Jesus: fully God and fully man

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StRaphael

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How is one to answer the following argument of atheists against Jesus being fully God and fully man?
  1. “Fully” in reference to a being’s nature means “in every sense.”
  2. God is in every sense uncreated, divine, supernatural, perfect, immutable, almighty, sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent, infallible, infinite, eternal, immortal, incorporeal, non-physical, immaterial, incorruptible, and indestructible.
  3. Man’s nature is the opposite of the above characteristics.
  4. Therefore, the Christian claim that Jesus is “fully God and fully man” is a logical contradiction and so is false.
 
Just accept the fact that he is would be my best explaination.

He is so far above us it’s like explaining yourself to your pet.
 
Fully means ‘completely’. But things–and people–can be fully more than ‘one’–and not be mutually exclusive.

The characteristics of God are, by nature, not fully understandable by humans. What looks to us like a contradiction is not necessarily a contradiction to God. After all, He is all powerful, isn’t He? If He wants to be fully God and fully human, of all beings, certainly He would be the one to ‘pull it off’ if He chose. Apparently, He did chose. God, after all, is pure Spirit–well, people are spirit and matter. For a spirit to ‘add on’ matter does not ‘diminish’ that spirit in any way; that is where I think your atheist friends miss the point. For that matter/Spirit combination whom we call Christ to have fullness of spirit (God) ‘added on’ to the corporeal body did not diminish that body in any way.
 
I thought atheists didn’t even believe there is God. It is hard for them to understand Jesus and His Divinity unless they open their heart and the Holy Spirit helps them understand.
 
Even believers don’t understand “fully God and fully man”. To think that one could convince an atheist of the matter is beyond wishful thinking.

I imagine that the error is in a misunderstanding of “fully” and a misunderstanding of the concept of union.
 
So he says to me, ‘You wanna be a baaaaad guy?’ And I say yeah, baby! I wanna be bad! I SAYS, SURF’S UP SPACE PONIES! I’M MAKING GRAVY WITHOUT THE LUMPS! Aaaaaa-hahahahaha!
 
I’ve thought a lot about this issue, and formed a response. I hope it’s valid; let me know if you observe any flaws:
The atheist objects:
  1. Opposites cannot both be true: A and not-A cannot be true at the same time in the same sense.
  2. One person cannot be fully divine (infinite) and fully man (finite) at the same time in his being, for that is an undeniable (real, not “apparent” or paradoxical) contradiction, like a square circle.
  3. The Christian doctrine of the incarnation, as defined at the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451), teaches that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man at the same time.
  4. Therefore, Christianity is false.
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The Christian responds:
  1. The proposition that any person can be both infinite in one nature (what) and finite in another nature (what) without confusion, mixture, or division of the two natures in that one person (who) at the same time and in the senses defined is not contradictory.
  2. Christianity claims that Jesus Christ is both infinite in one nature and finite in another nature without confusion, mixture, or division of the two natures in His person at the same time and in the senses defined.
  3. Therefore, the claim that the Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man at the same time is not contradictory.
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One cannot be “partly divine.” The divine nature must be complete because a nature is either divine or not divine. Are God and man in the same category? If not, it is simple to illustrate the Hypostatic union by using the categories of shape and color. A green circle is fully green and fully circular.
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The possibility of the Incarnation logically follows from God’s power:
  1. God is omnipotent, meaning that He can do all that is logically possible.
  2. God created man.
  3. Man exists in human form.
  4. Existence in human form is logically possible. (3)
  5. God can necessarily remain God while existing in human form, because He is the Creator of the human form and made mankind in His image. There were theophanies in the Old Testament. (1-4)
  6. If God cannot do these things, then He is not omnipotent. (1)
  7. But God is necessarily omnipotent, and so #6 is false and #5 is true.
  8. Therefore, the Incarnation is possibly true. (1-7)
  9. Since the theistic God exists, miracles are possible.
  10. Miracles can be used to confirm a message from God (i.e., as an act of God to confirm a word from God).
  11. The New Testament is historically reliable.
  12. The New Testament says Jesus claimed to be God.
  13. Jesus’ claim to be God was miraculously confirmed by:
    a. His fulfillment of many prophecies about Himself;
    b. His sinless and miraculous life;
    c. His prediction and accomplishment of His resurrection.
  14. Therefore, Jesus is God.
  15. Whatever Jesus (who is God) teaches is true.
  16. Jesus taught that the Bible is the Word of God.
  17. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God (and anything opposed to it is false).
  18. The Bible teaches that the Incarnation is true.
  19. Therefore, the Incarnation is actually true.
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I’m still researching this topic in depth.
 
