The Hypostatic Union
One Person. Two Natures. The Mystery at the Heart of the Faith.
The Hypostatic Union is the doctrine that Jesus Christ is one divine Person who possesses two distinct natures: a fully divine nature and a fully human nature. As defined at the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD), Christ is 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 property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence.'
Without Confusion
The divine and human natures of Christ remain distinct and unmixed. He is fully God and fully man, yet each nature retains its own essential properties without blending into a third, hybrid kind of being.
Without Division
Jesus Christ is one subject, not two. Because the natures are united in His one Person, He cannot be divided into two separate beings or agents. Every action of Christ is an action of the one divine Person.
Without Change
In the Incarnation, the Word did not cease to be divine, nor did the human nature become divine. There was no transformation of one into the other; the natures were joined while remaining exactly what they were.
Without Separation
The union of the two natures is indissoluble. From the moment of His conception, the Word and the human nature were joined forever. He remains the God-man, eternally existing in two natures.
COMPARING THE TWO NATURES
ATTRIBUTE
DIVINE NATURE
HUMAN NATURE
Origin Eternally begotten of the Father Born of the Virgin Mary
Knowledge Omniscient (knows all things) Grew in wisdom and understanding (Lk 2:52)
Power Omnipotent Subject to physical limitation and weakness
Suffering Impassible as God Truly suffered, wept, felt hunger and thirst
Death Cannot die Died on the Cross (truly, bodily)
Resurrection Source of all life Bodily rose from the dead on the third day
Time Eternal — outside of time Existed within time and history
Relationship Second Person of the Trinity True son of Mary, David's lineage
Reflect on the Word
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