"The Hypostatic Union: God & Christ Jesus" (Part 3/5)

If you’ve ever heard someone say, “Jesus was human, so He could have sinned,” you already know how fast a conversation about the incarnation can go off the rails. We slow it down and get precise about the hypostatic union: Jesus Christ is one person, one hypostasis, with two natures, fully God and fully man. That single claim reshapes how we answer the blunt question, “Who went to the cross?” and why the answer is not “a human part” of Jesus, but Jesus Himself. 

We also walk through key crucifixion language that gets misunderstood, including “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” and John 19:30 where Jesus “gave up the ghost.” We talk about what that phrase is and is not, why it does not mean Jesus “gave up the Holy Spirit,” and how real death and real atonement depend on real humanity without turning the Trinity into a casualty of the cross. Along the way we name common theological errors like Nestorianism and modalism, not to score points, but to show exactly where they distort the Bible’s own categories. 

Then we hit the question that sparks the most debate: will. What do we do with “Not my will, but Yours be done” in Luke 22:42? We explore how Christ’s human submission is genuine while still refusing any conclusion that suggests the Son could will evil, disagree with the Father, or possibly sin. If you want clearer Christian theology, stronger confidence in salvation, and better language for explaining the Trinity and the incarnate Logos, this one is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves deep doctrine, and leave a review. What word or verse causes the most confusion for you when talking about Jesus as God and man?

Transcript

ne Person With Two Natures

SPEAKER_03 0:00

And fully man.

SPEAKER_04 0:01

So it's not one or the other, it's both. Right, but but but right. But the thing about it is, Christ, as man, as the God man is one, one hypostasis. Correct. He's one. Correct. So, and this is why, you know, as we talked this morning, why I want to talk about this. Because if he is two, if he's two, then that guy the other night would have an argument when he says that the Lord Jesus Christ, according to his human flesh, being in the human flesh, being the son of Mary, was capable of sinning. Saying that Christ is capable of sinning is heresy. That's heretical. Saying that he is two is heretical.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

So if if somebody like him asks you guys who went to the cross, the answer is Jesus. Jesus. That's who went to the cross. Right. Jesus. He's one person. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

The man Christ Jesus. That's right. The man Christ Jesus. Who in his in his he, like I said, he has two natures, but he is one person. And he never stops being that one person. And this is what is important. Brother Jonah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 1:25

Hello, good morning. Sorry. Good evening for you. Good evening, brother. Yes, thank you. What I want to say is we have the Logos incarnate. Jesus is the Logos incarnate. It means the world was incarnated. So he's in the nature of a flesh of a human. And he is God, of course, but when he was in at the cross, he was taking all the sin. And God, why he said that Father, Father, why you abandon me? Because God cannot see the sin. So who was uh Jesus was the lamb on the cross, he was taking our sin. He was in the letter of the flesh to take to be the sacrifice, to be the pure holy sacrifice.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

That's right. Amen, brother. Amen. I I understand you very well. You're right, 100%. Yes, yes. I missed the where he said. I just missed the part where you said father, father, why are you forsaking me? Why did he say that? What was what was he saying that part?

SPEAKER_05 2:27

It is Elohim, Elohim. Why is Shabakhtani? Eli Eli in uh Hebrew. But uh it is it means God, God, not the father. I mean, miss uh miss say it.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

Right. I I I I I know what you I know what you're saying. I know what you mean. Um Sister Meg, and then Rodney.

ho Actually Went To The Cross

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Okay, this is what something I didn't want to forget. So one thing that's really interesting is in John chapter 19.30 when you just said that so Jesus is fully God, fully man. Right. Okay, which makes him God. Right. Correct? Yep. Yes, yep. So in John 19, 30 it says, when Jesus therefore have received the vinegar, listen to the order. He said, It is finished, and bowed his head and gave up the ghost.

SPEAKER_04 3:20

Gave up the ghost.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

This verse and it is showing that he is God. He says, No one takes my life from me, I give it up. The way that the order is in this verse, what did he say? It is finished, he bowed his head, and he gave up the ghost, showing that he had the power to what? Lay it down and pick it back up again. Now, where people can get confused is when it says, and he gave up the ghost. It's not the Holy Ghost, okay? It's different. So we have to remember that he did not give up the Holy Ghost. Why? Because as a man, he had to fully die as a man, therefore, he gave up his spirit. Because the only way he could do that completely was to reconcile us back completely, was if he lit, was born, and died man.

