Nature of Jesus

The Old Catholic Church affirms Chalcedonian Christology: Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, fully divine and fully human, united in one person (hypostasis) without confusion, change, division, or separation of natures. He is truly God and truly Man. Each nature retains its own properties and operations, yet they are united in the single person of the Word (Logos).

As the eternal Son, Christ is begotten of the Father before all ages (not created), sharing equality in divinity, glory, and power. The incarnation—the taking on of human flesh—does not diminish Christ's divinity. He experienced genuine human development, temptation, suffering, and death, yet without sin. His human will is united to his divine will in the one person of the Word.

Christ is affirmed as Theotokos—God-bearer—and Mary is honored as the Mother of God (theologically understood as the mother of the one person, Jesus, who is God). Perpetual virginity of Mary is affirmed by some branches but not universally required. Christ's humanity is complete and real: he is not God disguised as human (Docetism), nor is he merely a deified human (Arianism). The Chalcedonian Definition preserves both full divinity and full humanity.