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We believe that by being thus conceived
the person of the Son has been inseparably united
and joined together
with human nature,
in such a way that there are not two Sons of God,
nor two persons,
but two natures united in a single person,
with each nature retaining its own distinct properties.
Thus his divine nature has always remained uncreated,
without beginning of days or end of life,44
filling heaven and earth.
His human nature has not lost its properties
but continues to have those of a creature--
it has a beginning of days;
it is of a finite nature
and retains all that belongs to a real body.
And even though he,
by his resurrection,
gave it immortality,
that nonetheless did not change
the reality of his human nature;
for our salvation and resurrection
depend also on the reality of his body.
But these two natures
are so united together in one person
that they are not even separated by his death.
So then,
what he committed to his Father when he died
was a real human spirit which left his body.
But meanwhile his divine nature remained
united with his human nature
even when he was lying in the grave;
and his deity never ceased to be in him,
just as it was in him when he was a little child,
though for a while it did not show itself as such.
These are the reasons why we confess him
to be true God and true man--
true God in order to conquer death
by his power,
and true man that he might die for us
in the weakness of his flesh.
44 Heb. 7:3 |
