Monday, July 4, 2022

Mark Jones (Calvinist): Lutheran Christology with Respect to the Relationship of Jesus' Humanity and Divinity is "Unacceptable" and "Nonsensical"

Reformed Protestant Mark Jones wrote the following about (in his view) the problematic nature of the Christology of Lutheranism (Christology is hardly adiaphora!):

 

Finite human nature

 

God alone is infinite, since he is limitless or endless in space, extent, or size, and impossible to measure or calculate. Nobody else possesses this attribute. Humans, however, are finite, since we have limits or bounds. We have certain limitations because we are human beings. Reformed theologians hold to a theological maxim that the finite (humanity) cannot comprehend or attaint to the infinite (divinity).

 

This maxim is also true of Christ’s two natures, even now in heaven. The human nature can never attain to the divine nature. For that reason, Christ has limitations according to his human nature. He developed from infancy into manhood, and experienced a growth in knowledge (Luke 2:52) that was appropriate to his stage in life. He had to be taught by his Father (Isa. 50:4-6). He had to content himself that not everything was revealed to him during his time on earth: ‘But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only’ (Matt. 24:36). He ‘learned obedience’ through suffering (Heb. 5:8). He learned of his future suffering through reading the Old Testament Scriptures (e.g. Gen. 3:15; Psa. 22; Isa. 53). We must secure room for a purely human development in the life of Jesus in order to do justice to the Scriptures and Christ’s human nature.

 

This emphasis stands in contrast to other theological traditions. . . . though not a monolithic tradition, Lutheran Christology holds to the idea that in the hypostatic union the divine attributes were communicated to Christ’s human nature. The Lutherans still maintain a distinction between the two natures of Christ, but they claim that many of the divine attributes were immediately and directly possessed by the human nature at the incarnation. So, for example, omnipotence was communicated to Christ’s human nature. Reformed theologians find this not only unacceptable, but also nonsensical.

 

Omnipotence belongs to the essence of God. In other words, to be omnipotent is to be God. Since his essence cannot be divided, that God is omnipotent means that he possesses all other inseparable divine attributes. Simultaneously as identical to his being. Theologians call this the ‘simplicity of God’: that is, he is not made up of different parts. Thus his wisdom is his power, his power is his goodness, his eternity is his immutability. Therefore, if omnipotence were communicated to Christ’s human nature, so would ne every other attribute, including eternity and self-existence. The human nature would be eternal and self-existent. In other words, the human nature would become divine. In this way, that which has always been inseparable (the human and divine natures united) now become indistinct (fused and mixed together as one nature).

 

In the end, these two traditions [Catholicism and Lutheranism] posit qualities or attributes to the human nature that essentially rob Jesus of his true humanity, which gets elevated above the boundaries set for it. The finite cannot comprehend the infinite, even in the person of Christ. (Mark Jones, Knowing Christ [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2015], 46-48)

 

Most theological traditions affirm that Jesus received gifts (e.g. knowledge, love, wisdom) from the Holy Spirit, but not all theological traditions actually know what to do with these gifts. If Christ’s divine attributes were communicated to his human nature, as in the Lutheran tradition, then the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus would be superfluous. (Ibid., 53-54)

 

One should compare the above with William G. T. Shedd (1820-1894) who charged Lutherans with a form of Eutychianism:


William G. T. Shedd: Lutherans are Guilty of a Form of the Christological Heresy of Eutychianism

 

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