The divine person died literally

[fhansen]

PLEASE HELP… WE NEED A STRAIGHTFORWARD ANSWER.

We all believe that God died in his human nature or as man.

BUT this question have caused a big fraction in the organization. i joined the organization for almost a year now and it seems that no one have done extra mile to resolve it. The fraction keeps on increasing, debate after debate. one priest says one thing, the other says another thing. one bishop says one thing, other bishop says another thing.

PLEASE HELP… WE NEED A STRAIGHTFORWARD ANSWER.

This statement “God Died” should be interpreted LITERALLY or FIGURATIVELY?<<<

I can’t see why this provides much of a quandary. God never ceased to exist. Even we don’t cease to exist at physical death, simply because, in our case, God has deemed that to be the way things are. So He experienced a physical death in human flesh as all humans do, in His case an excruciatingly humiliating and painful one.

 

[Usagi]

Then again, we don’t think humans just cease to exist when they die, so that was never on the table.

What we call death for a human is the separation of body and soul. That happened to Jesus. As others have pointed our, though, Jesus is not a human person, but a divine person (God the Son) who assumes a human nature in addition to the divine nature.

Gorgias, on the other hand, is right that “natures” don’t experience events; people do. So just as we can truly say that Mary bore God (the Son) in her womb when she carried His human body, so we can say that God the Son died on the Cross when His human body and soul were separated.

He didn’t cease to exist (but neither does any human). The divine nature itself did not change. But God underwent human death, via the human nature He had assumed.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Then again, we don’t think humans just cease to exist when they die, so that was never on the table.

The problem is not with what “we” think. It is in how the world at large perceives the statement “God is dead” or “God died”. “We” understand that experiencing human bodily death is not the end of human life, and that God experiencing human bodily death did not take anything away from the continued existence or ongoing power of God. Those who hear the statement “God died” do not necessarily understand it in our way.

 

[Usagi]

True, but according to the OP this is an argument between priests and bishops, not the general secular population (who are probably not given to pondering the communication of idioms).

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’m not clear on what “organization” this is that the OP is referring to.

If this is a dispute between priests and bishops, they should not be reaching out to the lay organization Catholic Answers to clear it up. Whichever bishop is in charge or superior should clear it up.

 

[Babaganoush]

No, Jesus, the divine person died. Every action done by or to a person is predicated of the person not the nature. It is due to his human nature that he died though.

 

[Gorgias]

No, Jesus, the divine person died. Every action done by or to a person is predicated of the person not the nature. It is due to his human nature that he died though.

And, like @Tis_Bearself mentioned, if all we mean by that is that Jesus’ body expired, and separation of body and soul occurred, then we’re cool.