the formative idea in the Lutheran doctrine of the person of Christ.
No less diversity appears in the answer to the question, What is meant by the communication of natures ? Sometimes it is said to be a communication of the essence of God to the human nature of Christ ; sometimes a communication of divine attributes ; and sometimes it is said to mean nothing more than tliat the liuman is made the organ of the divine.^ The first has symboKcal authority in its favour, and is the most consistent with the theory. It is the proper meaning of the words, for as natura in the " Form of Concord" is constantly in this connection explained by the words substantia and essentia, a communication of nature is a communi- cation of essence. The one is not changed into the other, but they are intermingled and .mixed without beino; confounded.^
The favorite illustration of this union of two natures was de- rived from heated iron. In that case (according to the theory of heat then in vogue) two substances are united. The one inter- penetrates the other. The iron receives the attributes of the caloric. It glows and burns. Where the iron is, there the caloric is. Yet the one is not changed into the other. The iron remains iron, and the heat remains heat. This is very ingenious ; but, as is often the case, the analogy fails in the very point to be illustrated. The fact to be explained is how man becomes God and God man ; how the human becomes divine, and the finite becomes infinite. In the illustration the heat does not become iron nor the iron heat. The only relation between the two is juxtaposition in space. But
1 Donier says of Chemnitz, " In his highest Christological utterances, the Son of man is nothing more than a Goii -moved organ: — a representation to which even the Witteubergers objected." Person of Christ, div. ii. vol. ii. p. 203, nole.
2 The Form of Concord (viii. 17-19 ; Hase, Libri SymboUci, p. 7C5) says, " Catholica Christi ecclesia semper, omnibusque temporibus simplicissime credidit et sensit, humanam et divinatu naturam in persona Christi eo modo unitas es9e,ut verani inter se communicationem habeant. Neque tamen ideo naturae in unam essentiam, sed ut D. Lutherus loquitur, in unam per- sonam conveiiiunt et commiscentur. Et propter banc hypostaticam unionem et communi- cationem veteres orthodox! ecclesiaj doctores stepe adinoduui. non modo ante, verum etiam post, Chalcedonense concilium, vocabulo (mixtionis), in pia tamen sententia et vero discrim-
ine, usi sunt Et quidem erudita antiquitas unionem hypostaticam et naturarum
communicationem similitudine anima: et corporis, item ferri candentis, aliquo modo decla- ravit. Anima enim et corpus (quemadmodum etiam ignis et ferrum) non tantum per phrasin aut modum loquendi, aut verbaliter, sed vere et realiter communicationem inter se babent: neque tamen hci modo confusio aut naturarum exaequatio introducitur, qualis fieri solet, cum ex melle et aqua mulsum conficiiur; talis enim potus non amplius aut aqua est mera, aut mel merum sed mixtus quidam ex utroque potus Longe certe aliter se res in ilia divinse et humanae naturse unione (in persona Christi) habent: longe enim sublimior est, et plane ineflfabilis communicatio et unio divinae et hunianae naturas, in persona Christi, propter quam unionem et communicationem Deus homo est, et homo Deus. Nee tamen hac unione et communicatione naturarum vel ipsae naturae, vel harum proprietates confun- duntur: sed utraque natura essentiam et proprietates suas retinet."
412 PART m. Ch. m. — the person of CHRIST.
in the doctrine the human does become divine ; man does become God.
A second and minor point of difference was that some referred the communion of the attributes of the two natures to the hypo- statical union, while others held that that union was the result of the communication of the divine nature to the human.
The main difficulty, however, and the principal source of diver- sity related to the time and manner of the union of the two natures. We have already seen that one party held that this union took place at the moment of the " miraculous conception." The con- ception was the ascension. As the union of the divine with the human nature rendered the human divine, it became instanter omnipresent, almighty, and infinitely exalted. The effect of the incarnation was that the Adyos no longer existed extra carnem, neither was the caro extra \6yov. Whatever the one is the other is ; whatever the one knows the other knows ; whatever the one does the other does ; and whatever majesty, glory, or blessedness the one has the other also has. " So certainly as the act of incar- nation communicates the divine essence to humanity, even so cer- tainly must this actual omnipresence, and not merely its potence, which does not exist, be communicated to the flesh of Christ." ^ The "Form of Concord" teaches the same doctrine;^ it says, " Ex eodem etiam fundamento credimus, docemus et confitemur, Filium hominis ad dexteram omnipotentis majestatis et virtutis Dei, realiter, hoc est, vere et reipsa, secundum humanam suam naturam, esse exaltatum, cum homo ille in Deum assumptus fuerit, quamprimum in utero matris a Spiritu Sancto est confectus, ejus- que humanitas jam turn cum Filio Dei altissimi personaliter fuerit unita." This, however, supposes the whole earthly life of Christ to be an illusion. There could be no growth or development of his human nature. He was omniscient and omnipotent when an unborn infant. The Bible says He increased in knowledge ; this theory says that He knew all things from the beginning ; that He was the ruler of the universe cooperating in all the activity of the Logos when in the womb of the Virgin ; that He was supremely blessed as to his human nature when in the garden and upon the cross ; and that as to soul and body He was living while lying in the grave. If this be so He never suffered or died, and there haa been no redemption through his blood.
^ Dorner, div. ii. vol. ii. p. 284. Dorner makes the remark quoted in the text, in special reference to the doctrine of the Tubingen divines. It applies, however, to every form of the Lutheran theory.
2 VIII. X. ; Hase, Libri SymboUci, p. 608.