Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Two Natures of Jesus
1
The Two Natures
of Jesus
Fully Human. Fully Divine.
Hebrew Scriptures
The prophecies of Israel are chock full of longing for a "Messiah" -- a promised, anointed Savior -- one would restore Israel to right relationship with God and realize its rightful place in the world.
Texts of
Scripture
He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth;
He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him.
But he was pierced for our sins,
crushed for our iniquity.
He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed.
Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken,
struck down by God and afflicted,
He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain,
Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.
Gospels
Mark
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?
Matthew
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity* for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.
*Better translation: His Bowels Churned within him
Luke
And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke
And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
John
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John
Jesus wept.
Luke
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last.
Letters
St. Paul
Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness;
And found human in appearance, he humbled himself,becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
St. Paul
For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ.
Letter to the Hebrews
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.
Discerning the Person of Jesus
Theological Development
The centrality of Jesus of Nazareth to the Christian understanding of nature, salvation, morality, prayer, eternity, science, etc. etc. has prompted a ceaseless examination of his life and identity. The fundamental questions being:
What is his relationship to God?
What is his relationship to us?
Heresies
Gnosticism
- Salvation is achieved through having secret knowledge, not through the loving victory of Jesus' Cross.
- Matter is evil. Thus, Jesus' body is simply a means to an end, and not truly human.
Docetism
- Often called the "Halloween Heresy".
- Jesus is just God in disguise. His humanity is like a costume he wears to contain his glory and allow him to act in the world.
- There is no human participation in salvation, rather we are the mere recipients of a supremely gracious God.
Nestorianism
- Mary is not the Mother of God, simply the mother of Jesus' humanity.
- Tries to preserve the dignity of Jesus' divinity, but effectively causes a disunity in Jesus' person -- When is he God? When is he not God?
The Teaching of the Church
Orthodox Teaching of the Church
Jesus Christ is Fully God and Fully Human.
Orthodox Teaching of the Church
Human Attributes
God Attributes
Will
Mind
Body
Will
Mind
Eternal Existence
The two natures are united in the single person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Orthodox Teaching of the Church
“The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." - Luke 1:35
From the very moment of his conception on through the fullness of time, God has fully and irrevocably united human nature to himself.
Orthodox Teaching of the Church
God became human so that humans could become [like] God.
St. Athanasius
Orthodox Teaching of the Church
Humans messed up. Humans need to make up for it. NEED A HUMAN.
If humans messed it up, they can't possibly fix it. Only God can fix it. NEED GOD.
We need a GOD-HUMAN.
(Jesus Enters Stage Left)
Orthodox Teaching of the Church
Belief in the true incarnation of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Christian faith: By this you know the spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Such is the joyous conviction of the Church from her beginning whenever she sings ‘the mystery of our religion’: Christ was manifested in the flesh. -- Catechism Paragraph 463
Be imitators of me,
as I am of Christ.
St. Paul
How Should We Live
As the fulfillment of God's plan, Jesus' personhood gives us the ultimate template for our lives. His is the quintessential example of selflessness, righteousness, justice for the oppressed, dedication to truth, integrity, and love for all.
Being More Human
Becoming More Human
Jesus turned water into copious amounts of wine at a wedding!
He loved the things of earth: music, friendship, food, family, and nature. He even respected governmental authority to an extent.
Becoming More Human
How can we grow in the ways we value the good things of earth?
Am I a steward of my body, my family, my culture, and my environment?
What aspects of Jesus' humanity can I aspire to imitate?
Being More Divine
Becoming More Divine
Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
Becoming More Divine
Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
When he arrived at the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.”
After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done."
Becoming More Divine
“This is my body, which will be given for you;
do this in memory of me.”
Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying:
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which will be shed for you."
Becoming More Divine
Through our participation in the Eucharist, we are allowed to share in the fullness of Jesus' life: both his humanity and his divinity.
We receive his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Through that act of generosity God provides us the grace to align our lives to his love, justice, and mercy.
Becoming More Divine
If God would forego his glory and enter the muck of human existence, what does that say about his love for humanity? How do we allow that marvelous fact transform our vision of the world? How ought it trasform our relationships?
Becoming More Divine
If God would continue to lower himself to be with us in Holy Communion, what lengths do we need to consider going for others? How can we more lovingly enter into the lives of those around us to share grace and mercy?
Time to be still
Prayer &
Reflection
A Person Like Me
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him,
“My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”