The Hypostatic Union: The Divinity of Christ

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The Hypostatic Union: The Divinity of Christ

Jesus is commonly referred to as the God-man due to the fact that He is fully God and fully man in one person.  Origen (AD 184-253) of Alexandria was the first one to coin the term “God-man” to describe this hypostatic union of Jesus’s two natures.[1]  Jesus being divine and human is a first-order theological issue that is interrelated with other crucial biblical assertions (atonement, worship, Trinity, etc.). The aim of this post is to provide biblical evidence that Jesus was fully God and argue the necessity of His divinity. This conversation will raise other important questions regarding Christology, but are beyond the scope of this post.

Jesus’s deity and His actions (statements, miracles, etc.) are intrinsically intertwined. Jesus made many claims concerning His deity without overtly claiming, “I am God.”[2]  If one follows these assertions made by Jesus concerning His identity, then the logical outcome is that Jesus is divine.  Jesus states that He has angels and that the kingdom is His (Mat. 13:41).  Jesus said that He would sit on His glorious throne and judge the world (Mat. 25:31-46).  Whoever had the privilege of seeing Jesus had seen the Father (John. 14:7-11).  Jesus stated that he was “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28) and “one with the Father” (John 10:30).  Jesus is sovereign over the weather (Mat. 8:23).  Jesus knows people’s thoughts and knows their hearts (Mat. 9:4, 12:25).  Jesus places His words at the same level as the Old Testament (Mat. 5:21-22).

When speaking to a group of Jews, Jesus stated, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).  Logically, the Jews saw Jesus and were confused by His statement, since He was not yet “fifty years old” (John 8:56).  Jesus allowed them to see behind the construct of time when He explained, “I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58).  Jesus used the same title (“I am”) that God gave to Moses when Moses asked God for His name (Ex. 3:14-15).  In one sentence, Jesus stated His divinity and preexistence.[3]  This group of Jews reacted by picking up rocks in an attempt to stone Him to death, because they believed that these statements were blasphemous (John 8:59).  In fact, this was a common reaction to Jesus’s statements and actions throughout the Gospel accounts, because these statements were perceived as blasphemous by the Jews when Jesus’ inferred that He was God.  Their attempts to stone Jesus centered on Leviticus 24:16, for they believed that Jesus was not God, therefore he could not make these statements.    

Jesus’s resurrection confirms His divinity, and when the disciples saw Jesus after the resurrection, they worshiped Him (Mat. 28:17).  Due to Jesus being fully God, this worship of Jesus by the disciples, and worship from modern believers, is justified.  Jesus’s divinity even explains why the wise men worshiped baby Jesus (Mat. 2:8, 11). Since Jesus is fully God, believers can have real knowledge of God (John 14:9).  Jesus’s divinity and perfect humanity are worthy of imitation (1 Cor. 11:1). Jesus is also the perfect example of humility.  Even though Jesus was fully divine, He took on the “form of a servant” and humbled himself to the point of death on a cross (Phil. 2:4-8).  This is why Paul can state, “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11).

 Previous Post: The Hypostatic Union and The Humanity of Christ
https://musingsfromnightshift.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-hypostatic-union-humanity-of-christ.html
         
Resources for further study:

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2013.

Groothuis, Douglas. Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.

Shelley, Bruce L. Church History in Plain Language. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2012.



[1] Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2012), 118.
[2] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2013), 625.
[3] Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2011), 461.

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