StRaphael said:
How is one to answer the following argument of atheists against Jesus being fully God and fully man?
Click to expand...
Maybe you just need to re-state this more clearly.
The Incarnation is the act by which God elevated to Himself a complete human nature (human body and human soul), formed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mother, in order to make it subsist in the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

God the Father is God. God the Holy Spirit is God.
God the Son is both fully God (participaring in one divine nature with the Father and Holy Spirit) and fully man (possessing a complete human nature, body and soul). It might not be the simplest concept in the world, but it’s not contradictory. You might need to re-evaluate you definitions for understanding what “divine nature” and “human nature” are.
 
I wonder if the quanum mechanical fact of wave-partical duality might be an interesting counter-argument here. An electron, for example, is fundamentally both fully particle and fully wave, even though particles and waves are different and even contradictory objects. Do these atheists therefore reject quantum mechanics too?
 
The following are actual contradictions:
  1. Two natures in one nature.
  2. Two persons in one person.
  3. A and not-A in one nature.
Also, atheists may perceive contradictions in the doctrine of the Incarnation because when referring to the characteristics/properties they fail to distinguish between ontology and functionality.

Here is another way of wording it. God is uncreated, eternal, and immutable. Human nature is created, temporal, and mutable. Now, the atheist objects, opposites cannot be said of the same. The Christian acknowledges that indeed, opposites cannot be predicated of the same in the same respects, but then points out that they can be predicated of the same in different aspects. Thus it is coherent to predicate opposites of Jesus Christ, in different natures.
 
Hello St. Raphael,

God exists outside of physical time (God created physical time). When was Jesus eternally begotten of God to exist in Omni-Presence to the whole of created physical time? Scripture tells us that Jesus was begotten of God at His death and ressurrection. In other words, Jesus was eternally begotten of God into eternal spiritual Omni-Presence to the whole of physical created time after His fulfillment of human free willed choices on earth. Jesus was fully human and fully Divine eternal, Omni-Present to the whole of physical time, God. Jesus was fully free willed man (capable of sin), and fully Divine eternal God (incapable of sin) in the same Being during His physical life on earth.

Please visit: Jesus Loves God

NAB JOH 17:4

(Jesus speaks after his death and resurrection.)"I have given you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. Do you now, Father, give me glory at your side, a glory I had with you before the world began.“NAB REV 1:17
" . . . I am the First and the Last and the One who lives. Once I was dead but now I live forever and ever. . . .” NAB REV 2:8
“The First and the Last who once died but now lives has this to say. . . .”
NAB PSA 2:4

He who is throned in heaven laughs; the LORD derides them; Then in anger he speaks to them; he terrifies them in his wrath: “I myself have set up my king on Zion, my holy mountain. I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: The LORD said to me, 'You are my son; this day I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall rule them with an iron rod: you shall shatter them like an earthen dish.’” NAB ACT 13:32

“We ourselves announce to you the good news that what God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, in raising up Jesus, according to what is written in the second psalm, You are my son; this day I have begotten you.” NAB 1PE 3:18

He was put to death insofar as fleshly existence goes, but was given life in the realm of the spirit.NAB HEB 1:5 Messianic Enthronement.

To which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son; today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son”? And again, when he leads his first-born into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” NAB REV 1:4 Greetings.

To the seven churches in the province of Asia: John wishes you grace and peace – from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before the throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead and ruler of the kings of earth.NAB PSA 89:27

“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father, my God, the Rock, my savior.’ And I will make him the first-born, highest of the kings of the earth.”
 
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