The union of two natures in one person is also clearly taught by those passages in which the attributes of one nature are predi- cated of the person, while that person is designated by a title derived from the other nature. Thus human attributes and actions are predicated of Christ in certain passages, while the person of whom these attributes or actions are predicated is desig- nated by a divine title. — Acts xx., 28 ; Kom. viii., 32 ; 1 Cor., ii., 8 ; Matt, i., 23 ; Luke i., 31, 32 ; Col. i., 13, 14.
On the other hand, in other passages, divine attributes and actions are predicated of Christ, while his person, of whom those attributes are predicated, is designated by a human title. — John iii., 13 ; vi., 62 ; Rom. ix., 5 ; Rev. v., 12.
10. What is the general principle upon which those passages are to be explained which designate the person of Christ from one nature, and predicate attributes to it belonging to the other ?
The person of Christ, constituted of two natures, is one per-
HIS HUMAN NATURE — HOW AFFECTED. 285
son. He may therefore indifferently be designated by divine or human titles, and both divine and human attributes may be truly predicated of him. He is still God when he dies, and still man when he raises his people from their graves.
Mediatorial actions pertain to both natures. It must be re- membered, however, that while the person is one, the natures are distinct as such. What belongs to either nature is attributed to the one person to which both belong, but what is peculiar to one nature is never attributed to the other. God, i. e., the divine person who is at once God and man, gave his blood for his church, i. e., died as to his human nature (Acts xx., 28). But human attributes or actions are never asserted of Christ's divine nature, nor are divine attributes or actions ever asserted of his human nature.
11. What were the effects of this personal union upon the di- vine nature of Christ ?
His divine nature being eternal and immutable, and of course incapable of addition, remained unaffected by this union. The whole immutable divine essence continued to subsist as the same eternal person. That divine person now embraced a perfect hu- man nature, exalted by, yet dependent upon, the divine nature, to which it is united.
12. What were the effects of that union upon his human na- ture ?
The human nature, being perfect after its kind, began to exist in union with the divine nature, and as one constituent of the divine person, and as such it ever continues distinct and uncon- founded.
The effect of this union upon Christ's human nature, there- fore, was not so much change as exaltation of all natural and possible human excellence, in degree above every other creature, John i., 14 ; iii., 34 ; Is. xi., 2 ; together with an unparalleled exaltation of outward dignity and glory, above every name that is named, and a community of honor and worship with the di- vinity in virtue of its union therewith in the one divine person.
13. Hoio far is the human nature of Christ included in the worship due to him T
286 THE PEESOK OF CHRIST.
We must distinguish between the object and the grounds of worship. There can be no proper ground of worship except the possession of divine attributes. The object of worship is not the divine excellence in the abstract, but the divine person of whom that excellence is an attribute. The God-man, consisting of two natures, is to be worshiped in the perfection of his entire person, because only of his divine attributes.
14. If Christ had a reasonable soul how can we escape the conviction that he was a human person ?
It is indeed a great mystery that the unity of personality should remain in the God-man, while there are two centers of consciousness, an infinite knowing on the one hand, and a finite knowing on the other, and two distinct though ever harmonious wills. The fact, however, that a God took, not a man, but a human nature into his eternal personality, is clearly revealed in Scripture. The one person in both God and man. The mystery remains for the exercise of our faith.
15. What were the principle heresies which obtained in the early church concerning the constitution of Christ's person ? ■