The Hypostatic Union

The technical term we use to describe the existence of both a human and a divine nature in the person of Christ is “hypostatic union.” Although this may sound like a strange term to our modern ears, we can understand it when we think of how it was used in the early church.

In chapter 18 of his work On the Holy Spirit, the fourth-century church father Basil used the word “hypostasis” in this way: “There is one God and Father, one Only-begotten, and one Holy Ghost. We proclaim each of the hypostases singly.”

The doctrine of the hypostatic union then, deals with the union of a divine nature and a human nature within the one hypostasis — or person — of God the Son. Stated precisely, it says that:

Jesus is one person with two distinct natures (a divine nature and a human nature), with each nature retaining its own attributes.

God the Son has always possessed full divinity with all its attributes. And when he was conceived and born as a human being, he added to his person all the essential attributes of a human being, such as a body and soul.

One place the New Testament talks about the hypostatic union is Philippians 2:5-7. Now, Paul’s statement that Jesus “made himself nothing,” or more literally “emptied himself,” has sometimes confused Christians. Some have mistakenly thought that Jesus actually put aside his glory, or even his divine nature. But this is impossible. God’s nature is immutable. God can’t put aside any of his essential attributes, much less his entire nature.

Fortunately, Paul made the meaning of this phrase very clear by explaining it with two participial phrases: “taking the very nature of a servant” and “being made in human likeness.” These phrases tell us how Jesus “became nothing” or “emptied himself.” Specifically, Jesus emptied himself, not by losing his divine nature, but by taking on an additional nature — a human nature that did not replace but merely veiled his divine glory.

Jesus has only one person. He does not have two persons or two minds, as if a human person hosted a divine person in his body. And he is not one person that is somehow a combination or hybrid of two distinct persons or minds, as if a divine person merged with a human person. He is and always has been the same eternal person known as the Son of God.

At the same time, Jesus has two distinct natures: a human nature and a divine nature. Both these natures are entire and whole, just as the nature of the Father is entirely divine, and the nature of human beings is entirely human. Jesus possesses every attribute that is essential to divinity, and every attribute that is essential to humanity.

Moreover, Jesus’ two natures are distinct from each other. He does not have a hybrid nature that combines both divine and human attributes. Nor do his human attributes hinder his divine attributes, or his divine attributes enhance his human attributes. Each nature remains entirely unchanged.