I orginally posted this question for my virtual classmates, but no one has responded. Perhaps some of you could share your thoughts.
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I'm in the process of responding to the questions from Lesson 11, and I started thinking about the issue of sin and will. The question is "Is Jesus Christ a human person? If not how is he 'like us in all things but sin' as the New Testament teaches?"
I started with the idea that sin is, by definition, an act of the will. I intended to show that Jesus's will could not by contrary to the Father's will, but that has obvious problems scripturally (Matthew 26:39). So clearly Jesus had a will and it differed from the will of God the Father. If this is the case, will would have to be tied to something that Jesus does not have in common with God. He does have personhood, but His personhood would arise from His essence and existence, which are by necessity the same as God's. So His will, which would be a necessary prerequisite to commit sin, must not arise from His personhood.
At this point, we have two options. Jesus's will arises solely from His human nature, or Jesus has two wills, one arising from each nature.
Any thoughts?
2 comments:
2nd Constantinople (553) formulated (which 3rd Constantinople defined along with Chalcedon) that Christ has 2 wills. One for each nature which is demanded by the Hypostatic Union. They were arguing against the Monophysites. From 2nd Constantinople:
"We likewise proclaim in (Christ), according to the teaching of the holy Fathers, two natural volitions or wills and two natural actions, without division, without change, without separation, without confusion. The two natural wills are not - by any means - opposed to each other, as the impious heretics assert; but His human will is compliant, it does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his divine and almighty will. For as Athanasius says, it was necessary that the will of the flesh move itself, but also that is should be submissive to the divine will; because, just as his flesh is said to be and is the flesh of God the word, so too the natural will of his flesh is said to be and is God the Word's very own, as he himself declares:"I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of hime who sent me" (Jn 6:38). He calls the will of his flesh his own will, becasue the flesh also has become his own."
I don't think your arguments for personhood follow. Boethius defines a person as "an individual substance of a rational nature". Personhood is the necessary prerequisite for the rational functions of intellect and will. Human personhood and divine personhood are not identical. We participate in the personhood of God but only in a limited way.
Sorry if this doesn't make sense. Writing and thinking on the fly is not a strong suit!! 8^> Gotta run to a meeting.
Cool! Someone I know!
That makes sense to me. Thanks for the info on Constantinople. I'm looking forward to getting to that part of my studies. The personhood discussion actually takes place in this post: Personhood and Incarnation, so it makes sense that it doesn't seem very coherent to you in this post.
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