“Jesus Christ is not a Human Person”: the Anhypostasis of Jesus Christ

Notes for presentation given at Restoration Fellowship Theological Conference, July 31, 2020

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Summary:

Trinitarian theologians claim that since God the Son “took on” humanity, Jesus was not a human person. Otherwise Jesus Christ would be two persons (one divine person and one human person). Trinitarian theologians call the non-human personhood of Jesus Christ the anhypostasis (“without personhood”), and the divine personalizing of the human nature the enhypostasis. Schlegel examines the anhypostasis theory from a biblical perspective and finds the theory to be anti-Messiah.

  

Slide 1

Deity of Christ claim: “Jesus is not a human person”.

According to Trinitarian Christology and theology, Jesus is not a human person. Jesus only has a human nature.

This is called the anhypostasis of Jesus Christ, meaning “without a person”, “impersonality”.

 

 

Slide 2

Most Christians would probably say, “What do you mean I don’t believe that Jesus is not a human person? Of course I do.” The truth is, there is a disconnect between the theological academy and the pew. The average Christian doesn’t think about the ramifications of claiming “Jesus is God”, but the theologians have thought about it. However, it seems rarely do the theologians venture into trying to explain the ramifications to average Christians. I believe that if more people are confronted with this foundational traditional church teaching, they will question the whole “deity of Christ” claim.

 

That Jesus is not a human person is not a fringe claim for traditional Christianity, nor am I creating a straw man that no one really believes. Rather, the non-human personhood of Jesus Christ is essential to deity of Christ theology.  The explanations from the five “deity of Christ” theologians below show that the non-human personhood of Jesus is what traditional, mainstream Christianity claims. The emphasis in the quotes are mine.

 

First is an article by David Matthis, a pastor and Executive Editor of desiringgod.org (of John Piper), from his article called, Anhypostasis: What Kind of Flesh Did Jesus Take?

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/anhypostasis-what-kind-of-flesh-did-jesus-take

 

“The famous all-church Council of Chalcedon in 451 confirmed with clarity that Jesus is “one person” with “two natures” (full divinity and full humanity), but after the council, years of further discussion ensued. How is it that one person can have two natures? When the Son of God took on humanity, did that not mean that he was taking to his divine person a second (human) person as part of that humanity? Is he not two persons, if he as two natures?”

 

Slide 3

Continuation of Mathis article (see slide 2)

“Enter the theological term anhypostasis. The Greek word hypostasis had come to refer in the early church discussions to what we’d call personhood—whether in the Trinity or in the two-natured person of Jesus—and so the negating an- prefix was added to signify that, considered on its own (apart from his divinity), Jesus’ humanity is impersonal.”

 

“In other words, Jesus took a fully human nature, but he did not take a human person. Jesus can have a fully human nature without also taking a pre-existing human personhood.”

 

Slide 4

Article by a Catholic, Henry Karlson, “God Became Man without a Human Self (Hypostasis)

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/10/jesus-christ-god-son-without-human-person

 

“When looking at him (Jesus Christ), we see one person, but when we discern who he is in that person, we find he is one person with two natures, God and human. This is where confusion and debate springs up.

 

This, for many of us, seems rather odd. The perfect human is not a human person; the perfect human has no specific human self.”

 

Slide 5

Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church

Philip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States. Schaff became a professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City in 1870.

References are to the online version of his monumental History of the Christian Church.

 

“The anhypostasia, impersonality, or, to speak more accurately, the enhypostasia, of the human nature of Christ - This is a difficult point, but a necessary link in the orthodox doctrine of the one God-Man; for otherwise we must have two persons in Christ, and, after the incarnation, a fourth person, and that a human, in the divine Trinity.” 1653

 

“The centre of personal life in the God-Man resides unquestionably in the Logos, who was from eternity the second person in the Godhead, and could not lose his personality. He united himself, as has been already observed, not with a human person, but with human nature.” 1653

 

“And the human nature of Christ had no independent personality of its own, besides the divine;” 1654

 

Slides  6, 7, 8, 9

Dr. William Lane Craig video excerpts from Interview, A Defense of Neo-Apollinarianism on Youtube Crash Course Apologetics (e.g., 19:25-20:10 in the video)

 

"What the council of Chalcedon did was set down as it were boundary markers that enabled theologians to know what was the safe channel within which they could move for orthodox Christological speculation. It did not solve the question of the incarnation but it did set down boundaries to the right and the left that you must not cross. And the watchword of Chalcedon is that you must neither divide the person nor confuse the natures. You must not divide the person of Christ into two persons. There was not a divine person and a human person - the man Jesus.

...in Christ we have one person with two complete natures... it seems to me that that is correct. Secondly, the Logos is the rational mind of Jesus, so that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity. Therefore, there is only one person in Christ. There is not a human person. There is no man Jesus of Nazareth who is a human person. You have a divine person who has a human nature.

Note again this statement from Dr. Craig:

…there is not a human person. There is no man Jesus of Nazareth who is a human person…”

 

Slide 10

The Solution: Enhypostasis

From the Protestant Got Questions website: What are enhypostasis and anhypostasis?

https://www.gotquestions.org/enhypostasis-anhypostasis.html

 

“Christ is ‘anhypostatic’ in that Christ’s human nature is not personal in itself, but also ‘enhypostatic’ in that it is personalised by being united to the eternal person who is the second person of the Trinity. This makes his hypostasis or personhood fully human and fully divine.”

