Fully God and human; Chalcedonian two-nature Christology affirmed
Lutheran 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 Augsburg Confession Article III confesses that the Son of God took on human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Formula of Concord (Article VIII) further develops the doctrine of the communicatio idiomatum (communication of attributes), which has a more robust form in Lutheran theology than in Reformed Christology.
Distinctively, Lutheranism holds that the divine properties — including omnipresence — can be genuinely communicated to the human nature of Christ. This has direct sacramental implications: it grounds the Lutheran doctrine of Christ's real bodily presence in the Lord's Supper (ubiquity of Christ's body). The Formula of Concord's treatment of the two natures is one of the more sophisticated Christological contributions of the Reformation era.
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
- Augsburg Confession, Article III (1530)
- Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration Article VIII (1577)
- Council of Chalcedon, Definition of Faith (451)