I'll have to address Paidion's response later...for now, just a quick reply to what dizerner wrote (addressed to myself):
Thanks for your answer. Would I be correct to think you see Christ's Divine Nature as not truly incarnated (part of or within his body), but a separate nature altogether? So there was the human nature, inside the body of Christ, and the divine nature, which encompasses all the universe, outside of Christ's body?
First, by human nature, I mean the nature of those “things” (i.e., human beings) which are composed of a
1.) human body and
2.) human soul (for,
a man, a human being is a composite of a human body and human soul). Now, Christ's human nature is truly human-- i.e., He has a true human body and soul. Christ's Divine Nature is a distinct nature from his human nature, but it is united to that human nature in the very PERSON (“hypostasis”) of the Word (thus, this union is called a “hypostatic” union). I am repeatedly stressing PERSON ("hypostasis" in Greek) here to note that this is "where" the union of the human nature and the Divine nature of Christ takes place. This is opposed to the idea, for example, that the union of these two natures takes place in the natures themselves; this is
not the case. For, among other things, this would produce some sort of "third" nature, neither human nor divine; but, rather, some sort of “mixture” of a human and the Divine nature. But, rather, again, the union of the human nature of Christ and His Divine Nature takes place in His very Person, the very PERSON of the Word...and, so, the PERSON of the Word became Incarnate, meaning that there was/is a union of the (uncreated) Divine nature of the Word, and His (created) human nature in His Person, the Person of the Word.
So, that said, to answer your (dizerner’s) questions: do I see Christ's Divine nature as a separate nature from the human nature? Well, I would not say that Christ’s Divine nature is “separate” from His human nature; rather, I would say the Divine nature of Christ and His human nature are
distinct natures. I would avoid saying that they are “separate”, though, since, again, they
are united together in the PERSON of the Word (and so that is why we can say the Divine PERSON of the Word became Incarnate; "The Word became flesh...") The closest comparison we have to this sort of union in our experience is probably the union of our bodies and our souls: a man’s body and his soul are distinct, with distinct natures, yet, so long as the man is alive, the man’s body and soul are not “separate” but, rather, are intimately united in the man’s person. Something
like this is “going on” here with the union of Christ’s Divine and human natures in His very Person (but, of course, this hypostatic union is something beyond anything else we have experienced, and so it must be understood that the way the body and soul are united in a man is, of course, not
exactly the same as the way Christ’s two natures are united in His Person).
And, you asked, "So there was the human nature, inside the body of Christ, and the divine nature, which encompasses all the universe, outside of Christ's body?"
Again, the human nature of Christ consists not only of His Body, but also of His HUMAN Soul-- for, being a Man, and as a Man, Christ, like all human beings, is a composite of His human Body and His human Soul (and, so, when Christ died, He, like all men who die, experienced a real
separation of His human body and His human soul-- although, it is to be noted that, though Christ's
human soul separated from His human body in death, His
Divinity, i.e., His Divine Nature, actually remained united to
both His Body and His Soul, even while He was dead). Now, the Divine Nature of Christ is truly Divine and, as such, It, even since the time of the Incarnation of the Word in Mary's Womb, possesses all of the qualities of Divinity, including omnipresence (and, so, yes, His Divine nature is everywhere in the universe, even outside of Christ's Body). But, that said, the Divine Nature of the Word is, I think one could say, "present in a
most excellent manner in the human nature of Christ",
since that Divine Nature is
hypostatically united to the Human Nature of Christ, i.e., the two Natures, though distinct, are still most intimately united together in the very Person of the Word. And, so, these two natures are not separate, even if they are distinct, for they are united in the Person of the Word (and, if it sounds like I am repeating myself, I do so deliberately to get this fundamental and important point across). And, these natures are united in the Person of the Word because the Word has assumed a human nature (i.e., the human nature which the Word assumed in the womb of Mary), with the effect being that, when the human nature of Christ acts or experiences anything, eg., birth, eating, nursing, death, etc., it can be said, truly, that it is the WORD (the PERSON of the Word) Who,
truly possessing this human nature as
His very own Personal human nature, is born, eats, is nursed, dies, lays in the tomb dead, rises from the dead, etc., for
the Word, performing these actions
in the human nature He received from/in Mary,
is the PERSON who is the
subject of action in all of these actions (mystery grand this is!) So, we can truly say, "In the beginning, in eternity, before and outside of all time, was the Word, and this Word was with God, and this Word
is the Eternal God, and He created all things....and this Word, in time, while not ceasing to be God, assumed, i.e., took to Himself, a human nature, being conceived as a human being in the virginal womb of Mary (may all generations call that Glorious Virgin 'Blessed'!). And, as Man, i.e.,
in this Human Nature which He, the Word, took to Himself, as His own Personal human nature, in the womb of that same Blessed Mary, this Word did all of the following: this Word was born of Mary; this Word was nursed and fed by Mary; this Word was a carpenter with Joseph, the Just Spouse of the Virgin; this Word lived as a son to this Joseph; this Word was baptized by John in the Jordan; this Word spent roughly a whole 30 years with Mary and Joseph; this Word spent roughly only three years in public ministry; this Word preached; this Word performed miracles; this Word fished; this Word ate fish; this Word was betrayed by Judas; this Word was scourged, tortured, crucified, died, and His dead Body was lain in a Tomb (while His human soul went to the region of the dead in order to open the gates of heaven for the souls of those just ones who had died before Him); this Word gloriously rose again from the dead; this Word founded a Church on Peter and His Apostles, giving to Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and promising that hell would never conquer this Church; this Word is the Savior of the World, the Redeemer of Mankind...and He is, again, the Eternal God, and He is also Man, for this Word is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, and He is the Son of Glorious and Blessed Virgin Mary. This Word is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, and to this Word, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, belongs all power and glory, now and unto the ages of ages. Amen, Amen, and Amen!"
I hope that makes some sense and helps!
In Christ, the God-Man, the Son of God and the Son of Mary,
BrotherAlan
