Hypostatic Union

John 1:14-18  


Hypostatic Union


Hypostatic union is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis, or individual existence. The most basic explanation for the hypostatic union is Jesus Christ being both God and man. 


The Chalcedonian Creed is a creed which was made during the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451. It stressed 4 key points concerning the Hypostatic Union. 

Without confusion: The Lord Jesus Christ is not what you get when you mix blue and yellow together and end up with green. He’s not a tertium quid (a third thing), the result of mixing a divine and human nature.

Without change: In assuming human flesh, the Logos did not cease to be what he had always been. The incarnation affected no substantial change in the divine Son.

Without division: The two natures of Christ do not represent a split in the divine Person. Jesus Christ is not half God and half man.

Without separation: The union of the human and divine in the person of Jesus Christ is a real, organic union, not simply a moral sympathy or relational partnership.

 ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ^[f]is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

^16 [g]And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten ^[h]Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Last time we talked about the importance of recognizing God. How he came into his own and they did not recognize him. We also frequenly fail to recognize God when He doesn’t appear the way we think He should. Yet, we have to recognize that He is God and we are not. 


John refers to Jesus as the Word. The Greek here is Logos. This is really important for our understanding of these verses but the Gospel of John as a whole as well. The word Logos had specific meaning for first century philosophy and religion. Both the Greeks and the Jews used the word but it had different connotations for them. 


For the Greeks the word referred to the logical and rational force that governed the affairs of humanity and nature. For the Jews it referred to the one true God. The creator and sustainer of all things. John in referring to Jesus as Logos says to the Greeks, “Hey, this is the guy in charge of everything!” To the Jews He says “Hey, this is your God! The one true God! 


Col 1:16-17 “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or ^[e]principalities or ^[f]powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist”


John goes out of his way in the first 13 verses of John 1 to stress the deity of Christ. He says in the beginning was the Word! Then He says the Word was with God and was God. The fact that Jesus is on equal footing with the Father before creation established that they had a face to face, peer relationship which was an important concept for ancient people. They knew that Jesus wasn’t some lesser God (Of which Greek mythology is full of) but that the Son and the Father were one and the same. 


Then John writes something truly scandalous, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” What?!?!?! 


Most of us have a favorite celebrity. It could be an Athlete, Writer, Movie star, etc. Now imagine getting to meet them. Not at an official celebrity appearance but just bumping into them in your regular day to day. In line at the coffee shop or going down the same aisle in the grocery store. In 2004, in a Seattle Denny’s I ran into one of my favorite writers, Jerry Holkins, author of Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings and Attack of the Bacon Robots. My friends were to nervous to approach him but he hadn’t gotten his food yet so I took a moment to tell him I was a fan and I enjoyed his work. He thanked me, introduced me to his wife, chatted for a moment and then I went on my way. I still talk about this 3 minute window of my life 16 years later! 


Here John says “The Word, The Logos! The Creator and Sustainer of all things. Took on flesh, took to himself flesh, the physical nature of humans! Greek mythology was full of the gods taking on the appearance of human but they weren’t actually human, they were playing dress up. In Christ, God became fully human while remaining fully God. The fancy seminary word for this is Hypostatic Union. 


J.I. Packer has said, “Here are two mysteries for the price of one — the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. . . . Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”


Then John says and He dwelt among us! It’s one thing to take on being fully human, it’s quite another that he dwelt among us! There’s a whole section of the internet that is devoted to people meeting Shaquille O’Neal at Walmart and taking their photo with him. Here’s a man worth 3-400 million shopping at Walmart! He could literally buy the entire store if he wanted with what is essentially lose change to him. He could have whatever he want delivered pretty much whenever he wants but he choses to go and shop himself. 


John says that Jesus dwelt among us! He didn’t have to! He certainly didn’t have to be a poor carpenter 2000 years ago. He could have had comfort, luxury, wealth and privilege but he chose not to. Every single day, He chose to dwell among us. Imagine if you could snap your fingers and make things happen. *Snap* I’ve got an 8 figure bank account. *Snap* All my loved ones are healthy *Snap* I’m taller, skinnier and have 9 pack abs. *Snap* Turn these stones into bread. That’s not just a temptation He dealt with in the wilderness, but every day of his life.

The question then is why? Why do this? So, we could behold His glory and see that it was full of grace and truth! John The Baptist Witness testified of this pointing to Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When we start to receive Jesus in His fullness we also receive grace and then more grace. Grace for grace sounds like a NT concept, maybe something Paul wrote about it. No! It’s actually from Exodus chapters 32-34. Moses and the people had received grace, yet they were in tremendous need of more grace, and more grace after that. Just like us.  


When I was still in the youth, David gave us all a playing card. Then he had us write on the playing card and place it in our wallets. He said whenever you are having a bad day, a tough time and you think “No one understands” I want you to take out this card, look up the verse and be encouraged. What’s the verse? 


Hebrews 4:14-16  Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.


That is the blessing of the Hypostatic Union. That God understands us at a level like no one else. One of our great fears is that the more people get to know us the less that they will like us. Yet, this is not the case with Christ. Fully God, Fully Human, Fully knows us and Fully loves us. A Hypostatic Union of Grace.