"On the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits upon the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead."The words sound familiar, even to those of us who never repeat these words in public worship as most liturgically oriented churches do each week. Jesus ascended and sits upon the Father's right hand. That's what the Apostle writes in his letter to the Ephesians. The right hand is not a place, but a position of authority and power and dominion.
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. - Eph 1:16-21 ESVThat settles it, right? No argument, right? Not quite. Questions remains about Jesus' human nature. Is Jesus present everywhere to rule over all things also in his human nature? The answer to that question was hammered out by the church and preserved in the Athanasian creed. Here's what that creed says about Christ,
It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.Eastern Orthodox Christians, Lutherans and Roman Catholics and some others teach that Christ is present now everywhere and at all times, both as God and as man. The Reformed churches, following the lead of John Calvin, view Jesus' ascension as His return to heaven, some sort of place with a spatial component. There His human nature must remain until the Last Day. But those of us who understand that Christ's two natures are ever and always united in one person do not view heaven as a place and so have no problem with Christ being truly present with His body and blood in the Holy Supper.
For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man.
He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother -- existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body; equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity.
Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ.
He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity.
He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures.
There are some Christians who reject both positions, arguing that Christ has but one nature, not two united into one person. They say we have confused things with our definitions. So Dr. Ronald W. Leigh argues and concludes,
Jesus was neither exactly like the Father in all aspects, nor exactly like other men in all aspects. Thus, in order to describe the characteristics of Jesus accurately we must base our description on the explicit New Testament statements of the characteristics of Jesus rather than on some assumed content of the concept "God" . . .
In short, not only must we let the New Testament description of Jesus speak for itself, unhindered by previously fixed ideas about the nature of God and of man, but we must also let the picture of Jesus given in the New Testament help determine our understanding of the nature of God and of man. . . The nature of Jesus is determinative for our understanding of the essence of the nature of man, as well as for our understanding of the essence of the nature of GodWell, I hope I've not confused you unduly. I personally embrace the Lutheran—and historic—position. And I rejoice that Jesus, both God and Man, is my Savior, that He meets me in the Holy Supper and will return on the Last Day to take me and all who believe in His name to be with Him forever.
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