blhowes
Puritan Board Professor
I went to a fascinating Bible study last night at a reformed congregational church. They're going through Louis Berkhof's [i:61c986caf6]A Summary of Christian Doctrine[/i:61c986caf6] and last night's study was about chapter 14, The Names and Natures of Christ. Its interesting to think about the hypostic union.
The Bible study got me thinking about two things:
[b:61c986caf6]First, [/b:61c986caf6]I got to thinking about the hypostatic union and Jesus as an infant. As stated on the Third millennium Ministries in response to a related question:
[quote:61c986caf6]
In the hypostatic union, Jesus' two natures are totally separate (like the persons of the Trinity are totally separate), but they are united in one person (like the persons of the Trinity are united in one essence). Because they are totally separate, each nature retains its own attributes. That means that in his human nature, Jesus' knowledge is limited to what he has learned as a man, while in his divine nature he is totally omniscient, knowing everything.[/quote:61c986caf6]
I was wondering if anybody has thought much about this? As a human, he had to grow and learn and as God, he was totally omniscient. Can this be resolved and, if so, how do you reconcile it in your mind?
[b:61c986caf6]Second,[/b:61c986caf6] I got to thinking about mysteries in general. There are some things in the scriptures that we just have to take by faith and really can't fully reconcile in our minds, perhaps this side of eternity. By faith we can accept them as mysteries and it leads us into deeper worship of God.
How do we differentiate between Biblical and non-Biblical mysteries? With Biblical mysteries, we submit ourselves to the teaching without resolving seemingly contradictory ideas. But what about non-Biblical mysteries?
The kind of mysteries that I'm talking about seem to be common in the catholic church. Often, parishioners are told to just accept the church's teaching because its a mystery that just can't be resolved or fully explained. Questioning is often equated with a lack of faith. A typical example that comes to mind is transsubstantiation.
How can we best refute these kinds of mysteries? It seems like, no matter what, the person could always fall back on, "It says this in the Bible. I don't understand how that could be...its a mystery"
Any thoughts?
The Bible study got me thinking about two things:
[b:61c986caf6]First, [/b:61c986caf6]I got to thinking about the hypostatic union and Jesus as an infant. As stated on the Third millennium Ministries in response to a related question:
[quote:61c986caf6]
In the hypostatic union, Jesus' two natures are totally separate (like the persons of the Trinity are totally separate), but they are united in one person (like the persons of the Trinity are united in one essence). Because they are totally separate, each nature retains its own attributes. That means that in his human nature, Jesus' knowledge is limited to what he has learned as a man, while in his divine nature he is totally omniscient, knowing everything.[/quote:61c986caf6]
I was wondering if anybody has thought much about this? As a human, he had to grow and learn and as God, he was totally omniscient. Can this be resolved and, if so, how do you reconcile it in your mind?
[b:61c986caf6]Second,[/b:61c986caf6] I got to thinking about mysteries in general. There are some things in the scriptures that we just have to take by faith and really can't fully reconcile in our minds, perhaps this side of eternity. By faith we can accept them as mysteries and it leads us into deeper worship of God.
How do we differentiate between Biblical and non-Biblical mysteries? With Biblical mysteries, we submit ourselves to the teaching without resolving seemingly contradictory ideas. But what about non-Biblical mysteries?
The kind of mysteries that I'm talking about seem to be common in the catholic church. Often, parishioners are told to just accept the church's teaching because its a mystery that just can't be resolved or fully explained. Questioning is often equated with a lack of faith. A typical example that comes to mind is transsubstantiation.
How can we best refute these kinds of mysteries? It seems like, no matter what, the person could always fall back on, "It says this in the Bible. I don't understand how that could be...its a mystery"
Any thoughts?