The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.
If the language employed here sounds familiar, you likely recognize the phrases and cadences of the great Christological confessions of the catholic Christian church, namely the Nicene Creed and the Definition of Chalcedon, which the Confession clearly draws upon as it also does the Scriptures themselves in providing us with a succinct description of the divine nature of Jesus Christ and its perfect unconfused union with the human nature. The Confession affirms:
1. The eternality and equality of the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity.
2. His voluntary condescension to take upon himself a true human nature without in any way detracting from his divine nature.
3. His sinlessness.
4. The agency of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation of Christ.
5. The role of Mary in providing the substance from which God made the human nature of Christ.
6. The perfect union of the two natures in the one person, distinct but not separate, very God and very man at one and the same time.
7. The result being Jesus Christ, the sole mediator between God and men.
In all of this the Confession affirms its place as one of the great doctrinal statements of the Christian church. It speaks here as one with the holy, catholic, and apostolic church of the ages.
Tomorrow: The suitability of Christ to his mission.
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