The Two Natures of Christ in the New Testament

Dominic Rolls FAITH Magazine January-February 2010

Fr Dominic Rolls shows how some key Gospel texts are at the heart of the classical and crucial Christian doctrine, as articulated in the Catechism, that Christ is one person with two distinct natures. He uses some of Edward Holloway s words to bring out the import of this doctrine. Fr Rolls is Parish Priest of Dorking and scripture lecturer at St John's Seminary, Wonersh, Surrey.

Introduction

Pope St Leo the Great tackled the key issue of the Personhood of Christ decisively at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. He was responding to the monophysite heresy proposed by Eutyches and others, which tended to deny the dual natures by overemphasising the divine nature of Christ at the expense of his human nature. Leo countered:

"Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and only Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man, with a rational soul and a body. He is of the same reality as God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same reality as we ourselves as far as the humanness is concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these 'last days', for us and for our salvation, this selfsame one was born of Mary the Virgin, who is God-bearer in respect of his humanness.

"We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ- Son, Lord, only-begotten- in two natures; and we do this without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them in two separate categories, without contrasting them according to area and function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the properties of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one person (prosopon) and in one reality (hypostasis). They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word (logos) of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus himself taught us; thus the Symbol of the Fathers (Nicene Creed) has handed downto us"(Definition from Leo's Tome. Chalcedon AD 451)

Whilst there can be little doubt that Leo's Tome saved the Church at a time when many bishops outside Rome were teaching heresy, there are difficulties in understanding exactly what Leo meant and taught. How is it that we can understand the humanity of Christ, which implies limitation, and his divinity, which implies infinity? Theological issues arise as to how Jesus can be free, as to how he can suffer, and as to how knowledge and self-consciousness worked in him. Leo's teaching brilliantly balances the human and divine natures existing within the one divine person in Christ without mixing, separating or diminishing the integrity of the natures, but the problem for biblical theologians lies in Leo's use of non-scriptural terminology, most notably 'person' itself. In outlining hismagnificent definition, he tells us clearly: "Thus the Lord Jesus himself taught us", but he does not say where or how. If Sacred Scripture is the soul of theology, then there must be continuity between Leo's deliberations guided by the Holy Spirit and the sacred text itself. There can be no disjunction between the voice of the bible and the solemn teaching of the Magisterium.

This paper will attempt to delve into the scriptural evidence for Jesus, bearing in mind how the hypostatic union of Our Lord can be understood. It is not possible to unwind and analyse all texts, or to address every key issue, but it is hoped to provide data for discussion and more profound meditation. In addition, an attempt will be made to comment on the texts Edward Holloway used in delving into the mystery of the Word made Flesh. Some of the Fathers of the Church will also be considered by way of contrast, and also the writing of the present successor to Peter and Leo's direct descendant in office, Benedict XVI. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes widespread use of scripture. Its teachings on Christ will be considered to demonstrate how so profound a doctrine is presented tothe Church moving through the 21st century.

Scriptural Evidence

Bearing in mind Leo's insistence on the literal divinity and literal humanity of Christ, texts will be considered that emphasise firstly his divinity and secondly his humanity. This is not to parcel up Christ, as if Leo did not equally stress the oneness of Jesus' divine person, but merely an exercise in seeing how these distinct natures work. No consideration of such a massive subject could possibly begin without remembering the wistful dilemma contained in the last verse of John's gospel: "There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written" (Jn 21, 25). Like the evangelist, much will be left out that is of great importance. The choices made are by no means exclusive.

