Fully God and human; Chalcedonian two-nature Christology affirmed
Reformed Christology fully affirms the Council of Chalcedon (451): Jesus Christ is one divine person in two natures — fully divine and fully human — without confusion, change, division, or separation. The Heidelberg Catechism (Q&A 15–18) explains why the Mediator must be both truly human (to represent humanity and suffer) and truly God (to bear the weight of divine wrath and deliver us). The Belgic Confession (Articles 10, 18–19) treats the two natures at length.
A point of theological controversy between Reformed and Lutheran Christology concerns the communicatio idiomatum. Reformed theology holds a more limited view: the divine and human natures retain their distinct properties, and the divine nature does not communicate properties like omnipresence to the human nature. This has direct implications for the Lord's Supper: Christ's physical body, being locally limited as a true human body, is at the Father's right hand in heaven, not physically present in the bread and wine. This position (Extra Calvinisticum) was explicitly rejected by Lutherans.
Key Distinctions
- Natures formula:
- two complete natures (divine and human) united in one person (hypostatic union)
- Conciliar affiliation:
- Council of Chalcedon (451) affirmed
Scripture References
Sources
- Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 15–18 (1563)
- Belgic Confession, Articles 10 and 18–19 (1561)
- Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter VIII (1647)