The twenty-first question and answer of The New City Catechism is this: “What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God? Answer: One who is truly human and also truly God.” Here we are introduced to the reality that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is fully God and fully man.
The early Church, following the
teaching of the Scriptures, affirmed that Jesus is fully God and fully man, but
as you can imagine, this was a doctrine that was seriously challenged. And even
among those who affirmed it, there was disagreement on how to think about it and
state it.
In the year A.D. 451 in Chalcedon (modern
Kadıköy in Istanbul, Turkey) the Church held a council of leaders from throughout
the known world at that time to hammer out what the Bible taught about the two
natures of Jesus Christ and how to describe it. The result was what many call
the Chalcedonian
Definition or the Chalcedonian Creed.
Here is what the creed says. Read it slowly
and think carefully about the teaching of this beautiful and biblically
accurate affirmation.
We then, following
the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in
manhood; truly God and truly man, of a [real] soul and body; [of one essence]
with the Father according to the Godhead, and [of one essence] with us
according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin ; begotten
before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter
days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of
[the] God[-man], according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord,
Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures; [without confusion], [without
change], [without division], [without separation]; the distinction of natures
being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the [characteristics] of
each nature being preserved, and [coming together] in one Person and one
Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son,
and only begotten God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the
beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has
taught us; and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.[1]
Joyfully Delighting In The God-Man With You,
Tom
[1] The translation is from Philip Schaff, Creeds
of Christendom, sixth edition,
vol. 2 (Baker reprint of 1931 edition), pages 62-63.
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