Divinity

"In the beginning was the Word...” John 1:1f

Leo himself refers to Jesus as the 'only-begotten Word of God', placing himself directly in the line of those Fathers, such as Polycarp and Irenaeus, who received the apostolic teaching of St John. Of course, the Prologue of John emphasises the whole Christ, human as well as divine, making great play of the fleshly reality of the Word (Jn 1, 14). But it is the fact of divinity that adds power to this meditation. Something new has happened in the world. The Old Testament speaks of the Word of God, and of his Wisdom, present with God before the world was made (cf. Pr 8, 22ff; Ws 7, 22ff). By it all things were created; it is sent to earth to reveal the hidden designs of God; it returns to him with its work done (Is 55, 10-11; Pr 8, 22-36; Si 24, 3-22; Ws 9, 9-12). For John, too, the Wordexisted before the world in God (Jn 1, 1 -2); it has come on earth (Jn 1, 9-14), being sent by the Father (Jn 3, 17.34) to perform a task (Jn 4, 34ff), namely, to deliver a message of salvation to the world (Jn 3,1 Iff); with its mission accomplished it returns to the Father (Jn 1, 18). The Incarnation enabled the New Testament writers, and especially John, to see this separately and eternally existent Word-Wisdom as a person - the person of God: "Something which has existed since the beginning, that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands: the Word, who is life - this is our subject" (1 Jn 1, 1).

John the Baptist appears as a witness in John's gospel (Jn 1, 7), but he also acts as a contrast to the Word in the Prologue. He was a man who came, sent by God (Jn 1, 6) in juxtaposition to the Word who was coming into the world (Jn 1, 7). A mere man is placed side by side with the divine person, and the contrast jars. Many commentators view the Baptist parts of the Prologue as later additions, but the vast abyss between the God of holiness and the greatest of his servants serves to throw both vocations into relief. The Baptist verses of the Prologue are an integral part of the mind of the Beloved Disciple. Furthermore, the pre-existence of the Word is also emphasised through the words of the Baptist. In human terms, Jesus is six months younger than his cousin, but the Baptist'sunderstanding of Jesus' divinity comes through robustly: "He who comes after me ranks before me because he existed before me" (Jn 1, 15).

John's Prologue also lies at the heart of Holloway's theology in his book, Catholicism: A New Synthesis. For Fr Holloway, Jesus Christ is the Heir of the Ages, predestined from all eternity in the plan of God to come into "his own things, his own inheritance" ( p. 240 echoing Jn 1, 11). For this very reason the Word of God, the Divine Wisdom who is a Person, was made flesh, "that God might show that every peasant is a prince, and every serving maid a princess, for they are born into the family of God" (p. 216). Time and again he emphasises the necessity of the Incarnation in God's purpose for creation. It is the impact of divinity that saves us:

"It is necessary that the Heir of the Ages come into his own through the womb of woman, so that the human nature of man may be the perfect means of the action and hallowing of God in Person upon 'his own' (cf. Jn 1, 11) and upon the material order itself, through mankind. Since the incursion of sin it is also necessary that through the same human nature of God in his Divine Person, there should be given the perfect vehicle too of reconciliation and restoration, not only as a fact, but as an ontological work in the real order, in the living order, in its own right" (p. 240)

"He took Peter and James and John and went up the mountain to pray..." (Lk 9, 28f).

The phenomenon of the Transfiguration conveys both awe and wonder. Prayer for the monks of the Eastern Church focuses on the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner") with the purpose of perceiving the uncreated light of Tabor within the depths of the soul. This mystical union finds its inspiration in the singular grace afforded Peter, James and John on the holy mountain. In Gen 15, 7-21, God makes a covenant with Abram, showing himself in the "smoking furnace and a firebrand" (Gen 15, 17), whilst for Abram the whole experience is one of fear and dread: "Now as the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep, and terror seized him" (Gen 15, 12).

To experience the holiness of God is to experience his utter separateness and the vast abyss between Creator and creature. This is exactly what the apostles find on Tabor, though by a miracle of grace they stay awake: "Peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they kept awake and saw his glory" (Lk 9, 32). They are in the presence of God as divinity shines out through humanity, and their Master is transfigured (Lk 9, 29). Note that he is not changed, but transfigured. Nothing new happens to Jesus; he is merely seen literally in a new light. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by their union, nor are they confused (cf. Definition of Chalcedon above). Later on, Peter will rely on this encounter to help counter the "cleverly invented myths" (2 Pet 1, 16) of theGnostics, who denied the flesh in Christ: "we had seen his majesty for ourselves. He was honoured and glorified by God the Father" (2 Pet 1, 16-17). The Prince of the Apostles witnesses to the literal divinity of Christ shining out through his literal humanity.

