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The Human and the Divine

 The wonder of Advent is wrapped up in the Mystery of God. While most of Advent is centered on the stories within the scripture about the promises and the fulfillment of Jesus' coming.  There is another dimension to the first Advent - it is the theological dimension.  Where we cannot fully understand all that God did in the creation of humans, the idea that God would enter into the human creature and become one with us - is a strange action of humbling love.  The Gospel of John reminds us of how this mystery came into being.

John 1:1-2
 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
 He was in the beginning with God...  

The Son of God was "with" God, and "was" God.  He shared the Divine nature of the Trinity. Theologically, this is called the "Hypostatic Union".  The word originates in the Greek word "hypostasis", and it can be found in four different passages of Scripture, but the passage that explains Jesus as divine is Hebrews 1:3, "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature..." Itis the word "nature" that is hypostasis.  What the writer means is that Jesus' nature is exactly the same as the Father.  

Yet, Jesus was not just divine, he was human also.  John 1:14,  "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Thus, the Hypostatic union reminds us that the two natures - the divine and the human - and both of those natures are "fully" in Jesus.  The creeds of the first four centuries of the church had to spend a lot of time trying to reign in various heresies that tried to strip Jesus of either his divinity or his humanity.  Yet, in the end, the church councils made it clear that the two natures were united in Jesus - a hypostatic union.

In a day in which doctrine seems too far removed from Christians need to understand, it is a mistake to not understand this mystery of God in the incarnation of His Son.  Why is it so important?  Because in this doctrine we see the wonder of God to redeem our Sinful state.  We need another human like us, but a human who cannot have a Sin nature, and a human who can perfectly obey God's word - and that is Jesus.  

We worship the one, and only one, who could redeem us.  It was all because of "God so loved..." Charles Spurgeon, my 19th-century pastoral muse said of this theological truth:

"here is the Creator taking the creature into union with Himself! The Immortal becoming mortal, the Infinite an infant, the Omnipotent taking weakness, even human weakness, into union with His own person! We may truly say of Jesus that He was weak as the dust, and yet, as mighty as the eternal God. He was subject to suffering, and yet, God over all blessed forever. O the depth of the love of Jesus!


Spurgeon, Charles H.. Joy Upon Joy . Whitaker House. Kindle Edition. 

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