Title: 13
Author: Joe G
Last saved by: PJD-SymCast
Company: GDC

© 2004 Joe Griffin		04-08-29-B.CC02-331 /

Hypostatic Union: the Glory of Christ, Matt 17:1-2; Heb 1:2-3; Impeccability: non Posse Peccare & Posse non Peccare; Temptation, James 1:13

25.	The glory of Christ was veiled, but never surrendered.  This glory was temporarily revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration:
Matthew 17:1 -	Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves.
v. 2 -		And Jesus was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.	
26.	The glorification of the humanity of Christ was not completed until He was resurrected, ascended, and seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 1:2 -	God in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He ordered the dispensations.
Hebrews 1:3 -		And He is the radiance of His glory [ dÒxa, doxa ] and the exact representation of His essence [ ØpÒstasij, hupostasis ], and upholds all things by the word of His power.  When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
		27.	In the hypostatic union the kenosis of the Lord’s divine attributes was also resulted in veiling His divine glory.
		28.	However, forbearance of using the divine attributes in no way implies that divine nature was changed, for to change any one of the divine attributes would result in a change of divine nature.  Immutability forbids this.
		29.	Therefore, in the hypostatic union the divine and human natures were maintained without alteration which includes the fact there was no transfer of attributes from one to the other, no diminishment of the attributes of deity by the taking on human attributes and no aggrandizement of human attributes by the taking on of divine attributes.
		30.	In other words, infinity cannot be transferred to the finite nor can the finite be transferred to the infinite.  They must both remain independent and unaffected by the presence of the other.
		31.	But the presence of both natures in the Person of our Lord is what makes Him the unique personality of the universe.  This is reflected by several seemingly contradictory concepts.
		32.	In the Incarnation, Christ could be simultaneously omnipotent and weak.  He was capable of performing miracles but during His passion He was too weak to carry the cross.
		33.	Also, Christ could be simultaneously omniscient and ignorant.  He was capable of knowing what others were thinking but as a child His true humanity had to acquire knowledge of Bible doctrine through spiritual growth. 

34.	Nevertheless, none of the events of the Incarnation caused the Lord to react by commission of sin.  While in the hypostatic union, Christ remained impeccable in His true humanity.
35.	There are two Latin phrases that summarize the principle of impeccability as it applies to our Lord’s deity and His humanity.
36.	With regard to His deity the phrase non posse peccare means “not able to sin.”  God cannot be tempted and it is even blasphemous to consider that He could sin.
James 1:13 -	Let no one say when he is tempted [ present passive participle of peir£zw, peirazō ], “I am being tempted [ present passive indicative ] by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt [ present active indicative ] anyone.
37.	The verb peirazō is used three times in this verse, the first two in the passive voice which means that the temptation comes from an outside source.  However, the outside source cannot be God.  It is first stated that “God cannot be tempted from an outside source to do evil.”  The final use is active voice, “God does not produce the action of tempting anyone.”
38.	Therefore, in His deity Jesus Christ could not be tempted and as a result could not sin: non posse peccare.
39.	With regard to our Lord’s humanity the phrase posse non peccare means “able not to sin.”  This was possible since He functioned completely within the prototype spiritual life designed for the Lord in the Incarnation.
40.	The primary meaning of peirazō in the New Testament is “testing.”  In His humanity our Lord was tested on many occasions.
41.	God tests us so as to determine our value.  If we are of high quality then we are able to apply doctrine very efficiently and endure the testing with poise and grace.
42.	However, since testing is a part of the plan of God we often fail under testing.  This is designed to demonstrate to us through human experience that we must continue our spiritual growth if we are to achieve mastery over the sources of temptation: the flesh, the world, and the devil.

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