Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday,
October 26, 2018
The introduction to the Doctrine of the Hypostatic Union and we are now ready to begin the doctrine with Point 1. The Definition.
In the person of the incarnate Christ are two natures, divine and human, inseparably united without mixture or loss of separate identity, without loss or transfer of properties or attributes, the union being personal and eternal.
The Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union began at the moment of the virgin birth, also classified as the First Advent of Christ.
There are two advents, the First Advent happened at the Virgin Birth when our Lord was born into this world as a member of the human race.
The Second Advent that will happen when our Lord comes back a second time to set up His Millennial kingdom for a thousand years.
The virgin birth is one of the first prophecies given in the Bible which is found in GEN 3:15.
The very first prophecy in the Bible deals with the coming of the virgin birth and the Hypostatic Union which was given because of the fall of mankind; Gen 3:7-15.
GEN 3:15 = the first prophecy given to mankind about the virgin birth and the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union.
One seed refers to the sin nature, the other refers to our Lord and Savior.
From the time of the virgin birth and forever, our Lord Jesus Christ has been and always will be Undiminished Deity and True Humanity in one person forever.
Our Lord will never ever be pure deity alone but He will always be the Unique One of the universe, the God-man — Undiminished Deity and True Humanity in one person forever.
There’s probably no better verse to quote this principle then
1Ti 2:3-6.
The attributes of His human and divine nature belong to their corresponding natures though the attributes of either nature belong to the one person of Christ.
Each nature has its own attributes that adhere to that nature.
When deity is in view, only deity can act as God.
When humanity is in view, only the humanity of Christ can act as being just human.
Whenever God the Father wills for our Lord to operate in His Hypostatic Union as the nature, then our Lord does so by obeying the commands of God, His Father.
This means that there is no mixture of the two natures to form a third substance or a third mixture of individuals, there is only one man who is both God and man, and that is the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The human nature always remains the human nature and the divine nature always remains the divine nature.
The divine nature always remains the divine nature and the human nature always remains the human nature.
It is impossible to transfer an attribute of one nature to the other nature without destroying that nature.
Our Lord is not half-God or half man and He never will become the mixture of both natures.
The focus of the doctrine concerns the union of two natures, divine and human in one hypostatic union , one person forever.
Beginning with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, a human nature was inseparably united forever with the divine nature of Jesus Christ.
The two natures remain distinct, whole, unchanged, without mixture or confusion, so that Jesus Christ is true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever.
Since the first Advent, it is no longer the divine nature alone which is expressed in His person, but the human nature as well.
He is God with all the attributes of God.
All the attributes of deity adhere to His deity and never cross over and become humanity.
All the attributes of humanity adhere to the humanity of Christ and never become deity.
Even though our Lord claimed to be God and Man that does not mean
He is any less.
Even though our Lord claimed to be God and Man that does not mean
He is any less god or anymore than man .
There were times when He operated as God or deity, times when He operated as man or humanity, and times when He would operate in the Hypostatic Union with both natures; divine and human, being used.
Heb 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Jesus Christ is eternal God.
As a member of the Trinity, He always existed.
In eternity past, Jesus Christ had the same exact essence as the Father and Spirit.
In time, He still had the same functions of deity, but He also became true humanity.
He is now different than the Father and the Holy Spirit because He is also true humanity.
He is coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, Col 1:15.
In time, He still had the same functions of deity, but He also became true humanity.
Even though the Lord Jesus Christ is God, you can begin by pointing out that in GEN 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Who created the Heavens and the earth?
God did; COL 1:16.
COL 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities‑‑ all things have been created by Him and for Him.
In HEB 1:2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
In REV 5:5 we are told that sitting on the throne is the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.
REV 5:5 and one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
REV 4:11 “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.”
PHI 2:5-6a “Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus, who [Jesus Christ], although He preexisted in the essence of God,
Our Lord is coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, Col 1:15 And He [Jesus Christ] keeps on being the exact image of the invisible God, the privileged first‑born with reference to all creation.
Prototokos refers to the first-born of a new creation where TLJC is the firstborn and the humanity of Christ was born as taught in ISA 7:14.
