Jesus went through puberty and is Almighty God. How?

Justin Holcomb:
Jesus went through puberty and is Almighty God. How? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to communicate the freeing truth that God’s not mad at his children. Steve invited our friend Justin Holcomb to teach us all this week. Justin is a priest, seminary professor, and he’s written, co-authored, or edited more than 20 books.

Justin Holcomb:
Thank you Matthew. My name is Justin Holcomb, and I have the joy of teaching this week. Each day this week we’ve been focusing on an important creed or council of the church. Today we will explore the Council of Chalcedon. We looked at the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed earlier this week. To study this and other creeds with a bit more in depth, I wrote an accessible book on this topic called Know the Creeds and Councils. And we’re doing this because faithful wisdom through the centuries needs to be explored for our own engagement with Scripture today. So, why study the creeds? These creeds assure us and reassure us that we can trust the understanding of God’s revelation in Scripture that has been handed down to us and held to be true by the whole worldwide church throughout changing cultures and times and places. It’s very encouraging to realize we’re believing the same thing they believed 2000, 1900 years ago, 1800 years ago. These creeds have been hammered out by intense examination of Scripture. And we learned from them that those teachings that the ancient Christians held had been confirmed as true apostolic teachings. These gifts given to us by the tradition of the church are acts of confession. As theologian John Webster explains, quote.

Confession is a cry of acknowledgment of the unstoppable miracle of God’s mercy. To confess is to cry out an acknowledgment of the sheer gratitude of what the gospel declares.

End quote. That folks, is why as we’ve been saying, theology matters. This helps us remember that the creeds are not solely about doctrine and theology, they are ultimately about worship and discipleship, lest we think that fine points of doctrine are merely intellectual exercises. The fact that confession is about praise helps ground the way that we view and use these documents. Additionally, learning about and knowing creeds is important so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past, or exhibit our natural tendency for, as C.S. Lewis dubbed it, chronological snobbery. So, let’s focus our attention on the Council of Chalcedon. The Council of Nicaea left unanswered, the exact relationship between the man, Jesus Christ, and the Eternal Son of God. We know that Jesus is fully man, fully God from the Nicene Creed, but how they relate, how the man Jesus and the Eternal Son of God, the logos of the gospel from John 1 are related is up for discussion. And based on John 1, in the hymn of Philippians 2, the church had for 400 years confessed the incarnation of the Son of God, but the full ramifications of the incarnation were not yet formally developed. How could Jesus be both human and God? It became much more difficult to think through the implications of what the Scriptures seem to say, that Jesus was both man and God. Everyone agreed that the divine nature was unchanging and eternal. The question then was, how can the unchanging, eternal God be joined to a historical person who learned and grew? The Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council of the Church dealt specifically with the two natures of Jesus Christ. The one person Jesus Christ has a divine nature and a human nature. Just how, the council asked, did God become human? How can Jesus have two natures, human and divine, and still be one person? And if Jesus Christ is one person, how does he really have two natures, or does he really just have one nature that’s either a humanized divine nature or a deified human nature, whatever those would mean. So, in 451 A.D. the Church met to discuss these questions and turn back to Scripture again. The council was clear that the formulation of Chalcedon was not a new creed, but interpretation and an elaboration of the previous decisions. So, it’s called the definition of Chalcedon, not a creed. Itself is a statement of both simplicity and great depth, aiming to set out a coherent Christological position, study of Christ, that walked between the two extremes that Christ was either two persons or he had only one nature. So, let me read to you this statement now, quote.

Therefore, following the holy Fathers, we all, with one accord, teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us regards our manhood;

sounds just like the Nicene Creed

like us in all respects, apart from sin;

He’s quoting Hebrews here, they’re quoting Hebrews.

as regards to his Godhead, begotten of the Father before before all ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men in for our salvation, of the Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer ; one in the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son, the Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from the earliest time spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers handed down to us.

