Some Scripture for your consideration agedman:
John 10:30. I and my Father are one.
Now tell me. Was that human nature born of the virgin Mary one with God the Father? This verse alone shows that in Jesus Christ there were two natures, Divine and human!
John 8:58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Here Jesus Christ calls Himself I AM the words that God used to identify Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14: And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Are you telling me that Jesus Christ is telling us that seed of David which was born of the virgin Mary existed before Abraham the progenitor of David?
First let me go back and readdress an area that you and I seem to be posting past each other. Toward the end of this post, I also attend to the Philippians passage.
It goes the the claim that some promotion of heresy is being put forth.
Perhaps you could find such error in the following supporting verses from which the LBC takes the view(s)????
“The Word became flesh.”
“Took on the form of man.”
“She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”
“… for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”
“…since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,…”
"They shall call His name IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”
“…from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all…”
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him”
“For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;…”
“So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, “YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”
“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”
These verses are offered from the supporting proofs in which the LBC draws it's statement.
Which verse or grouping shown above is Christ portrayed as a dual nature?
There is none.
Philippians 2
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the
form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
The reader should note that the Scriptures are careful to NOT say that He was "formed" as a man, but as a
servant; that the "likeness" and "fashion" of Christ was to state that there was no different in appearance than that of any other average male of humankind. This is validated by Isaiah speaking, "there is no beauty that we should desire Him." The baby Jesus didn't glow with some heavenly aura in the crib.
Jesus Christ is the second Adam. There was no "sin nature" in Jesus, and this is the only attribute missing from the humanity of Christ. As flesh and blood, Christ also was not lacking in any of the "likeness and fashion" that go with that estate: Jesus learned, grew tired, hungry, thirsty, cried, sang, longed, got angry,...
All the creeds and statements of faith that have been posted clearly state that the "nature of man" and the "nature of God" became an inseparable union.
For instance, as the LBC (1689) states:
- Thus two whole, perfect and distinct natures were
inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion;
- So that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, yet He is one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man
NOWHERE does it ever state that the two whole, perfect and distinct natures were whole, perfect and distinct
AFTER being inseparably joined.
The Chalcedonian Creed:
... one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably;
the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God (μονογενῆ Θεὸν), the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ;
NOTE: the later part: "not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son..."
Again, AFTER the union, there was no longer two separate natures but a singularity in which the distinct properties of the individual natures were retained.
For instance, the birth of Christ did not remove from Him nor change the human attributes displayed by such things as hunger, thirst, longing, desire, hope, and other physical and emotional expressions. The birth of Christ did not remove Him from responsibility of all authority and keeping of creation. And although the Scriptures record that Jesus increased in stature and wisdom as he grew from baby to adulthood, the sinlessness remained until the cross.
These are but a few of the manifestations of the union of human and divine in which the distinctive properties and attributes of each were unchanged, without confusion, inseparable from each other and cannot be divided into separate natures.