The Hypostatic Union and The Hypostatic Union and Atonement
Excerpt from the book Meditations on Christian Dogma, Volume I
One of the great mysteries of our faith is the hypostatic union — Jesus being both God and Man. But it was necessary for our salvation that God should take on the form of man while not giving up any of His divinity. Because man sinned, so man must atone for the sin. But because sin could only be atoned for by a perfect divinity, God needed to take on the form of man to atone for our sins.
Yours in Jesus and Mary.
From the book Meditations on Christian Dogma, Volume I by Right Reverend James Bellord, D. D. (Convent of Mercy, 1906, pages 230-233).
The Hypostatic Union
I. Consider the terms, or the elements of the union which took place in the Incarnation. One was the Divinity, the Second adorable Person of the Trinity; the other was the Humanity, composed of real soul and body, with all its powers, senses, and members. The soul is the first of the two sub-elements which compose the human element. The Divinity entered primarily into union with the soul, as being that which completes human nature, and in which the dominant faculties reside. The soul was the chief seat of Adam's sin, and of the taint of sin in his descendants, and of the consequences or punishment of sin. But God did not abhor even the body; it is the companion of the soul, the instrument of its action, a sufferer by the sin, and it is destined to enter into glory.
Therefore the Word is said, not to be made a soul, nor even made man, but to have been made flesh. “Because the children are partakers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same” (Hebrews 2:14). We have here a reflection of the Trinity; with this difference, that in the Godhead there is Unity of Substance with Trinity of Persons, and in Christ there is Unity of Person with a trinity of substances, viz., the Divinity, the spiritual soul, the material body. How complete and thorough is all that Jesus does for you! Let your service of Him be real and complete in every respect.
II. The two natures are so wonderfully combined in Christ that He is God-Man and Man-God. Each nature remains complete; the Godhead remains the Godhead, perfect and unchanged ; and yet we can say that, in Christ, God is Man and the Man is God. This hypostatic union is an example of that combination of unity and multiplicity which marks God's works. In material nature we find a unity of law, of harmony, of order, amongst the enormous multitude of creatures. Higher still there is the union of the material and the spiritual in man; which, however, is dissolved by death. Then comes the union of our souls with God by grace, which, during this life, is liable to be terminated by sin.
More perfect than this is the Hypostatic Union of Divinity and Humanity in Christ; even death did not dissolve this, for when it broke the union of His soul and body, the Divinity still remained united to each of the separated elements. Above all, there is the transcendent Unity of God, which does not combine together separate substances, but by its internal action constitutes a triple personality. Rejoice in the great glory and honor and happiness possessed by the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord. Union with Him will be your highest glory, and honor, and happiness, on earth and in heaven.
III. Consider certain singularities of the hypostatic union. Only the single Person of God the Son was united with human nature. Again, the Divinity assumed into this union, not all mankind, nor even the angels; “for nowhere doth He take hold of the angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold” (Hebrews 2:16); the single created nature that was born of Mary was elevated to this union. Further, Christ had only one parent on earth, His Blessed Mother. He was the only Son of the Eternal Father, and, both as God and as Man, God was His only Father. God will not give His glory to another. Jesus Christ has a glory of His own which is given to no other. The Blessed Virgin Mary has a singular glory too in the Incarnation, which is beyond all that has been granted to human beings. There are certain singularities of God's Providence in regard to you. You have some special gifts and graces, and in return there are some special services which you have to render to God.
The Hypostatic Union and Atonement
I. By the fall of Adam the supernatural career of mankind was abruptly terminated, and grievous offence was offered to God in lieu of service. There was needed a source of restitution for man and of atonement to God. Without this, the end of God's mighty works would be failure most miserable and the triumph of evil over good. If God simply cancelled and ignored the sin, it would still be a triumph of evil; for it would mean that the universe was not sufficiently equipped to work out its purposes; it would mean that the ordinary law was deficient and had to be supplemented by a quasi afterthought; it would be an extinction of energy without allowing it to work itself out, the intervention of an extrinsic force to remedy the inherent incurable defects in God's own work.
The perfection of God's work demands that there should be in the human race itself the means of triumphing over evil, of justifying its own existence and the Providence of God. The goodness of God requires that, whatever happens, good should predominate over evil. God's dignity requires that His great work should not end in a fiasco. Regular order requires that every force should be allowed to work itself out. Equity requires that the offender should suffer the consequences of his offense and should himself make atonement. The only appropriate form of restitution is one in which human energies should neutralize the evil done by men. How helpless you are in the face of such requirements! How hopeless is the case of unaided sinful humanity!
II. The atonement required is infinite, for it had to be adequate to the evil inflicted; and the restitution of man was to the possession of the Infinite. Sin, though the consequence of a finite act, has a certain infinity of effect, for it is the contradiction of all that is positive in God, and firstly of Being, which is the essential perfection in God: “I am who am” (Exodus 3:14). In its tendency it is destructive of God (v. p. 50). An equal energy is required to counteract it; viz., one that in tendency shall be, as it were, creative of God, or, actually, productive of God's presence. No act of ours, however good, has this supreme efficacy. An infinite vital action is required; and that can proceed only from an infinite person. The human race can never supply this. All our action apart from God is worthless and destructive. Without religion all human talent and good intentions are positively noxious.
111. The Hypostatic Union combines the two necessary conditions; its action is at once human and infinite. As God alone, Jesus Christ could not make atonement; it would be a new violation and not a satisfaction of justice for one to sin and another to bear the burden. But, as man, the Divine Person is one of the offending race. He is not an isolated individual; for human society is not an agglomeration of atoms, but a corporate body with common life and action. As every particle on this earth affects every particle in the whole universe, so each man's action, good or bad, affects the whole race.
The acts of Jesus Christ are the actions of the Son of Humanity; we share in the effects of His, He shares in the effects of ours. The same law which causes us to suffer by the sins of Adam, of our fathers, of our countrymen, causes Jesus to suffer by our sins, and us to profit by His virtues. He, as being the first-born and the greatest portion of humanity, contributes proportionally more (i.e., infinitely more) to the sum of good, and suffers a greater share of the effects of sin. As He, then, is predestined eternally to be Son of Man, the human race contains in itself a vast predominance of good over evil, and the means of atoning for its sins without any violent destruction of natural forces or the intervention of extraneous ones. Thus the Atonement is not only a marvel of mercy but of well ordered harmony and regular law. Every act of yours has its full effect for good or evil on the whole world.