End of the document. The definition can be divided, the definition of Chalcedon can be divided into two basic parts. The first part is a restatement of the Nicene Creed. With the addition of the Theotokos, the God-bearer phrase from Council of Ephesus in 431. The second part states clearly that Jesus Christ has two natures, a human nature and a divine nature, and is one person. There’s no confusion or absorption between the divine nature and the human nature of Christ. The two remain distinct, but not divided. Similarly, the Incarnation was not merely a divine nature indwelling of a human, nor a connection between two different persons. Instead, Chalcedon asserts that there was a real union between the human nature and the divine nature that exists in the one personal life, the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The discussion of Chalcedon was driven by an attempt to understand what the Bible says about the person of Jesus Christ. When the gospel says that Jesus did not know something, this can be explained by the wording of Chalcedon. Jesus’ human nature faced the same limitations that all human natures face, including the fact that we are not born knowing everything there is to know. Gospel of Luke, Luke says that Jesus grew in wisdom and knowledge, and this can be understood by the categories given by the council. He did not know everything in his human nature, but as God, he knew everything. How that comes together, I’m not exactly sure. That’s the mystery, but that’s the full teaching of Scripture. Because we sometimes fall into the trap of thinking Jesus is spiritual and far removed from us, it can be comforting to remember that he is really human. Hebrews 4:15 makes this point, quote.

We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

And against the tendency to think of Jesus as merely human, a wise man, or a spiritual leader, guru. Chalcedon brings to our attention those passages that show his eternal power and glory, like Revelation 1:14 through 16, where he is God Almighty on a throne with power and might. And the Council of Chalcedon puts these together, holds both teachings of Scripture, and honors both of, and says, two natures and one person. So, how do we reconcile these two seemingly opposite portraits? Bony kneed, puberty Jesus, in the Holy One of Israel. Chalcedon does not give us any illustrations that might help us. But it rules out a number of answers, that the human Jesus is a mask or a fad, that’s not true. Or that Jesus is only human, except insofar as being human is awkward or embarrassing. The conclusion of the Council was that as paradoxical as a God man might seem, it was important to remember that both portraits show us the same person, Jesus Christ. Without the truth that is expressed at the Council of Chalcedon, it’s difficult to see how our salvation is accomplished. We need for our salvation to be real, jesus to be fully man and fully God, two natures in one person. If Christ were not fully human, or if he were not fully divine, we would not be able to, he would not be able to serve as our mediator, as I Timothy says.

As the God man.

He would either be just another man, or God himself. Rather, as Anselm put it in his famous book, Why God Became Man.

Since sin is an affront against God, then a payment from a human will not suffice. The satisfaction of the debt,

he says

must come from God himself. However, only humans are guilty.

That’s why we needed someone in our place and, as a substitute, and have the penalty of sin that we have to pay. Put simply, humans ought to, but only God can, make right the wrong that was done. It is the person of Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, that this satisfaction was made, and our salvation was completely accomplished in Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again on our behalf for us. And that is why theology matters today and forever more.

Matthew Porter:
Fully God and fully human. We clearly understand those facts about Jesus today, but how much do we owe to the Council of Chalcedon for capturing that so succinctly back in 451 A.D. Still one more day with Bishop slash professor slash author, Justin Holcomb tomorrow, and you don’t want to miss that. Well, if you’re a regular listener to Key Life, then you’ve probably heard Justin before. So, you may be interested in reading some articles he’s written on our website. To do that, just go to keylife.org then on the left hand menu, click the Authors button. Then scroll down till you find Justin’s name. And as you’re there, you’ll also see info and articles from all our Key Life contributors. It’s an easy way to deep dive into the content that ministers to you the most. And great news! All of our content is still free thanks to the generous support of listeners just like you. If you’d like to donate, call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. And if you’d like to send your donation by mail, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Or e-mail [email protected] you can charge a gift on your credit card, or include a gift in your envelope. And of course, you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950. Again, that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950, then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.