Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 77 – Part V.
(Youcat
answer - repeated) In Jesus, God really became one of us and thus our brother;
nevertheless, he did not cease to be God at the same time and thus our Lord.
The Council of Chalcedon in the year 451 taught that the divinity and the
humanity in the one person Jesus Christ are united together “without division
or confusion”.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 468)
After the Council of Chalcedon, some made of Christ's human nature a kind of
personal subject. Against them, the fifth ecumenical council, at Constantinople
in 553, confessed that "there is but one hypostasis [or person], which is our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the
Trinity" (Council of Constantinople II (553): DS 424). Thus everything in
Christ's human nature is to be attributed to his divine person as its proper
subject, not only his miracles but also his sufferings and even his death:
"He who was crucified in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God,
Lord of glory, and one of the Holy
Trinity" (Council of Constantinople II (553): DS 432; cf. DS 424;
Council of Ephesus, DS 255).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) The Church
grappled for a long time with the problem of how to express the relation
between the divinity and humanity in Jesus Christ. Divinity and humanity are
not in competition with each other, which would make Jesus only partially God
and only partially man. Nor is it true that the divine and human in Jesus are
confused. God took on a human body in Jesus; this was no mere appearance
(Docetism), but he really became man. Nor are there two different persons in
Christ, one human and one divine (Nestorianism). Nor is it true, finally, that
in Jesus Christ the human nature was completely absorbed into the divine nature
(Monophysitism). Contrary to all these heresies, the Church has adhered to the
belief that Jesus Christ is at the same time true God and true man in one
Person. The famous formula, “without division or confusion” (Council of
Chalcedon) does not attempt to explain something that is too sublime for human
understanding, but rather draws the boundaries, so to speak, of the faith. It
indicates the “line” along which the mystery of the person of Jesus Christ can
be investigated.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 483)
The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine
and human natures in the one person of the Word.
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