Saturday, January 15, 2022

The Two Natures of Christ in All Four Gospels

 All four gospel writers emphasize Christ's two natures, one perhaps more than the other (e.g., John Christ's divinity), but both nonetheless. Some examples are provided below:

1. Matthew. Matthew emphasizes Christ's human descent from Abraham and David in Mt. 1. But he also highlights Christ's deity in Mt. 14:33, 16:16, and 27:54 among other places.

2. Mark. Mark emphasizes Christ's servanthood by focusing on Christ's actions rather than his teachings and, more subtly, by not recounting Christ's lineage in Mark 1 (a servant's lineage is irrelevant). However, in the first verse of Mark's gospel, he refers to Christ's deity ("the Son of God") and records Jesus' affirmation of his own deity in Mk. 14:61-62 and Christ's ascension to the right hand of God, another proof of his deity (Mk. 16:19).

3. Luke. Luke has more to say about Jesus' birth and youth than any gospel writer, yet he refers to Jesus as "the Lord" 14 times in his gospel (e.g., 7:13, 10:1, 17:5, 22:61, 24:34).

4. John. John emphasizes Christ's deity in his gospel from start (1:1) to finish (21:25), but he also underscores the humanity of Jesus in the Samaritan interlude, where a weary and thirsty Jesus stops at Jacob's well (4:6-8). 

Our Saviour was fully God and fully man at the same time ("hypostatic union"), from birth to death and beyond. He maintains this union of natures at the right hand of God, and when he appears again to the body of Christ (Col. 3:4, 2 Tim. 4:1, Tit. 2:13) and later to the world (Rev. 1:7), he will still have those two natures and continue to forever. I'm not sure where the teaching that Christ will some day shed his manhood came from, but I don't think that it's supported by scripture (cf. Is. 9:6-7, Luke 1:32-33, Rev. 22:3-5...two natures!).  


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