Henry Bartsch at the Like a Bell blog, has provided an interesting post on the hypostatic union. His focus is on Calvin's Institutes but he provides an interesting quotation on the subject from that leading Calvinist theologian, the real Francis Turretin (link).
Enjoy!
-TurretinFan
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
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There are a couple of things I will point to, one by way of a comment and the other by way of some comments about a few citations from Scripture.
When I read this article I thought of the vision God gave Daniel about the "mixtures" of the being King Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of with a gold head down to feet mixed with clay and iron. That being can be juxtaposed, in my view, with this Hypostatic Union which we would only be able to comprehend after this occurs as Paul writes about it here:
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--
Eph 2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Eph 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Paul goes further and develops his understanding of this "working" of God's great might that he worked in Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost, here:
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Eph 2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
Eph 2:16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
Eph 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
For me, one of the clearest and very succinct ways of wording what Paul wrote there in Ephesians can be found here:
1Th 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
I wish to add some enhancement to this, that is, to distinguish between the "four" parts of our being, a mixture, readily understood there with the three parts by focusing on that fourth part, the "flesh"/sarx which Paul does not include in verse *23*.
I would point to both Jesus at John 17 here where He uses the Greek word flesh/"sarx" in verse *2*:
Joh 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
Joh 17:2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
And then this peculiar line of reasoning Peter develops clearly too when we read what he wrote here which "separates", in my view, the flesh/sarx of man from what then becomes imperishable, undefilable and will not fade when we indeed are "born again" to this "Living Hope":::>
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
As I let this thinking sink into my spirit, soul and body, the hypostatic union of Christ, I realize that while my spirit is being renewed day by day, my flesh is steadily breaking down, slowing down and not functioning as well as it did when I was a teenager. I am now 55 years old, a bit more bulged at the belly, most likely from all this sitting down and reading and posting in comboxes! :)
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