SPEAKER_04 4:17

That's right. Absolutely, sister. No argument there, no argument for me at all. Brother Rod.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Well, I kind of think uh um I think I get it for sure. Now I just want to say so Jesus is not a different essence from God. He's just he's a different hypostasis, hypostasis. That's right. Right.

My God Why Forsaken Me”

ohn 19:30 And “Gave Up”

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Absolutely. Okay, and he and he and there's no point ever where he loses that. You know, there's no point where he loses that. Jesus Christ is the most magnificent being to ever set foot on earth or heaven. There's nothing like him. And like we've talked about earlier, it is hard to explain. It's hard to explain how one person can be 100% God and 100% man. I can't explain that. No amount of education can make that understood. There's no there's no analogy. Even when you go back in into antiquity, a lot of the theologians of the time, they they they they couldn't think of a single thing that is analogous to what Jesus is. There has been nothing in all of creation like him, and he himself was not created. You know, so it is when you think about it, it's hard to it's hard, it's hard to to wrap your head around. And that's why these terms that we use sometimes they're they're needed to help us distinguish these things. So here's what we need to understand why this term, what this term helps preserve. It helps preserve in our understanding the unity of God, number one. The unity of God, number one. Number two, the distinction of persons, of the divine persons. When it comes to the Trinity, we understand that God is a unity of being. That's what makes him God. If one person is not God, then God is not God. So in other words, if minus the Holy Spirit, minus Christ, or minus the Father, you don't have God. God is what those three comprise. The distinction of the now we so you have the unity of God's being, and number two, you have the distinction of the divine persons in that unity. They are unified, and it keep in mind are a union, right? They're a union. But here's what we need to understand. They are there, so again, let me let me try to get this right because I don't want to say this and make, you know, lead people astray. The hypostatic union with Christ was between his God nature and his human nature. They were one. When you look at the hypostatic union in the Godhead, it is not with the Godhead, the hypostatic union is with the persons in the Godhead. You understand the difference? So, in other words, the the the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they have a union that we would refer to as a hypostatic union. Hypostatic meaning persons, and they are one. They are union. They are a union. All that each one does, they all do. And this is what's this is what is important. But the God, but God, in his essence, can never be considered a hypostatic union. When Christ, when Christ went to the cross, or when Christ went to the cross, he did not go to the cross with with a with the Trinity being made a hypostatic union with him. So even though, even though in Christ dwelt the fullness of the Godhead, Christ was not made in hypostatic union with God. Why? Because he is God. And this is the part that's hard to explain. So if it doesn't make sense, definitely let me know and I'll clear it up. But there's a unity in God's being, there's a distinction of the divine persons, and then there is a unity of Christ's person. The man Christ has nothing to do, the man has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, and has nothing to do with the Father. The Father and the Holy Spirit did not die on the cross. The Father and the Holy Spirit did not put on human flesh. And this is why, with these under with this understanding, we obliterate the notion that is set forth by the Nestorians and by modalism. So the Holy Spirit did not go to the cross. The Father did not go to the cross, only the Son of God went to the cross. This is why Unitarians and Modalists are wrong and they teach heresy. Anybody confused?

SPEAKER_02 9:44

And they're not Christians.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

That's for sure. People get mad when I say this kind of thing, but you can't be a Christian and get this wrong. Can't say it. So here's the best way to remember here's the best way to understand it. I try to put it in my notes the best way I could. Trinity, the triunal nature of God, has three hypostases or three persons. These three persons make one essence. One essence. So when we talk about hypostatic union, these three are one, and that is their unity. That would be a hypostatic union. In the persons, the Godhead as an essence is never in hypostatic union with anything. But the persons that comprise the Godhead, they are enveloped as a hypostatic union. They are one, equal, co-equal in all aspects, co-eternal, omnipotent, each of them, each of them omnipotent, omniscient, and so forth. All those things that we we know. Christ is a single hypostasis. Right, Brother Aaron. One God, three hypostases. Christ, one hypostasis, two natures. Human, divine. Both perfect, holy, righteous, undefiled, neither capable of sin. And they are not distinct. Christ is one being who is both divine and human at the same time. And therein lies what goes beyond our capacity to really fully embrace. So the best way to remember three hypostases, three personalities, one essence, that's God. Christ, one hypostasis, two natures. Not two people, two natures. What one does, they do as a unit. Christ is one being. I shouldn't have said they. Christ is one being divine and human. And there is no distinction of persons. There is a distinction of nature, but not of persons. He's one hypostasis, he's two natures, but he's one being. Alright? So I want to make sure you're not got that. Any questions so far?

unknown 12:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:25

Go ahead, man. Go ahead.

hy These Terms Matter

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Okay. I because I haven't I've had it. Okay, so I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it one more time just so we can get it to make sure that I have it. Okay. All right. The father is a hypostasis. The son is a hypostasis.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

The Holy Spirit is a hypostasis. When the Lord Jesus, when the Lord Jesus Christ came, He He He received another nature which became the hypostatic union.

