Must Christ be Divine?

You’ve likely heard that Jesus is both human and divine. This is one of the foundational claims of Christianity.

Christians and non Christians alike are familiar with this claim. But this christological claim produces various followup questions:

• How are the humanity and divinity of Christ united into one person?
• Is it necessary for Christ to be fully God and fully man?
• Is it possible that Jesus was fully human – just like you and I are – but that He only appeared to be divine? Could He have been fully divine and only appeared to be human?
• Could this human & divine mystery be explained by saying Jesus was fully human and God attributed divine effects to His actions and atonement? In essence, could Jesus have been an almost-divine being who was then given credit of being divine by God?

These questions were discussed in the early 4th century, and those back-and-forths eventually led to the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea.

Athanasius emerged as the leading advocate for Christ’s divinity, which is what the church had always believed about Jesus all the way back to the apostles. Athanasius’ insistence on Christ’s divinity wasn’t because he wanted to over-sell Jesus so that people would take Him more seriously. Instead, Athanasius presented what must be true about Jesus. In his valuable work On the Incarnation, Athanasius argued that human salvation depends on Christ’s divinity in order to be real.

If Christ was not truly divine, then humans could not be truly saved.

“It was therefore right not to permit human beings to be carried away by corruption, because this would be improper to and unworthy of the goodness of God… What then had to happen in this case or what should God do?

St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 6–7

Athanasius’ Argument for Why Christ MUST be Divine

Athanasius’ argument is scaffolded. He makes propositions and then defends/explains them with Scripture and logic. These propositions and explanations build upon each other throughout his work, On the Incarnation.

Below are three fundamental propositions supporting his argument for why Christ MUST be divine.

All quotations below are taken from “St Athanasius the Great of Alexandria. On the Incarnation: Translation. Edited and translated by John Behr. Vol. 44a. Popular Patristics Series. Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011.”

Point #1 – Corruptibility & Incorruptibility

Athanasius argued that salvation hinges upon Christ’s divinity on the grounds of corruptibility/incorruptibility. He first establishes that humanity was designed “to live a life according to God” (On the Incarnation, 5).

By this, he means: (1) God spoke forth humanity from non-existence into existence as an act of love from the Word (Logos); (2) humanity is not intrinsically eternal but mortal because they went from non-being to being; (3) mortality subjects humanity to the possibility of corruption – which is to turn towards evil; (4) God gave a measure of grace to humanity that allowed them to live in a state of incorruptibility by participating in a relationship with God Himself; (5) humanity would remain in incorruptible life as long as they grew in communion with God (On the Incarnation, 4).

Humanity’s “life according to God” was gifed to them as opposed to being intrinsic to their nature. The creature cannot live in the same state of incorruptibility as the creator apart from grace. Athanasius therefore says “and being incorruptible, he [humanity] would have lived thereafter like God” (On the Incarnation, 4).

In this way, humanity was graciously given the opportunity to live above their nature by participating in God’s divine life through communion with Him.

Point #2 – A Binding State of Corruption

However, Athanasius’ second point is that humanity’s decision to turn “towards the things of corruption” in accordance with the temptation of the devil subjected humanity to a binding state of corruption that was stronger than the natural state God’s grace had elevated them from (On the Incarnation, 5).

In other words, humanity’s sinful rebellion bound them to a corrupted existence. Instead of experiencing the God-given grace that allowed them to live above their nature, they were now bound to live below their nature (On the Incarnation, 5–6).

Point #3 – Living Through Death

This leads to Athanasius’ third point: corrupted humanity could only be redeemed to a state of incorruptibility by one who could die to corruptibility while simultaneously having incorruptible life within his own nature.

Only the divine could accomplish such a work.

Through His corruptible but unstained body, the Word died a death that “fulfilled in death that which was required” on behalf of all who had a body like His; conversely, in Him, all who share a body like His are “consequently clothed all with incorruptibility in the promise concerning the resurrection” (On the Incarnation, 9).

Humanity’s status as a creature means it can only receive incorruptibility from God as a gracious gift. Once humanity fell out of that gifted grace, they could only be redeemed to it by one who is intrinsically incorruptible.

“the divinity of Christ legitimizes salvation, which offers real hope, and we can know that all this was accomplished out of love for humanity.”

Theological and Pastoral Consequences if Christ is NOT Divine

The most alarming consequence to the compromise of Christ’s divinity is the reality of salvation. A corrupted thing cannot redeem other corrupted things from a state of corruption. If Christ is a creature, which is the only alternative if He is not divine, then He is powerless to offer an effective atonement to the rest of humanity. However, since Christ is divine, there is a real opportunity for people to be saved. This means there is also real hope in the world.

There is also a second pastoral point. The divinity of Christ illustrates God’s faithfulness, both to Himself as well as to humanity. Athanasius argues that God’s “dilemma” was how He could uphold both His law against transgression and His love for humanity. Christ’s atonement paid the price of God’s law regarding transgression, but, as Athanasius says, it was the Word’s love for humanity that motivated Him to become incarnate (On the Incarnation, 4). Thus, the divinity of Christ legitimizes salvation, which offers real hope, and we can know that all this was accomplished out of love for humanity.