God-man (Christianity)
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God-man (Koinē Greek: θεάνθρωπος, romanized: theánthropos; Latin: deus homo[1]) is a term which refers to the incarnation and the hypostatic union of Christ, which are two of mainstream Christianity's most widely accepted and revered christological doctrines.
Origins
[edit]The first usage of the term "God-man" as a theological concept appears in the writing of the 3rd-century Church Father Origen:[2]
- This substance of a soul, then, being intermediate between God and the flesh – it being impossible for the nature of God to intermingle with a body without an intermediate instrument – the God-man is born.[3]
Posterity
[edit]The term is also used by the medieval philosopher and theologian Anselm of Canterbury (11th century) in his treatise on the atonement, Cur Deus Homo ("Why God Became Man").[4]
The term is used in the Westminster Larger Catechism, where it says:
- Christ is exalted in his sitting at the right hand of God, in that as God-man he is advanced to the highest favour with God the Father[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Origenes "De Principiis", in Latin translation by Rufinus. Book II, Chap 7, sec 3, p. 196
- ^ Baldwin, James, Dictionary Of Philosophy And Psychology, 1901
- ^ Origen, De Principiis, Book II, Chapter VI. On the Incarnation of the Christ, between the years 220 and 230
- ^ Anselm of Canterbury, Cur Deus Homo, Book Two, chapter VI & chapter VII
- ^ Question 54