SPEAKER_04 12:57

Right. That union was and that union was what?

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Man and God. Yes. It was human nature, divine nature. And one hypostasis. And one hypostasis. But it's the same hypostasis that was in the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 13:15

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Okay. So that same hypostasis, the son of God, came here, became the man Christ Jesus, who is now the same hypostasis, but man and God. That's right. Okay, now personhood. I want to get this right because there's a if I'm wrong, tell me. Personhood is will, intellect, rational capacity. Right? Rationale? More or less. So it's not, it's not people, it's persons. And that this is where people get it wrong. People is not personhood. Right. Because if we say people, then it's tritheism and we're in trouble.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

We got three gods here.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

So it's one God, monopoly.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Right. There's one God. So Christ. So, and let me make this distinction too. You have hypostasis. Stasis. S-I-S at the end. That's singular. Hypostases is plural. So the Trinity is three hypostases, three persons, one essence. Christ is hypostasis. Singular with two natures. You got it? Meg, you got it?

SPEAKER_02 14:37

Yes. So let me correct myself. Thank you, Davey. The personhood is not the will, because then that means that there would be three wills. There's only one will.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

No. That's my fault. Let me put it this way. And this is why person or personality, that is equivalent to hypostasis. Person. A person. And so when you talk about the triunal nature of God, you're talking about three persons or hypostases. Synonymous, same thing. But the reason why I'm using the terms is so that when you hear the terms in theological discussions, you know what is being spoken of. So that's the point of me bringing that up. Make making, you know, using this term so that it becomes second nature in your understanding when you hear it. Hypostasis is a person. Person. Hypostasis, same thing. Hypostasis is the plurality of persons. Make sense? Everybody? All right. Brother Jonah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 15:45

And then Candy. Yes. Uh okay. I am I'm not I'm not fluent in English. I'm trying to understand what is hypostasis like at all or like uh hypostasis is hypostasis is means person.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

You hear me?

SPEAKER_05 16:07

Yeah, yeah, I I I'm trying to yes, I hear you.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

Yeah. So hypostasis is a person. Is is person, personhood, person. Hypostases is the plural form of the singular word hypostasis. Hypostases, and I know it's confusing, but hypostases is a plurality of persons. So father, son, and holy spirit, hypostases, they make one essence. Hypostasis is Christ, one person with two natures, divine and human. You understand, Jonah?

SPEAKER_05 16:45

Yes. Uh yes, okay, but uh okay, um so you you're saying that there are three persons, three or uh three nature, but one God, right?

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Yes. No, three three persons make up three the three persons, they they combined are the nature of God.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

They are can you define personhood to him so he kind of understands that?

rinity Unity And Person Distinction

SPEAKER_04 17:09

Yeah, well, person is person is well, it's like us. We're we're we're pe we're persons, we are individuals. So in in when it comes to the Godhead, you have three separate persons, right? Father, son, holy spirit. Three persons. Each person is also called a hypostasis. Hypostasis just means person, right? So so you can say hypostasis, or you can say person, it means the same. You mean distinct, right? You said separate. Uh yeah, I'm sorry, distinct persons. Distinct persons. But these distinct persons are hypostatically unified, and they make up and they comprise what God is in essence. The essence of God is made up of three persons. Without those three persons, there is no God.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Question.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Okay. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 18:12

So wait, hold on one second, Meg. Jonah, do you understand? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 18:19

This is, you know, it is a deep, a deep debate, and uh explanation about the things, it's not easy at all. Yeah. But no, yeah, I believe I believe in this, yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

Yeah, it it it it makes sense. And I I know it's I know it's heavy, but you know, this is definitely something heavier than I normally try to deal with. But it needs to be dealt with.