 

“Sometimes words seem to make the issue more complicated than it needs to be…If the words enhypostasis and anhypostasis help us to understand and explain the Incarnation to others, then they are useful. If they only complicate the issue, we can communicate the same concept this way: “2 natures; 1 person.”

 

Slide 11

Continuation from same web article as slide 10

https://www.gotquestions.org/enhypostasis-anhypostasis.html

 

“Jesus did not seize another human and appropriate control of that human’s nature. We could say that the humanity that He put on was impersonal.

 

“Jesus added to His divine nature and person, and what was added was a real human nature, not a human person.

“Christ’s genuine human nature is in addition to His genuine divine nature, and He remains one unified person, not two.

 

“Christ is ‘anhypostatic’ in that Christ’s human nature is not personal in itself, but also ‘enhypostatic’ in that it is personalised by being united to the eternal person who is the second person of the Trinity. This makes his hypostasis or personhood fully human and fully divine.

 

Slide 12

Deity of Christ version of Romans 5:8

From: What is the Hypostatic Union, Mathis, Desiring God Ministries,

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-hypostatic-union

"He has demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, he took our nature to his one person and died for us” (Romans 5:8, sic).

The real Romans 5:8: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

 

Slide 13

Biblical response to the non-human personhood of Jesus Christ

 

1. This is nowhere described in the Bible (like the Trinity itself). There is no explanation, no discussion, no confusion, nor opposition expressed in the Bible to concepts like the non-human personhood (anhypostasis),  or the personalizing of human nature (enhypostasis) by a divine being. The Bible knows no God-man, no “dual nature” of Jesus the Messiah. These are all philosophical concepts created in centuries after Jesus, totally foreign to the Bible. Rather, the Bible says plainly that Jesus is a man.

 

John 8:40 “…but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.”

 

1 Corinthians 15:21  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

 

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

 

Slide 14

Biblical response to the non-human personhood of Jesus Christ

 

2. “Deity of Christ” theology is a complete denigration of who the man Jesus Christ is, and of what he has done for us. The man, the human person, Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth “loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2, 5:25; Gal. 1:4, 2:20, 1 Tim. 2:6; Titus 2:14; Rev. 1:5, 5:6, 5:12).

If Jesus is not a human person, no human person gave himself up for us, died and was raised from the dead.

 

Slide 15

Biblical response to the non-human personhood of Jesus Christ

 

3. “Diety of Christ” theology attempts to eliminate the human person who has been exalted to the right hand of Almighty God (Psa. 8, 110:1; Acts 2:33, 5:31, 7:56; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13, 8:1, 9:24, 10:12, 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22; Rev. 5:7, etc.).

If anything, “deity of Christ” and Trinitarian dogma has only an abstract “human nature”, raised from the dead (re-incarnated?) in heaven at God’s right hand.

However, by Trinitarian dogma definition, even the abstract “human nature” has been eliminated. Otherwise their definition of God would be three persons in two essences (or four persons in two essences if Jesus is a real human person).

 

Slide 16

Illustration of how all deity of Christ claims dishonor and deny the human person Jesus the Messiah.

All deity of Christ claims are a denial of the human person, Jesus the Messiah. The human person Jesus did nothing. According to Trinitarians and deity of Christ claims, there is no human person involved in any of the Bible, including these chapters: Gospel of John, Philippians 2, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1, etc.

 

Slide 17

Biblical response to the non-human personhood of Jesus Christ

A spirit not of God

1 John 4:2 “By this you know the spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus the Messiah has come* in the flesh is of God.”

 

Jesus is the name of the human person from Nazareth. Messiah or Christ is the title of the human person designated by God (Yahweh) as king or priest.

 

*“has come” - ἔρχομαι - “comes on the scene, is here”

Luke 7:33, “John the Baptist has come eating no bread and…”;

John 6:14, “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who comes into the world!"

John 7:31 “When Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this one has done”

 

Slide 18

John 4:2 does NOT say: “Every spirit is of God that confesses…

1.       that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and yet is fully God

2.       that God or one person of God has come in the flesh as Jesus Christ

3.       that God or one person of God took on human flesh

4.       that Jesus Christ came from some pre-existent state into the flesh.

5.       that God added human flesh to his nature, subsequently being composed of two natures

6.       that God or one person of God has taken on a non-personal human nature.

Such claims are adding to and changing the Scripture.

Slide 19

"deceiver and anti-Messiah"

2 John 1:7 “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming* of Jesus the Messiah in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”

•     anti-  can mean against, but also opposite, instead of, in place of

•     The trinitarian, deity of Christ is anti-Christ: opposing and instead of, in the place of the real biblical Jesus Christ. A God-man Christ is not the biblical human Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

•     The Trinitarian anti-christ is a fake, an imposter Christ. The Trinitarian “deity of Christ, God-man” is “another Jesus, another Gospel” (2 Cor. 11:3-4, Galatians 1:6-7).