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davidv
Guest
Based on this article in the CCC
I conclude that Church teaching is that Jesus did not always have a human soul, but assumed one at the time of his conception.
I’d recommend that you read the CCC section on the incarnation to see this statement in context.
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JimG
Guest
Father Serpa’s answer pretty well sums it up:
"The divine nature of Jesus always existed. But when He took on a human nature in Mary’s womb, he became man. His human nature has a beginning, His divine nature does not.
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P." Jesus is fully human and fully divine. His human nature of necessity had a beginning in time, because it is a human nature. His divine nature, of necessity, is eternal. Both natures are possessed by only one Person, and that person is the second person of the Trinity.
"The divine nature of Jesus always existed. But when He took on a human nature in Mary’s womb, he became man. His human nature has a beginning, His divine nature does not.
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P." Jesus is fully human and fully divine. His human nature of necessity had a beginning in time, because it is a human nature. His divine nature, of necessity, is eternal. Both natures are possessed by only one Person, and that person is the second person of the Trinity.
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need_to_know
Guest
Doesn’t that mean, then, that there was a time before His incarnation when Jesus was not both fully human and fully divine?
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davidv
Guest
Yes. At least from our perspective, which is from within time.
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JimG
Guest
Keep in mind that the person of Jesus is the second person of the Trinity–a divine Person. Jesus, though having a human and a divine nature, is not a human Person but a divine Person. The adjective “before” really has no application to divinity. To God, all times are one.
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Eucharisted
Guest
A human being is a body and soul. God the Son assumed humanity, taking up a body and soul. Jesus Christ is true God and true Man. Hence, since conception, He has a body and soul, i.e., human nature or humanity. Before the Incarnation, Jesus did not exist. The Son, who is God, has always existed, but Jesus only existed since the union of the Divinity and humanity in the Son.
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mardukm
Guest
There is a Tradition that every tactile manifestation of God in the OT refers to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. These occurences were not the Incarnation per se, because it was still veiled.
So in OUR time, one can truly say, “there was a time when…” In Eternity, such considerations have no meaning.
Blessings,
Marduk
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need_to_know
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Thanks for the replies. I’ll have to look deeper into this and try to get my head around it. 
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jimmy
Guest
No Christ did not have a soul before the incarnation. He is the Son of God made man. At the moment of the incarnation He became man, which means He had the full human nature which includes the soul.
There were several heresies regarding the nature of Christ. The whole history of doctrine in the early Church can be explained in relation to the question Christ asked the apostles in Matt.16, ‘who do you say that I am?’ Arianism might be the closest heresy to the subject at hand. Arius said that Christ was created in the beginning.
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