In his book, Jesus of Nazareth (p. 308), Pope Benedict XVI makes a clear connection between the events on Tabor and those on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24: "To Moses he said, 'Come up to Yahweh, yourself and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu'" (Ex 24, 1). If Jesus is the new Moses, the apostles are the Israelite leaders, even though, as the Pope realises, seventy of the elders are included in the Exodus account. Both accounts emphasise the saving power and mercy of God without losing a sense of intimacy and even tenderness: "He laid no hand on these notables of the sons of Israel: they gazed on God. They ate and drank" (Ex 24,11). In the Exodus account, transcendence and immanence shine forth. In the fullness of time, they will reach their culmination in the divinity and humanity of Christ,united in the divine person of God the Son, which shines out on Mount Tabor.

Pope Benedict analyses Luke's account of the Transfiguration in the context of Jesus' prayer, as Luke is the only evangelist to state Jesus' intention to pray as the reason to ascend Tabor: "The Transfiguration is a prayer event; it displays visibly what happens when Jesus talks with his Father: the profound interpenetration of his being with God, which then becomes pure light. In his oneness with the Father, Jesus is himself "light from light". The reality that he is in the deepest core of his being...that reality becomes perceptible to the senses at this moment: Jesus being the light of God, his own being-light as Son." (p. 310). The Pope further explores the profound relationship between Father and Son in a beautiful passage on the cloud and the voice of the Father (cf. Lk 9, 34): "Theholy cloud, the 'shekinah', is the sign of the presence of God himself. The cloud hovering over the Tent of Meeting indicated that God was present. Jesus is the holy tent above whom the cloud of God's presence now stands and spreads out to 'overshadow' the others as well. The scene repeats that of Jesus' Baptism, in which the Father himself, speaking out of the cloud, had proclaimed Jesus as Son: "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased (Mk1, 11)" (p. 316).

"All things were delivered to Me by My Father. And none knows who the Son is, save the Father; and who the Father is, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son wills to reveal Him" (Lk 10, 22 and Mt 11, 27)

The Arians of the fourth century denied the divinity of Christ by claiming of the Son that 'there was a time when he was not'. By denying the equality of Father with Son, and admitting a degree of subordination of Son to Father, they emptied out the literal divinity of Christ and made a mockery of the Incarnation. Arius followed the school of Antioch in his scriptural exegesis, which favoured a literal interpretation of the sacred text. He was vehemently opposed by Athanasius, who valiantly and almost single-handedly upheld the orthodox view of Christ as God the Son. The latter followed the Alexandrian school of exegesis, which emphasised the allegorical sense of Scripture. By examining the way Athanasius strenuously refuted the Arian misinterpretation of Scripture, the true divinity ofJesus in the New Testament shines through.

In his treatise, "On Luke 10, 22 and Matthew 11, 27", Athanasius claims decisively that the text refers not to the eternal Word but to the Incarnate Word. He adds further that

"from not perceiving this they of the sect of Arius, Eusebius and his fellows, indulge impiety against the Lord. For they say, if all things were delivered (meaning by 'all' the Lordship of Creation), there was once a time when he had them not. But if he had them not, He is not of the Father, for if He were, He would on that account have had them always, and would not have required to receive them. But this point will furnish all the clearer an exposure of their folly. For the expression in question does not refer to the Lordship over Creation, nor to presiding over the works of God, but is meant to reveal in part the intention of the Incarnation" (sect. 1.1 ff).

