It focused on how we are to conceive of the Son with respect to His humanity and divinity. Those present at the Council of Chalcedon were so concerned about the importance of affirming the presence of both natures in the One Person, our Lord Jesus Christ, that at times the inclusion of some clauses borders on the redundant. But the point was made and affirmed to the glory of the Son. The definition follows:
Chalcedonian Definition (AD 451)
Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.
We will consider this paragraph more closely, phrase by phrase.
Therefore, following the holy fathers,
What is the “therefore” there for? The Chalcedonian definition comes near the end of a larger document that affirmed the earlier creeds and teachings coming from the earlier councils of Nicaea (AD 325), Constantinople (AD 381), and Ephesus (AD 431). It also included some references to the leading theologians of the day, affirming their theological summaries on the subject. Thus, the definition or creed is meant to be a summation of what had been considered and accepted over the centuries as biblical Christological teaching. They were making it clear that this Christology was in total agreement with what had been historically understood and affirmed.
We all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son,
The council members taught that there is only one Son. Repeatedly throughout the paragraph they emphasize that the human and the divine natures belong to the same Person. There is only one Son of God, who is also the Son of Mary. The following clauses affirm and reaffirm this in different ways.
at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood,
Our Lord Jesus is not equally God and man in the sense of 50 percent God and 50 percent man, but He is both fully God (100 percent) and fully man (100 percent). He did not give up any divinity to become man, nor is He less than completely human because He is God.
truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body;
This affirmed that Jesus was not merely divinity covered in flesh. That is, He was an embodied, fully rational human being with His own will, emotions and intellect. He was not God masquerading in flesh; He is God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16)! Again, this re-emphasized that He is in every way truly human and thus able to redeem every aspect of human existence.
of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood;
Christ is consubstantial, that is, as we saw hammered out at Nicaea, He is of the same substance as the Father. His essence is deity. At the same time, His humanity is the same as ours.
like us in all respects, apart from sin;
There was nothing special or unique about His humanity. He was an ordinary human being, with one crucial difference – He was apart from sin. This did not make Him less human. If anything, it made Him more human! Sin has only served to dehumanize us – a far cry from the lie of the serpent that it would make us “like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages,
He is the eternal Son. This marked out His role and relationship in the Godhead. As God, He is equally eternal with the Father, having no beginning and ever existing as the Son.
but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer;
He never became God, but He did become man to accomplish the work of salvation. As such, Mary is called the God-bearer, to make clear that the baby conceived supernaturally in her womb was already God. The pre-existent Son came into this world as the Son of Mary the virgin. He was the answer to the promise of Genesis 3:15, the long-awaited Seed of the woman who would bring about victory over the serpent.
To this point, the definition is largely a recapitulation of what had been accepted in the Nicene Creed. In the second half of the paragraph, the controversies that ensued concerning the two natures of Christ are addressed. We will turn to these in the following article.
References:
The Basics of Chalcedonian Christology by Keith Mathison (Tabletalk Magazine)
