Hypostatic Union

This week, Kenny taught us a little bit about the Hypostatic Union - the theological concept that Jesus, was one person with two natures. There are some that have said Jesus was God, a spirit that just co-opted someone else's body. Still others have said that He was really just a very special man. This may seem like just a technical argument with no real consequence for us, but nothing could really be further from the truth, this concept is absolutely central to our entire faith, and any messing around with this, isn't a small miss, but a fundamental error with enormous consequences.

Another theological concept we talk about is the idea of substitutionary atonement. To atone for is to restore, to make amends for a wrong committed. Paul said that "The wages of sin is death..." (Rom 6:23), and that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom 6:23). So you see the problem, all of us have a death sentence pronounced on us because of the sin we bear. The writer of Hebrews says: "without the shedding of blood their is no forgiveness of sins." (Heb 9:22), so again the shedding of blood is required for forgiveness, or an atonement.

The idea then of substitutionary atonement is that someone is able to take our place, to be our substitute in order to atone for, or have our sins forgiven. In order for it to be a true substitute, that person needs to share our nature, to be like us. That is what Kenny talked about this Sunday, that Jesus was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief", and that we have a savior, that because he is a man he is able to sympathize with our condition (Heb 4:15). So as a man he is able to be our substitute. Nothing else would do to be our substitute but another man.

On the other side of the issue then is the idea that every man is sinful and therefore has his own death sentence to pay for and is then unable to be an atonement for anyone else. What would be required then for someone to be an atonement? Someone who did not already have their own debt to pay, someone who was sinless. Who was that? Again, Jesus. "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 cor 5:21) Jesus knew no sin of his own and could therefore be sin on our behalf. What was it about Jesus that made him capable of being sinless? It was his nature as God! He was not born of a man, but begotten of God and therefore remains the only sinless man who ever lived.

So Jesus, as man was our substitute, and as God was our atoning sacrifice. No one else could be both. It isn't a small detail, but a critical truth necessary for salvation. Fully God, fully man. One person, two natures.

Pause and consider all that this means. Christ, the sinless God man, who motivated by love for us and obedience to his father, became sin. He took on our sin and endured the wrath of his father against him because he had become our sin. He did this not because he had to, but because he desired to bring glory to the Father and to express his love for us.

This should add dimension and layers to the idea of grace. Grace wasn't just demonstrating love by dying. But it was voluntarily taking on the wrath of God on our behalf to be our substitutionary atonement. Hallelujah!

Pastor Derrick