his human person?

[OR]

(2) He did not fully represent God.

What I mean here is that when Jesus lived, he lived as a human person that was unbound to his divine person. Thus, there was nothing really divine about his human person.

He only appeared at times to be divine but really, he was able to do all that he could because of his human person.

“For Nestorius, the LOGOS [divine person of Son] did not participate in the human events of Christ’s life” [Wellum, p. 301]

The problem of the Nestorianism is that the human and the divine are separate persons which leads to questions of Jesus’ identity and his person as a perfect representative of both God and Man.

The Solution for Nestorianism

Hebrews 1:3 KJV 1900

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

“person” - hypostasis - substance, essence, actual being.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine 2. The Solution to the Controversy: The Chalcedonian Definition of A.D. 451

Hence the union of Christ’s human and divine natures in one person is sometimes called the hypostatic union. This phrase simply means the union of Christ’s human and divine natures in one being.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine 3. Combining Specific Biblical Texts on Christ’s Deity and Humanity

two distinct natures in Christ that retain their own properties yet remain together in one person.

Solution: One Person with Two Distinct Natures.

“These two parts of this one identity statement present the incarnate Son as the one who makes visible the very glory of God himself, which is obviously something only God can do.” [Wellum, 186] John 1:14-18

John 1:14–18 KJV 1900

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

[Summary] The Son existed as a Person before the incarnation, and it is the Person of the Son, “the second person of the Godhead” who assumed flesh. “It is the person of the Son who is the one acting agent and suffering subject. [Wellum, p. 305-06] Hebrews 1:3.

Grudem Illustration

Application in Response to Nestorianism

Hypostatic Union

[The single personhood with two natures gives us hope because…]

it affirms the integrity of our bibliology (speaking about him this way)

The bible does not speak of Jesus Christ in a dual Person way. Hebrews 1:1-2

Hebrews 1:1–2 KJV 1900

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Application:

What you believe about the incarnation should lead you to value the Bible more fully.

it affirms the integrity of the trinity [godhead]

If Jesus is two persons then the doctrine of the Trinity is false, since Jesus equals two persons. Hebrews 9:14

Hebrews 9:14 KJV 1900

14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Application:

The fullness of the incarnation should lead us to marvel at the Godhead.

it affirms the integrity of Jesus spirituality (demons)

One of the charges leveled against Jesus was that he did his miracles by the power of Beelzebub. Mark 12:24

Mark 12:24 KJV 1900

24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

But demon possession stories in the bible indicate that the demons spoke from within the person they were controlling. Mark 5:9

Mark 5:9 KJV 1900

9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

The bizarre sounds have come from tapes recorded during some 70 visits that two Catholic priests made to the Bavarian home of Anneliese Michel. For eleven months preceding her death July 1, 1976, they tried to drive away the demons that the woman, her parents and the two priests were convinced possessed her. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/04/21/cries-of-a-woman-possessed/94bf2fd3-8e64-482d-869d-1f929851ca8f/]

it affirms the integrity of Jesus sanity (split personality)

When Jesus spoke, he did not speak of himself in a plural sense but in a singular sense. Consider John 14:23

John 14:23 KJV 1900

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Application:

The incarnation should lead us to a greater faith in the Person of Jesus Christ.

It affirms the integrity of the Christian psychology

Understanding Jesus in as one person with two natures may give us a clue as to why the struggle for the Christian is very real. Though you are one person, you have two natures. You have a new nature because God’s seed remains in you, but you have and old nature - sarx.

The flesh in the New Testament, when opposed to the Spirit, does not refer to our physical nature as opposed to our spiritual nature, but to the sin-desiring aspect of our whole being as opposed to the God-desiring aspect. The sarx is our sinful heart. [Keller, Timothy. Galatians For You (God's Word For You) (p. 133). The Good Book Company. Kindle Edition.]

The one key difference is that Jesus was sinless in his complete human nature and was complete in his divine nature as well.

Application:

The incarnation of Christ should give us hope in our ongoing struggle against our sinful nature.

Bridge to Conclusion:

How can we be sure that Jesus was NOT a lunatic? or that Jesus did not have Dissociative Identity Disorder [Multiple Personality Disorder] and that salvation in the Son is possible? First, the problem of two persons means that Christ could not fully represent God or man. The solution is to understand and believe that: The incarnation is Christ’s identification in perfection without separation [of persons] . But there is one final critical “-ology” that is affirmed through the incarnation.

Conclusion:

“Christianity stands or falls on the [truth of - added by Fernandez] incarnation.” By this, I specifically mean soteriology.

The Hypostatic Union affirms the integrity of soteriology [salvation].

Salvation requires more than a wizard behind the curtain.

When Dorothy meets the wizard, he appears to her as a giant head. Later, Toto, Dorothy’s dog tips over a screen revealing an old man.

What will you do with the incarnate Son?

Negatively, you can refuse him and remain skeptical and go on thoughtlessly celebrating this season. But you will be lost forever.

Positively, you can receive him as the only One who can save your soul.

Christian, you must not trivialize the incarnation by making this season about temporary things rather than the Eternal One.

All must worship the Son Incarnate, which comes by increasing in the knowledge of the Son.

Defending Your Faith The Trilemma Argument

It’s called the trilemma argument. It poses three options for Jesus: (1) Jesus says He is God, but He knows that’s not true, so He’s a deceiver (a liar); (2) Jesus really thinks He is God, but He isn’t, so He’s a madman (lunatic); (3) Jesus claims to be God because He really is God (Lord).

Christianity stands or falls on the truth of Who Jesus is — the Perfection of 1 Person, 2 Natures.