Athanasius then makes clear that the operation of God implies no subordination or imperfection: "for God is not imperfect, nor did He summon the Son to help Him in His need; but, being Father of the Word, He makes all things by His means, and without delivering creation over to Him, by His means and in Him exercises Providence over it, so that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father (Mt 10, 29), nor is the grass clothed without God (Mt 10, 30), but at once the Father works, and the Son works hitherto (cf. Jn 5, 17). Vain, therefore, is the opinion of the impious. For the expression is not what they think, but designates the Incarnation." (sect. 1. 18-24)

Athanasius further explains the purpose of the Incarnation, and therefore the correct interpretation of the deliverance of Father to Son referred to in the above text:

"He 'delivered' to Him man that the Word Himself might be made flesh, and by taking the flesh, restore it wholly. For to Him, as to a physician, man 'was delivered' to heal the bite of the serpent; as to life, to raise what was dead; as to light, to illumine the darkness; and, because He was Word, to renew the rational nature. Since then all things 'were delivered' to Him, and He is made Man, straightway all things were set right and perfected. Earth receives blessing instead of a curse, Paradise was opened to the robber, Hades cowered, the tombs were opened and the dead raised, the gates of heaven were lifted up to await Him that 'comes from Edom"' (sect 2. 6-13). Athanasius continues to defend the divinity of Christ, quoting from the parallel text, "The Father loves the Son, and hasgiven all things into His hand" (Jn 3, 35): "Given in order that, just as all things were made by Him, so in Him all things might be renewed. For they were not 'delivered' unto Him that, being poor He might be made rich, nor did He receive all things that He might receive power which before He lacked: far be the thought: but in order that as Saviour He might rather set all things right." (sect. 2. 18-21)

Using another parallel text, "Everything the Father has is mine" (Jn 16,15), Athanasius shows how allegorical exegesis can be used to refute error and uphold the true divinity of the Son: "As then the Light from the Sun, which illumines the world, could never be supposed, by men of sound mind, to do without the Sun, since the Sun's light is united to the Sun by nature; and as, if the Light were to say, 'I have received from the Sun the power of illumining all things, and of giving growth and strength to them by the heat that is in me', no one will be mad enough to think that the mention of the Sun is meant to separate him from what is his nature, namely the light; so piety would have us perceive that the Divine Essence of the Word is united by nature to His own Father" (sect. 4 1 -6)

Humanity

'"Look at my hands and feet; yes, it is I indeed. Touch me and see for yourselves ..." (Lk 24, 39f)

Few texts display the humanity of Christ as graphically as the gospel accounts of the resurrection appearances. There is continuity and discontinuity with the human nature Christ displayed before his Passion, death and resurrection. Here, the continuity staggers the apostles. It is the same Jesus; the one they spent three years accompanying on his public ministry, and came to know and love so well. It is the same body that they abandoned in his moment of trial, which was then transfixed on a cross in a cursed death, imparting grievous wounds in his hands and his feet. These wounds are displayed to the dumbfounded apostles (Lk24, 40). He ate fish before their eyes (Lk 24, 43), displaying the cast-iron reality of his material nature. Then there is the discontinuity. Jesus no longer appearsconstrained by space and time in his risen humanity. He comes and stands among them in the upper room (Lk 24, 36) as suddenly as he had vanished from the sight of his companions at Emmaus (Lk 24, 32). In his apparitions described by Luke and John, the disciples do not at first recognise the Lord: they need a word or a sign (Lk24, 30f.35.37.39-43; Jn 20, 14.16.20; Jn 21, 4.6-7; cf. Mt 28, 17). This is because the risen body, though the same body that died on the cross, is in a new condition; its outward appearance is therefore changed (Mk 16, 12), and it is exempt from the usual physical laws (Jn 20, 19). Whatever the miracle of his new state after resurrection, Jesus is still the same member of the human race.

This humanity of Christ found one of its greatest defenders in St Ignatius of Antioch: "For my own part, I know and believe that he was in actual human flesh, even after his resurrection. When he appeared to Peter and his companions, he said to them, 'Take hold of me; touch me, and see that I am no bodiless phantom'. And they touched him then and there and believed, for they had had contact with the flesh and blood reality of him" (Letter to Smyrna, Chap III, Iff). Ignatius died for the Faith in the early years of the second century. He was a convert to Christianity and governed as bishop in Antioch for many years, appearing voluntarily before the Emperor Trajan in Antioch in 107AD, where he boldly professed his Christianity. He was condemned to the wild beasts, and began the long journeyto eventual martyrdom in Rome on 20th December in the same year.

