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Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
22Dec
2010
Wed
21:30
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
comments: 1
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Geoffrey
22Dec2010/21:59
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Mid-week Advent IV

various scripture references (Luke 2:7, 12; John 1:14)

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; 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, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

Thus the Council of Chalcedon decreed in 451 against the heresy of Nestorianism. Nestorius was Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431...think Bishop. His teaching emphasized the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. It states, "Jesus Christ, who is not identical with the Son but personally united with the Son, who lives in him, is one hypostasis," or existence of some thing, or being, "and one nature: human." It is related to the Arian heresy which stated that Jesus was created for the Son of God to inhabit. In essence, both heresies teach that Jesus and the Son of God are two distinct, yet united persons (and each has their own definition of this "united-ness").

The Council of Chalcedon condemned both heresies, proclaiming the hypostatic, or one essence, union of the divine and human natures in Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus and the Son of God are one and the same. Lutherans believe, teach, and confess the same as Chalcedon—Lutheran Christology is Chalcedonian Christology. Luther expressed this himself when he commented on Paul's letter to the Galatians, "If you ask how God may be found, who justifies sinners, know that there is no other God besides this man Christ Jesus."

And so it has been taught to countless Christians throughout the ages. It has been taught to you from this pulpit or any other pulpit you have sat at. You confess it with your own lips, at least once a year, when you confess

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he [who will be saved] also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of His mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

And you speak it without much of a second thought. "Yes, I believe it," you may think. But, why?

Because there will always come along one like Nestorius or Arius who will deny this. Oh, they may be crafty at it, like one named John Calvin, who on the one hand was a professed adherent to Chalcedonian Christology and on the other hand likely spoke the phrase finitum non est capax infiniti, but certainly believed it; finitum non est capax infiniti—the finite is not capable of the infinite. In other words, that which is finite and material is incapable of comprehending and holding that which is infinite and immaterial and divine.

Now, Calvin held to this doctrine when he spoke of the Lord's Supper. Heinrich Zwingli was on board, too. Both of them were the forerunners of modern Protestantism and their progeny in our midst: American Evangelicalism. To them, the Lord's Supper could not be the Body and Blood of the Lord because it is physically impossible for such infinite, divine things to be hidden in simple, finite, and crass objects as bread and wine. Christ's ascended body is seated at the right hand of God, and it cannot at the same time be hidden in bread and wine at earthly altars, neither by human nor divine will.

Now, what does this have to do with the incarnation? Everything! Taken to its logical conclusion, finitum non est capax infiniti becomes a denial of the incarnation. After all, if the finite is incapable of infinite, then the human nature and divine natures of Christ cannot be hypostatically united.

Fortunately, this works in the reverse direction, too. The incarnation of God flies in the face of those who would deny the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. The fact that God took on flesh to dwell among His people is an affront to the logic that gods and that which is divine are other-worldly. The fact that God took on human flesh and blood throws a cog into the denial that "is" means "is"; if God took on flesh and blood, why would He refuse to give it when He says "this is my body" and "this is my blood"? To have an enfleshed God is to have Him give that flesh as bread and bread as His flesh and blood as wine and wine as His blood.

This near-Nestorian Christology is a false comfort, as mentioned on Sunday, for it assumes to keep that which is powerful—more powerful than we—at a safe distance. After all, gods coming to earth is a frightening thing, be it as in the ancient myths when a deity manifests itself in some earthly form, or when God deigns to take on human flesh, even in the form of a zygote and infant, and when God choses to be present in the Son's Body and Blood in bread and wine. Even the messengers of gods visiting earth is frightening, for look what the people do when the true God's angels bring word to His people: they cower in fear for their lives. However, without the incarnation, the sign of the manger mentioned last week is an empty sign, pun intended.

But that is the very reason that God took on human flesh and blood, the very reason why the infinite deigns to dwell in the finite, why there is a hypostatic union of divine and human natures in the person of Jesus the Christ. God came to die. He demands death for sin, yet chooses not to enforce that law on His cherished creation; so He instead takes their place—He takes your place, dear hearers. And so that He could do that, He takes up your own human nature, dear hearers. He took it perfectly, sinlessly, "without compromising one little bit of our humanity," and still has it now, risen and ascended. He took it to a tree on Golgatha, along with the sins of the world—and that means with all of your sins—and there is put to death for the sins of the world. Had He not taken on human flesh and blood, He would not have died—He would not have graciously kept the law demanding death for sin—graciously, that is, for His cherished creation.

There is why God at a safe distance is a false comfort. God with us is the real comfort. God takes on flesh and blood out of love for a fallen creation, not out of wrath, so there is nothing to be feared in God coming to earth, as zygote and infant, as man Jesus Christ, and as flesh and blood hidden in bread and wine. He comes with grace and truth. If God is at a "safe" distance, then He does not come to save and forgive, and that leaves salvation and forgiveness up to us, hopelessly.

Therefore, we continue to believe, teach, and confess what was confessed at Chalcedon and what is confessed in the Athanasian Creed and what is spoken of by the Scriptures. For there we hear, believe, teach, and confess that "the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood [is] truly God and truly man," that He is "God of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of His mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting." For this is the sign the prophet speaks confirming that: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel," which means God with us. And so it happened, as the angels declared to the shepherds that night in the fields, that the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived and bore a son "in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord;" to them the angels declared, "You will find a Babe," real flesh and blood, "wrapped in swaddling cloths," those images of burial cloths, "lying in a manger," that feeding instrument.

Yes, we confess with St. Paul who so poetically confesses this union of human and divine, come to die, when he wrote,

Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, we can say with St. John, who personally witnessed the enfleshed God, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." His is a grace and truth that says, "I became flesh for you, to die for you, and I give my flesh and blood to you, therefore, you are forgiven for all of your sins."

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Download media: 20101222.midweekadvent4.mp3 (6.58 MiB)
audio recorded on my digital recorder and converted to mp3
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