Jesus's two natures: human and divine
On April 22nd, I asked "Can the crucifixion of Jesus Christ be both an act of injustice and an act of God at the same time?"
Today in my Salvation Theology class we were discussing Maximus the Confessor's stance on the two natures of Christ: human and divine. In our discussion, our professor brought up that we see both of these natures in every act of Christ. Thus, when he walked on water, it was his human nature that walked and his divine nature that allowed him to travel on water, and together the person of Jesus Christ walked on water. In application to the cross, Jesus Christ was crucified with both human meaning and divine meaning. The human meaning being that he had a human nature that could die and could be killed as a consequence of other humanly actions and the divine meaning being that the presence of his divine nature in the crucifixion and resurrection brought redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Thus the crucifixion can be both an act of human injustice and an act of divine justice at the same time. Here I find myself, once again learning that "both" is a legitamate answer.
Now, when we get bogged down in the meaning of the cross and it seems unnatural and confusing to think or even consider the divine, we must keep in mind that we are not accustomed to thinking theologically. If we were, this idea of the Divine's presence in Christ's body would not seem so foreign to us. Perhaps the death and resurrection of Christ becomes more of a stumbling block the less we find ourselves discussing spiritual matters in theological and philosophical terms and the more we turn our conversations to the flesh and matters that are tangible and earthly.
Today in my Salvation Theology class we were discussing Maximus the Confessor's stance on the two natures of Christ: human and divine. In our discussion, our professor brought up that we see both of these natures in every act of Christ. Thus, when he walked on water, it was his human nature that walked and his divine nature that allowed him to travel on water, and together the person of Jesus Christ walked on water. In application to the cross, Jesus Christ was crucified with both human meaning and divine meaning. The human meaning being that he had a human nature that could die and could be killed as a consequence of other humanly actions and the divine meaning being that the presence of his divine nature in the crucifixion and resurrection brought redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Thus the crucifixion can be both an act of human injustice and an act of divine justice at the same time. Here I find myself, once again learning that "both" is a legitamate answer.
Now, when we get bogged down in the meaning of the cross and it seems unnatural and confusing to think or even consider the divine, we must keep in mind that we are not accustomed to thinking theologically. If we were, this idea of the Divine's presence in Christ's body would not seem so foreign to us. Perhaps the death and resurrection of Christ becomes more of a stumbling block the less we find ourselves discussing spiritual matters in theological and philosophical terms and the more we turn our conversations to the flesh and matters that are tangible and earthly.
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