Virtually nothing is known of his time in Antioch, but the letters he wrote to the churches as he journeyed to his death reveal many details of the apostolic Church, including docetist attacks on the humanity of Christ. These heretics claimed that Christ only seemed to take on human nature (thus 'docetism' from the Greek 'dokein' to seem). They despised the common episcopacy and clergy, who had none of the special 'knowledge' they arrogated to themselves. Ignatius gives a vigorous defence of orthodoxy to the Church in Smyrna, which reads like a post apostolic Symbol of Faith in the flesh and blood reality of God the Son:

"Glory be to Jesus Christ, the divine One who has gifted you with such wisdom. I have seen how immovably settled in faith you are; nailed body and soul, as it were, to the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and rooted and grounded in love by his blood. You hold the firmest convictions about Our Lord; believing him to be truly 'of David's line in his manhood', yet Son of God by the divine will and power; truly born of a virgin; baptised by John 'for his fulfilling of all righteousness'; and in the days of Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch truly pierced by nails in his human flesh (a fruit imparting life to us from his most blessed passion), so that by his resurrection he might set up a beacon for all time to call together his saints and believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, in the one bodyof his Church" (Smyrna I, 1-6).

"They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, 'My child, why have you done this to us?. ..." (Lk2,48f)

Jesus' finding in the Temple gives a rare glimpse of the adolescent humanity of God the Son. It gives a tantalising insight into the relationship of Son to Father, especially thrown into relief by Our Lady's reference to Joseph as the father of Jesus (Lk 2, 48). An alternative translation of Lk 2, 50 reads 'in my Father's house' for 'busy with my Father's affairs'. In either case, Jesus is asserting his own personal duty to his Father (cf. Mt 4, 3ff) and, in the interests of duty, an absolute independence of creatures (cf. Jn 2, 4; Mt 12, 46-50).

Holloway gives this helpful insight into the workings of the humanity of Christ:

"When the Person of the Son speaks from the contents and requirements of his nature as man, there is all the longing of the 'Son of Man' for release from his travail, and for total repossession of the Father. There is a certain dependence, even subordination of tone which does not deny his Godhead, but marks his mediatorial role, his Kingship over men, and his priesthood through his human nature. Unless Christ be the 'Son of Man' as well, he cannot offer priestly sacrifice for us, in his Person, for a priest is essentially a mediator, and as the Eternal Word, Christ is 'One' in God [...] As Jesus Christ, God and man, he is the One from whom we spring, and One with the Father in being. Yet it is right when he speaks in the nature of man, that we should see that the 'Father' is still hisfruition, in the Divine Person, and that we should see in his human nature also, as the Son of Man and High Priest of Mankind, the reverence, the subordination, and the joy with which we should be swept up in and through him to the Father. As Christ himself said, 'it becomes us to fulfil all justice' (cf. Mt 3, 15), which is to say, every order of Tightness and proportionality. We see the truly human in Christ in the words spoken in the olive grove (cf. Lk 22, 42), and in the reminder to the apostles that if they loved him, they would put selfishness to one side, and would be glad that he was going to the Father, 'for the Father is greater than I' (Jn 14, 28), which is but to say that the Father is the source of my origin and my joy. The word used for 'greater' also means 'forbear' inLatin. [...] That Christ always spoke of God the First Person of the Trinity as 'my Father' in a special and proper sense, and regarded him as the source of his joy and the goal of his homecoming, is evident from the incident when, as a boy of twelve, Christ showed a grave surprise that Mary and Joseph should have looked for him as lost when they should have realised that "I would be at my Father's House" (Luke 2, 49)" {Catholicism, pp. 230-231).

