Five Things About the Two Natures of Christ

By J. Tucker

1.) Christ had two natures but was only one person.

The hypostatic union is the term given to the union of fully God and fully man in the person of Jesus. It refers to the union of two distinctly separate entities. Throughout the scriptures we see no divide in the presentation of Christ that would allow for one divine person and a separate human person. We can see that He is presented as a single person as He is said to have come in the flesh (1 John 4.2), and reference is made to His perfect life and victory over death (Revelation 3.21). The second person of the trinity was born a man, lived a perfect life, and died on our behalf. There is no room for a separate person; such as Christ indwelling a human called Jesus for a period of time, this would go against what we have presented in the Bible.

2.) The two natures were united without being mixed or confused.

The two natures were brought together in His one person but they didn’t mix to form a third kind of nature; they didn’t confuse each other or influence each other. They seem to provide Him with their powers and attributes without conflict. Christ had complete control over His deity while on earth (Matthew 17.1-2) and showed His deity in situations where we can see He was totally human (John 18.5-6).

3.) He was God before He took on Humanity.

We need to remember that Christ was God first, He then took on humanity and that was added to His deity. Many have brought up the question of Christ’s consciousness as to His godhood when He was a child. We know He never quit being fully God and that He was God first; therefore I believe we can’t put God in a position of not knowing He was God; that would be letting His humanity take over His deity. The Bible shows Christ as fully God and fully man, without one dominating the other.

4.) This *hypostatic union was necessary for salvation.

The plan of salvation is an intricate system that God set up in eternity past; a plan put into action with Christ. He was to bridge the gap between God and man caused by sin, only he could do it. Because He was human, He was able to shed His precious blood, suffer and die (in His deity he couldn’t accomplish this); because He was God He could live a perfect life and His infinite righteousness could pay for the sins of the world. So both natures were necessary for the perfect plan of salvation to be effective.

5.) The two natures were eternally united in Christ.

We know that Christ will return just as He came the first time (Acts 1.11). We can also see the many references to Christ’s bodily form in the book of revelation, and that He will be our High Priest forever (Hebrews 7.24); and some prophecies concerning the Messiah indicate he will be eternal (Psalms 110.4, Isaiah 9.7). As He is He will be forever.

*The term hypostatic is derived from the word person in Hebrews 1:3.  It essentially means substance.  It began to be used by early church writers to speak of this wonderful union wherein two natures constitute one Person.  It is assuring to realize that in our finite minds we would never be able to understand a God greater than us (if so he wouldn’t be greater) so we shouldn’t be surprised to realize we can’t comprehend all the workings of the person of Christ. We can try to put order to what we see in the Bible on this subject; but we can never fully understand it.