The Godhead – Jesus Christ

The two natures of Christ became by their union only one Nature (Monophysitism)

Monophysitism (from the Greek monos meaning 'one' and physis meaning 'nature') is the doctrine which affirms that the two natures of Christ were so united, that although the ‘One Christ’ was partly Human and partly Divine, His two Natures became by their union only one Nature. Therefore, Jesus was only Divine. This doctrine arose in the 5^th century after Christ. Monophysitism developed out of the heresy of Eutyches (378-452) who asserted that the union of Christ’s Divine and Human Nature in the Incarnation resulted in the ultimate extinction of the latter: therefore Christ had only one nature, that is, the nature of the incarnate Word, and consequently His human body was essentially different from other human bodies, so Jesus was wholly and only Divine. There are still some people who teach both doctrines.

Confutation

The Scripture teaches that Jesus was truly God and truly man, thus He had two natures, a divine nature and a human nature. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ must be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures was by no means taken away by the union but rather the property of each nature was preserved.

As God, Jesus was worshipped and He forgave sins, while as a man He ate, drank, slept, got tired etc. There was never a time during His earthly life when He ceased to be God or man. If the two natures of Jesus had become by their union only one nature, Jesus could not have saved us from our sins, that is to say, if Jesus had been only God He would not have been able to make atonement for our sins, for the Messiah had to be a true man (that is, He had to have a human body like ours) in order to put away sin and to destroy death by the sacrifice of Himself.

Therefore, brothers, beware of all those who deny the perfect humanity of Christ; they are deceivers.

Back