38. Consequences of the Hypostatic Union
We have seen how Jesus Christ, through the hypostatic union, is one Person with two natures: divine and human. But, in what way does the divine Person of the Word influence or relate to the human nature of Jesus? Or, in what way do his human actions belong to the divine Person?
17. The Unity of Being in Jesus Christ
All human natures that exist are, at the same time, human persons. Theology tries to explain why the human nature of Jesus Christ was not an independent human person. The reason that is commonly given in theology is that the human nature of Jesus Christ exists by virtue of the act of being of the divine Person. Jesus’ human nature does not have an act of being of its own; it exists through the act of being of the divine Person. Only the divine Person exists in Jesus, as being is an essential property of his divine nature. There is no human person in Jesus because his human nature, as it lacks its own act of being, is not subsistent; it exists in the divine Person.
18. The Communicatio Idiomatum
The divine as well as the human properties of Jesus Christ should be attributed to the Person of the incarnate Word (de fide).
Revelation teaches that the divine Person of Jesus alone possesses all the divine as well as all the human properties that belong to his two natures. He was conceived and born; he suffered and died (human realities). He performed miracles, forgave sins, and resurrected from the dead (divine operations). The divine Person must solely possess them, since all properties and actions are always of the person and not of the nature. For example, it is the person who is born and dies, not a nature. This exclusive attribution of all the human and the divine properties to the Person of Jesus Christ is called communicatio idiomatum.
Without denying the distinction between the two natures and their respective properties, the communicatio idiomatum is the mutual attribution of the properties of each nature to the one Person. The acts of nature are not done in a direct manner, but only through the sole Person—the incarnate Word, true God and true man. Thus, it can be said that “God became man,” but not that “the divinity is the humanity.”
19. The Filiation of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, even as man, is the natural Son of God (de fide).
The Church defined the natural filiation of Christ, condemning the adoptionists, who proposed the adoptive filiation of Jesus Christ as a man.1
St. Augustine, along with many other Fathers of the Church, maintained, “Read the Scriptures. In no place does it say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by adoption.”2
Reason professes that filiation is proper of persons and not of natures. Since in Jesus Christ there is only one Person (the divine one), he ought to be, for this reason, the natural Son of God. Besides, it would be contradictory to affirm that he is by his human nature the adoptive Son, while, at the same time, asserting that he is the natural Son due to his divine nature. If this were true, Jesus Christ, who is the only Son of God, would be his Son in two conflicting ways.
20. The Adoration of Jesus Christ
One has to adore Jesus Christ, God and man, with only one cult: the absolute cult of latria, which corresponds exclusively to God (de fide).
The Church teaches that Jesus Christ, God and man, deserves divine adoration.3
The apostles preached the Gospel so “that all men may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (Jn 5:23); “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Phil 2:10). The writer of The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp (a.d. 155–157) distinguished between the adoration rendered to Jesus Christ and that rendered to the martyrs: “Him we adore because he is the Son of God; but the martyrs we love as it is fitting to the disciples and friends of the Lord.”4
Adoration is rendered to the divine Person of Jesus Christ, and his human nature, which rightly belongs to him, should not be excluded from this adoration. The cult to his Most Precious Blood, the Sacred Heart, the Five Wounds, etc., is derived from this. The adoration of these parts by the faithful means nothing other than the adoration of the whole divine Person of Christ.
Additionally, the cult of relative latria is owed to the true cross due to its union with the Person of Christ.
Footnotes:
1. DS 610–611.
2. St. Augustine, C. Manich., 5.
3. Cf. DS 431; CCC, 333, 448, 528, 971.
4. The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, 17.3.
17. The Unity of Being in Jesus Christ
All human natures that exist are, at the same time, human persons. Theology tries to explain why the human nature of Jesus Christ was not an independent human person. The reason that is commonly given in theology is that the human nature of Jesus Christ exists by virtue of the act of being of the divine Person. Jesus’ human nature does not have an act of being of its own; it exists through the act of being of the divine Person. Only the divine Person exists in Jesus, as being is an essential property of his divine nature. There is no human person in Jesus because his human nature, as it lacks its own act of being, is not subsistent; it exists in the divine Person.
18. The Communicatio Idiomatum
The divine as well as the human properties of Jesus Christ should be attributed to the Person of the incarnate Word (de fide).
Revelation teaches that the divine Person of Jesus alone possesses all the divine as well as all the human properties that belong to his two natures. He was conceived and born; he suffered and died (human realities). He performed miracles, forgave sins, and resurrected from the dead (divine operations). The divine Person must solely possess them, since all properties and actions are always of the person and not of the nature. For example, it is the person who is born and dies, not a nature. This exclusive attribution of all the human and the divine properties to the Person of Jesus Christ is called communicatio idiomatum.
Without denying the distinction between the two natures and their respective properties, the communicatio idiomatum is the mutual attribution of the properties of each nature to the one Person. The acts of nature are not done in a direct manner, but only through the sole Person—the incarnate Word, true God and true man. Thus, it can be said that “God became man,” but not that “the divinity is the humanity.”
19. The Filiation of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, even as man, is the natural Son of God (de fide).
The Church defined the natural filiation of Christ, condemning the adoptionists, who proposed the adoptive filiation of Jesus Christ as a man.1
St. Augustine, along with many other Fathers of the Church, maintained, “Read the Scriptures. In no place does it say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by adoption.”2
Reason professes that filiation is proper of persons and not of natures. Since in Jesus Christ there is only one Person (the divine one), he ought to be, for this reason, the natural Son of God. Besides, it would be contradictory to affirm that he is by his human nature the adoptive Son, while, at the same time, asserting that he is the natural Son due to his divine nature. If this were true, Jesus Christ, who is the only Son of God, would be his Son in two conflicting ways.
20. The Adoration of Jesus Christ
One has to adore Jesus Christ, God and man, with only one cult: the absolute cult of latria, which corresponds exclusively to God (de fide).
The Church teaches that Jesus Christ, God and man, deserves divine adoration.3
The apostles preached the Gospel so “that all men may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (Jn 5:23); “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Phil 2:10). The writer of The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp (a.d. 155–157) distinguished between the adoration rendered to Jesus Christ and that rendered to the martyrs: “Him we adore because he is the Son of God; but the martyrs we love as it is fitting to the disciples and friends of the Lord.”4
Adoration is rendered to the divine Person of Jesus Christ, and his human nature, which rightly belongs to him, should not be excluded from this adoration. The cult to his Most Precious Blood, the Sacred Heart, the Five Wounds, etc., is derived from this. The adoration of these parts by the faithful means nothing other than the adoration of the whole divine Person of Christ.
Additionally, the cult of relative latria is owed to the true cross due to its union with the Person of Christ.
Footnotes:
1. DS 610–611.
2. St. Augustine, C. Manich., 5.
3. Cf. DS 431; CCC, 333, 448, 528, 971.
4. The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, 17.3.