SPEAKER_05 18:41

Yes, if you're trying to explain to someone from not Christian, like Muslim or something, right? As a it is difficult to teach him that we believe in one God, but divided in three hypostasis, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

No, yeah, you you you you I mean, it it'll it'll make sense as you start to deal with it over time. Brother Aaron says, My head hurts. I'm doing my job then. Your head is gonna hurt before I get done, they're gonna explode. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 19:10

Um I was next. Uh go ahead. Uh Megan then and then Ken.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Let me explain this. If I'm wrong, tell me. Because I I I just I'm learning here. Okay, so in the triune God, there is three persons, one divine will. Yes. In the Lord Jesus Christ, incarnation, because will is attached to nature, there are it is one person, two natures, two wills, correct?

SPEAKER_04 19:45

No, one will.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Hold on. I okay, so this is this is why I know that he said, he says, for I have come not to do my will, but the will of the father who sent me.

SPEAKER_04 19:57

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

So if the will is attached to the nature, and he had one divine nature and one human nature, hypostatically united, there would have to be two wills for him to be fully man at that time. Because even though he was not, even though he was sinless and couldn't sin, this is why he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. So there are not three wills in God. There is one divine will shared by the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Now you're starting to confuse me. So what are you what are so what are you suggest what are you suggesting about Christ's will? Are you saying he had two different wills? Because that's what it sounds like you're top you're intimating.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Well, if will is attached to nature, like we've said previously.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

But but remember, we said that Christ is one, one person with two natures.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

But if but then if he has two natures, then he would have to have two wills because the because a will is attached to a nature, and if he was truly man, then he had to have a true human nature, and with that comes a will. So when he said that um, for I have come not to do my will, but the will of the father who sent me, like, how would we explain that verse?

SPEAKER_04 21:20

You just explained it, you use the verse that explains it. He said, I came to do my father's will. So here's the thing. Here's what, here's what the distinction that has to be made. Christ had to come here to be to be man, which means that even though he had his divinity at all times and had his, but there are many of his there are many of his of his prerogatives that he gave up in order to be man. So it's just like when Christ says he didn't know when he would return. Do you think that according to his divine nature that he did not know, or do you believe that it was because of his human nature that he didn't know? Well he Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Well, because in that it's it it's not that I wouldn't say because he was submit he was he was submitted to the father out of obedience to be completely to be fully man. So at when he was speaking, he the father was the only one to declare that moment.

unknown 22:25

Right?

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Declare what moment? Declare the out declare the hour.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

Declare the hour. Well, well, well everything, everything that the father knows, Christ knows. So what what so what I'm trying to say is Christ, as as according in terms of his human nature, there are many of his prerogatives that he gave up. That he gave up in order to be fully men, to be fully man. The question I need to I would need to ask you is this do you believe that there's anything that Jesus Christ willed that his father did not will?

SPEAKER_02 23:05

No, but that's why he's fully God and fully man, hypostatic into the one person of Jesus Christ. But the personhood is is not the personhood of God of Jesus doesn't belong to the nature. The nature belongs to the will belongs to the nature, not the person.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

Well, well, I I'm not sure I get which what you're where you're going to be.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

But I'm saying, since Christ has both natures, he must have two wills. Because when he says, not thine will, but not my will, but thine will be done. So my will would be Christ's human's will, but but that's why he came in the likeness of sinful flesh, because he was there was no sin in him as a man. Right.

ypostasis Vs Essence Made Simple

SPEAKER_04 23:51

So I I I understand I understand what you're saying. I I totally get what you're saying. But for for you say you have to understand the ramifications of what you're suggesting. I do. Because what you're suggesting, what what you're suggesting is just what that other guy was suggesting. So if if Christ could could have a will that is contrary to his father's, the will which he said he came to do and fulfill. If for you to for if you to suggest that he had two operative wills is to is to uh agree with what that guy Isaiah was saying. No. That that there were listen what I'm saying. He was saying that Christ was capable of sinning.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

That he was capable of sinning. He just didn't. But Jesus was the God man. There was no sin in him. So that will that he had.

