Who is Jesus?

Awesome

Concerning Who is Jesus?A careful reader may find out that there are two meanings for Jesus in the Bible. One is Jesus the Word, and the other, Jesus the flesh. Jesus the word is GOD (Jn1:1-2), and Jesus the flesh is not GOD. Even after resurrection, Jesus the flesh still had flesh and bones (Lk24:36-40), and he could eat (Lk24:41-42). Jesus the flesh was the temple of GOD (Mt3:13-16, Mk1:9-11). Jesus was speaking in the Holy Spirit (Lk10:21), that is, it was the Father who commanded him what to say and what to speak (Jn12:47-50). So what Jesus the flesh spoke was the word of GOD (Mt4:17, Lk5:1, Mk4:33-34) and the word of GOD was Jesus the word from of old (Pr8:22-32). When Jesus the flesh gave up his last breath on the cross, bearing the sins of the world as the Lamb of GOD (Jn1:29), the curtain of the temple was split in two (Mt27:50-51, Mk15:37-38). The curtain refers to the body of Jesus (Heb10:19-20). That is to say, one half, the flesh of Jesus went up to heaven, and the other half, on earth He is the word of GOD our Savior (Ti2:9-10，Rev19:11-16). So we should make a clear distinction while reading the Bible, otherwise we will definitely be confused. Debates and arguments will also definitely keep arising.

“But who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15) The Nature of Our Lord Jesus Christ Our Faith Concerning Christology: Our Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself, the Incarnate Logos, who took to Himself a complete manhood. His Divine Nature is united with His Human Nature in a complete Hypostatic (personal) Union without mingling, confusion, alteration or separation. Furthermore, the unity between the two Natures occurred without transmutation. Thus neither the Divine Nature transmutes to the Human Nature, nor did the Human Nature transmute to the Divine. Without mingling as in the case of wheat and barely or salt and sugar. Without confusion as in the case of wine and water or tea and milk. Without alteration as in the case of chemical union: Carbon dioxide consists of Carbon and Oxygen, and the nature of both changes when they are combined; each loses some of its properties that distinguished it before this unity. In contrast, no change occurred to the Divine or Human Nature as a result of their unity. Without separation for His Divinity parted not from His Humanity for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye. The Divine Logos was united with the Human Nature (body & spirit) that He took from Virgin Mary by the action of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit purified and sanctified the Virgin so that the Child to whom she gave birth would not inherit the original sin. This unity between the Two Natures (Human & Divine) took place from the first moment of the Holy Pregnancy. As a result of this unity between both Natures (Divine & Human) inside the Virgin’s womb, One Nature (entity) was formed out of both: “The ONE Nature of God, the Incarnate Logos.” The Term “One Nature” does not refer to either of the Two Natures (Divine & Human), but it refers to the result of the union of Both Natures into this One Nature which is “the Nature of the Incarnate Logos”. The term “Two Natures” implies division or potential separation. Human language is inadequate when it comes to describing this union but here are two examples3: a) The union between Iron & Fire: In the union of iron and fire, the iron is not changed into fire or the fire into iron. They are both united without mingling, confusion, or alteration. {At a certain temperature the iron will change and extinguishing the fire will separate them}. The union between the human spirit & body: The nature of the human spirit unites with the physical earthly nature of the body without mingling, confusion, alteration, or transmutation {they will separate by death and then they reunite}. This union of the two natures (spirit & body) results in ONE nature that is the human nature. The term ONE here doesn’t refer to either of the two natures (spirit - body) but it refers to the result of this union of BOTH natures into this ONE human being. Therefore, just as we say that the person is ONE nature consisting of two elements (spirit & body), we can also say about the Incarnate Logos that He is ONE entity of two natures (Divine & Human). The union of the spirit & body is a hypostatic one. So is the union of the Divine Logos & the Human Nature in the virgin’s womb. A hypostatic, real, self-essential union not a mere connection that separates as Nestorius claimed. Although a person is formed of two natures (spirit & body), nobody refers to him/her as two. All the person’s acts are attributed to this ONE nature, not to the spirit alone or the physical body alone. Similarly, all the acts of Christ should be attributed to Him as a whole, not to His Divine Nature independently or to His Human Nature independently. These examples are intended to clarify some aspects of the union but they are not perfect, just like our human language. The imperfections are put between brackets { }. In a Nutshell: Our Lord Jesus Christ has Two Natures: 1. The Divine Nature of the LOGOS. 2. The Human Nature that He took from Virgin Mary. The Human Nature is composed of Two+ Elements: a) Human Spirit. Human Body. The Divine Nature of the LOGOS is united with every element of the Human Nature without mingling, confusion, alteration, transmutation, or separation. As a result of this Hypostatic Union, One Entity is formed out of Both (Divine & Human) Natures. This is the “One Nature Of God, The Incarnate Logos”. When we refer to this ONE NATURE we are referring to this ONE ENTITY that resulted from the union of BOTH the Divine and Human Natures. So what happened on the cross? Our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. Death means that His Human Spirit was separated from His Human Body. The Divine Logos remained united with BOTH the spirit and the body after their separation. Hence, His Divinity parted not from His Humanity. This explains why the body was not corrupted in the grave and it also explains how the spirit was able to return to the body when the Resurrection took place. Are we Monophysites? The Oriental Orthodox Churches (Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, Ethiopian, an Indian) are ‘Miaphysites’. There is a difference between the ‘Monophysites’ who believe in One Single Nature (Divine) of our Lord Jesus Christ and the ‘Miaphysites’ who believe in One United Nature or One Composite Nature (Divine & Human) of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not believe in a Single Nature but we believe in One Incarnate Nature of the Logos. Our Faith concerning the One will and Act: Naturally, since we believe that after the union of the Divine and Human Natures, One Nature (entity) resulted, namely, the Nature of the Incarnate Logos, we also believe in One Will and One Act for the Incarnate Logos. There is no contradiction or conflict between the will and the act of the Two Natures; what the Divine Nature chooses is undoubtedly chosen by the Human Nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (Jn 4:34). This proves that His will is the same as the Father’s. Certainly, the Divine Logos has the same will as the Father since He is one with Him in the Godhead. Thus, it must be that the Nature of the Incarnate Logos has One Will that is not different from the Father. In fact, sin is nothing but a conflict between man’s will and God’s. But our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (Jn 8:46) proving His One will with the Father. If there were no unity between the will of the Divine Logos and His Human Nature, internal conflict would have resulted. Far be it from Him! How then could the Lord Jesus Christ be our guide and our example? The complete righteousness that marked the life of our savior was due to the unity of His Divine and Human will. Also, the crucifixion was the choice of both the Divine and Human will. Had it not been one will, it would not have been said that He died by His own will for us. And since the will is one, the act is also one. *This Lecture is adapted from ‘The Nature of Christ’ by H.H. Pope Shenouda III. + The human nature actually consists of three elements: The body, the spirit and the soul. As St. Paul said, “May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless” (1Thess 5:23). Only two are mentioned above for simplicity. But we need to understand that our Lord had a FULL human nature.

(surrendersacrifice;58174)
Who is Jesus?In faith we know that Jesus is God (John 8:58) in human form; because in Him we see the Spirit of God-which is pure love. He expressed His love by sacrificing His life, in order to compensate for the sins (Matthew 26:28) we committed against Him. He is the love which sends our inner being into ecstasy, the compassion that the eyes of a desperately needy person generates in us, and the mercy and forgiveness we show towards those who hurt us. We can accept Him and find peace by living His life. We can live His life by accepting Him as the only desire of our heart.
Very nicely said