ISA 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
The deity or Christ always existed as taught in Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
First-born not only indicates the first-born of a new creation but also “special privileged One.”
- The first born had the privilege of rulership.
- The first-born in the Levitical tribe had the priesthood of the family.
- The third privilege was heirship.
Col 1:18 the Lord Jesus Christ is the ruler of the church.
Our Lord is also the Heir of all things, HEB 1:2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
Heirship included the double portion and Christ has the double portion in eternity of both Israel and the Church.
Ktiseos = creature or the original creation including angels.
We do not know what type of redemption angels had but verses like this and Heb 2:2 seem to leave a door open for some eternal mystery concerning angelic redemption.
Jesus Christ was not created but He is the first-born of every creature.
While this is dull to some academic to others and repetition for some, this happens to be the most vital information you could ever possess.
Everything depends upon the fact that Jesus Christ is unique.
It is the uniqueness of Christ that leads to the uniqueness of His Savior-hood.
GEN 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
JOH 1:3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
Mic 5:2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, {Too} little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” = fulfilled by our Lord in MAT 2:3-6.
In Mic 5:2, notice the phrase His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”
This same Hebrew word for eternity (olam) is used to affirm the eternal existence of the Father in many passages, Gen 21:33; Psa 41:13; 90:2; 103:17; Isa 40:28.
Joh 1:1 “In a beginning which was not a beginning there existed the Word [Jesus Christ].”
EXO 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them,
‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
Exo 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
“I am” in the Greek is “ego eimi” and it cannot be correctly rendered as anything except “I am.”
Our Lord used the same terminology that the Father used to describe Himself in Exodus 3:14 (Septuagint Version) – “ego eimi” – “I am.”
The Jews understood His use of “ego eimi” to be the same as when used by the Father, as evidenced by the fact that they sought to kill him when He said it.
Jehovah is the traditional translation of the Hebrew consonants JHWH – the special name for the one true God.
They replaced it by a variety of names – such as “Lord” or “the Name.”
From Exo 3:14 = JHWH was derived from the verb “to be” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.”
(1) JOH 6:35 “I am the bread of life;”
(2) In JOH 6:41 “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”
JOH 6:51 “I am the living bread”
JOH 8:12 “I am the light of the world”
JOH 8:18 “I am He who bears witness of Myself”
JOH 10:7 “I am the door of the sheep.”
JOH 10:14 “I am the good shepherd”
JOH 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life;”
JOH 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;”
JOH 15:1 “I am the true vine”
Those are the ten “I am’s” of the Gospel of John and of course ten represents the number of completion of the divine order and TLJC was completely identifying Himself as the great I am!
The violent reaction from the high priest can only be explained if this was a claim to deity.
He was beginning to teach that the “unity” of God involved a true uniting of three “persons” in the Godhead or in the divine nature; and he was claiming to be one of them.
In Col 2:9 Paul writes “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
In Titus 2:13 Jesus Christ is called God TIT 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus;
It was Paul who said “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord [Jehovah], and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Question: Who is omnipotent (all powerful)?
The answer according to the Scriptures; God, 1CH 29:11.
In PHI 3:21 Jesus Christ is all powerful, “He exerts the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Who is omniscient (all knowing)? 1JO 3:20 God knows all things.
In Col 2:2-3, Jesus Christ has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Who is Lord of Sabbath? Gen 2:3, God is!
In MAT 12:8 “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Who is the great “I am”” Exo 3:14, God is!
Joh 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
Who is the only creator? ISA 44:24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself, And spreading out the earth all alone,”
COL 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities‑‑ all things have been created by Him and for Him.
Who is the only Savior? ISA 43:11 “I, even I, am the Lord; And there is no Savior besides Me.”
ACT 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”
Who will judge mankind? Jehovah! ISA 3:13 The Lord arises to contend, And stands to judge the people.
In 2CO 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
Who will judge between the sheep and goats? EZE 34:17 “And as for you, My flock, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.”
In Mat 25:31-34, TLJC will judge between the sheep and goats.