SPEAKER_04 24:48

No, no, Meg, no, Meg. What I'm saying is, this it put it this way. If that guy, for instance, were listening right now, you he would find an alliance with what you're saying. Because the whole idea would be that the Christ had a will that could go, that was capable of going contrary to his father's. He just didn't do it.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Okay, so that's why we have scripture to back it up. Because then if he were to tell me that, then I would bring up, I would bring up a verse.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

Well, let's let's let's let's stick to what we're talking about. But go ahead and make your point real quick. I want to understand, because we can talk about this. We could because that's another, that's a the will of Christ was is another issue. But I will I will argue all day that there is no possibility that Christ could ever will something that is contrary to the Father's will.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

But that's that that's why I'm saying in order for him to be fully man, then he would have to have the will of a man, but without sin. He who knew no sin became sin. So the will that he had was also different than most men. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, but therefore he wasn't.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

You're missing you're the point you're missing is what the hypostatic union is. If Christ had a different will than his father, even in his human nature, because remember, the whole point I've been trying to make about the hypostatic union is that Christ was one hypostasis. He was he was one hypostasis with divinity and humanity in unity.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Yes, and so were the two wills. Because if he has two, if he has two natures, he has to have two wills because will is attached to nature. So you can't have one without the other.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

Okay. So we're well, so so then what do you think union means other than the blending of natures?

SPEAKER_02 26:58

And what would you the unity of that human nature and the divine nature, the hypostatic union which makes the one Lord Jesus Christ? But just like in Romans 8:3, when it says, For what the law could not do, that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemning sin in the flesh. So the son, it was in the likeness of sinful flesh, but it he didn't sin, he could not sin. So those two wills were still united, but he he had to have a human will in order to be fully man, because if he wasn't, then I I'm not suggesting that he didn't I'm not suggesting that he didn't have a human will.

SPEAKER_04 27:39

What I'm saying that is that he that there was no point where what he willed was contrary to his father's will. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

But then why did he So then why did he say not my will, but your will.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

Because the father gave the marching orders, Meg.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

I don't know why he's exactly buttons. I don't know why you're not understanding this. But he has Okay, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

I'm just saying, if he has, if he has, okay, like us, right?

oes Christ Have Two Wills

SPEAKER_04 28:09

So let me let me ask you let me ask you a question. If he has two, if he has two different wills, what is the difference between the two? Can one be contrary to God's will?

SPEAKER_02 28:19

No, they're unified.

SPEAKER_04 28:21

Okay, so why are they unified, Meg?

SPEAKER_02 28:23

They're unified because of the hypostatic union, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:26

Well, listen, they're unified because his human will is in perfect submission to the divine will. Yes, exactly. They are never in disagreement. That's the thing. Because unlike human, unlike us in the fallen state, our with us, our will is rarely in submission to God's uh divine nature, right? But with Christ, there's no division, there's no part where you can see if you wrote a line on a paper, like let's say you were writing algebra, and you wrote the two lines to represent his human will, you wouldn't be able to see the human will because it so perfectly overlaps the divine. They're in perfect submission so as to, although there are two wills, that human will is in perfect submission so as to be no difference between the two.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Okay, what I what okay, so when in Luke 22, 42, right? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_04 29:23

I I see the rabbit hole coming.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

No, it's not a rabbit hole. I I it that this is part of this is part of the Trinity. And the reason why I'm saying is because the Lord Jesus Christ says multiple times, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine will be done. So why does he say that? That's what I'm wanting an answer to. Why is he saying, Not my will, but your will be done?

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Because the whole purpose of because May, Christ became a man, and he became subject to everything that a man is subject to. And Christ subjected himself as a man to the divine will. That's what you saw him doing. And but but you are what you're doing is injecting in the way you're presenting this as him being able to have the possibility of going contrary to God's will. Christ was an absolute, utter, complete, complete um dependence on God's will. That divine nature. I understand the question. I do understand the question. And it is a good one. I get it. But you have but what I'm saying is you have to be very careful in the possibility of a conclusion being made from what you're asking, from what you're asking, that Christ had the possibility to be able to exercise a will that is contr exercise his will that is contrary to God's will. That can't be done.

ethsemane And Perfect Submission

SPEAKER_02 30:59

So then if he didn't have a human will, because the will is your ability to decide, desire, right? So if you don't have that, then what he he's fully God and fully man. He had to be fully man in every way to redeem us fully back to the Father. This is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

This is where I'm Brother Pad, go ahead, take a stab at it.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

Okay, so Meg, you're misunderstanding this passage about um Father, if it be your will, take this cup from me. And you're saying that you would it seems that you're implying that this is Jesus chickening out, not wanting to do the will of the Father. Well, then what's your point?

SPEAKER_02 31:45

That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is he felt like us. He still that's also not what that is.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Let me explain this passage to you really quick, Meg. Just be open to hearing it. What that is is perfect faith. Because Jesus came and lived a perfect life, and the trials and tribulations of life, do we take it upon ourselves?