“Jesus’ Two Natures: God and Man” by Matt Slick

After reading “Jesus’ Two Natures: God and Man” by Matt Slick, I now have a better and more clear understanding of the relationship of Jesus’ human and divine nature. The common misconception, outlined in the text, is that Jesus is half man and half God. This simply is not true; Jesus has two very distinct natures: he is both divine and human. Jesus was the Word of God, and with that said, Jesus’s divine nature and ability did not alter when He became flesh. When Jesus became flesh and gained his human nature, what occurred was he joined humanity as we know it. Jesus is essentially God within the flesh, his divine and human nature are essentially two separate entities working and meshing together to form the Son of God. Through scripture these statements can be clearly proven. When one looks at The Book of John , John 1:14 puts it best by stating “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This quote from John 1:14 fundamentally showcases that Jesus was the Word of God and became flesh (Slick, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://carm.org/jesus-two-natures).

What best describes or classifies the basic nature of Jesus as divine and flesh, would have to be the “Hypostatic Union.” The Hypostatic Union is the amalgamation of the two natures, divine and human, in that of Jesus Christ. According to the Hypostatic Union, Jesus is God in flesh, and is both fully God and Man. Being both of these entities, Jesus is made up of two totally different natures, and cannot be the misperceived half man and half God that most people think Jesus is. Existing as both fully man and God, when Jesus became man, he did not lose his divinity, and when he died, he did not lose his human nature. Even to this day, Jesus is looking down from Heaven still maintaining and embracing His human and divine nature. For the reason that Jesus has gained the ability to hold both a human and divine nature about Himself, Jesus has been able to become the mediator between God and us here on Earth. Phillipians 2:5-7 best proves that Jesus became the mediator between God our Father and us by stating “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant” (Slick, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://carm.org/jesus-two-natures).