Regarding the hypostatic union, Holloway insists that there is no interaction, in the sense of fusion, between the divine and created natures of Our Lord:

"Christ is not a mixture of God and man. In the full sense of the Messianic title, Christ is the Son of Man only from the time of the Incarnation, but he is not, not ever a human person, a human thing. There is only the Divine Person, who is both God and man, perfect in the nature of both. When God wills into being an angel or a man, he wills that some other thing shall subsist besides the Divine Necessary, and that this substance be fulfilled through himself. This is to make the created personality with its created subsistence. When God wills that, for the perfection of the work of creation and the salvation of mankind, he should take upon himself a created nature, he wills that T shall be a man, so that the human nature of God lives through the Divine 1', through the DivinePerson of the Word, who subsists in the Essence of God. There does not proceed, therefore, a created human personality because this is, in God, simply 'Me'. It is not 'the other', created through the will of God." (ibid, p. 230).

''While they were at table eating, Jesus said, 7 tell you solemnly one of you is about to betray me [...]'" (Mk14, 18f).

"After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, 'You will all lose faith, for the scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered [...]" (Mk 14, 26f).

How is it that we can understand the human knowing of Christ, which the above text illustrates so graphically? His foreknowledge regarding the Passion is a clear exercise of his divinity, but expressed through his sacred humanity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explores this mystery in a powerful section on Christ's soul and human knowledge (CCC471-478).

Pope Damasus I condemned Apollinarius for asserting that in Christ the divine Word had replaced the soul or spirit. Against this error the Church confessed that the eternal Son also assumed a rational, human soul (CCC 471). The Catechism continues:

"This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be unlimited: it was exercised in the historical conditions of his existence in space and time. This is why the Son of God could, when he became man, 'increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man' (Lk 2, 52), and would even have to enquire for himself about what one in the human condition can learn only from experience (cf. Mk 6, 38; 8, 27; Jn 11, 34). This corresponded to the reality of his voluntary emptying of himself, taking 'the form of a slave' (Phil 2, 7)" (CCC 472).

The Catechism is insistent, however, that this human knowing of Jesus was not autonomous, taking strength from the thoughts of the Fathers, particularly Gregory the Great and Maximus the Confessor:

"At the same time, this truly human knowledge of God's Son expressed the divine life of his person. 'The human nature of God's Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God'. Such is first of all the case with the intimate and immediate knowledge that the Son of God made man has of the Father (cf. Mk14, 36; Mt 11, 27; Jn 8, 55). The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts (Mk 2, 8; Jn 2, 25; 6, 61) [... thus] by its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal. What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewheredeclared himself not sent to reveal (Mk 13, 32; Acts 1, 7)" (CCC 473-4).

Mark's Passion narrative, of which the above text is a small but significant part, brings home the sheer sadness and isolation of Christ's betrayal. As such, it has all the power of a human drama, where the weakness and vulnerability of Christ do not compromise his divinity, but serve rather to accentuate the staggering generosity of his self-sacrifice. Even Peter's attempt at bravado only exacerbates Jesus' sense of being utterly alone. Our Lord's self-emptying is total, but it is also tragic and moving. His death should never have happened.

Though he is fully God, he is also fully human. It was no charmed path leading him through Gethsemane to Golgotha, but a brutal and savage barrage of barbarity that would have been as terrifying as it was painful, as humiliating as it was unrelenting. Contemplating the humanity of Christ brings the horror of the Way of the Cross home to us. It is only then that men can be touched in their own hearts, for Jesus did it for us. As St Teresa of Avila insisted to her sisters, "It is the humanity of Christ that saves us".

Conclusion

The divinity of Christ bursts forth on every page of the New Testament. Though Leo the Great quoted no Scripture in his Definition at Chalcedon, the truly divine and truly human Jesus encountered in the gospels is the same Christ whom the Pope defended and proclaimed in the teeth of great opposition. Both Scripture and Magisterium are guided by the Holy Spirit and form one line of truth coming down to men of every age. From creation to final consummation at the Second Coming, there is only one wisdom and plan of God for salvation. He is the Divine Person of the Son made flesh, fully God and fully man.

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