Christology

We’ve been discussing the Christological dimensions of the Ascension, including the Lutheran view that not only Christ’s divine nature was taken into the Godhead, but that also His human nature–body and all–is now part of the Trinity, sharing in the divine attributes such as omnipresence. Thus, Christ, in His body and blood, can be truly present on all the world’s altars celebrating Holy Communion.

I just had a related conversation with a friend of mine who said that he had been taught that only Christ’s human nature died on the Cross. His divine nature did not.

A while back ago, we discussed the passage in the Lutheran Confessions that insists, against a number of opponents, that it is correct to say that “God died” on the cross. Again, we have “the communication of attributes.”

Otherwise, it seems like the Incarnation is being split, if not undone. The Son of God is both true God and true Man even in Heaven. And the Son of God is both true God and true Man who is “with us always.” God is still and always incarnate in Jesus Christ.

It’s hard to imagine how Christ’s death could have such an effect–bearing our sins and griefs and atoning for them–if it were just His human nature, or just His body that suffered. Surely only the death of God–not the Father, but the Son–could accomplish things of such magnitude.

I’m starting to see how, as David Scaer has put it, “all theology is Christology.”

UPDATE: Here is a link to the earlier post, along with a substantial quotation from the Formula of Concord, Article VIII: That God Died.