[ 10 ] “Again I ask, what is the hypostatic union [in the Lord our Sav-
ior]? If you reply that it is a union between two entities, one above and
the other below, you are insane, because in that case you could view God
our Savior as two entities just as you have viewed the Godhead as three
entities. If you say that it is a personal union like the partnership between
the soul and the body, you have the right answer. This follows your doc-
trine and the doctrine of the church fathers. See the Formula of Concord
pages 765 to 768.
“Also check the Athanasian Creed where it says, ‘Proper faith is for us
to believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and a
human being. Yet although he is both God and a human being, still he is
one Christ, not two. He is one in every way, not by a mixing of substance
but by a oneness of person. For as the rational soul and the flesh is one
human being, so God and a human being is one Christ.’
[ 11 ] “Still further I ask, what was the damnable heresy of Arius that
caused Emperor Constantine the Great to call the Council of Nicaea? Was-
n’t it the denial of the divinity of the Lord’s human manifestation?
“For another thing, tell me whom you see as the subject of the follow-
ing words in Jeremiah: ‘Behold, the days are coming when I will raise up
for David a righteous offshoot who will rule as king; and this is his name:
Jehovah is our Justice’ (Jeremiah 23 : 5 , 6 ; 33 : 15 , 16 ). If you say ‘the Son
from eternity,’ you are insane. He was not the Redeemer. If you say ‘the
Son born in time, who was “the only begotten Son of God”’ (John 1 : 18 ;
3 : 16 ), you have the right answer. By redeeming us, he became the justice
on which you base your faith. Also read Isaiah 9 : 6 and the other passages
predicting that Jehovah himself was going to come into the world.”
At this the chairman looked away in silence.
[ 12 ] The presiding officer then wanted to end the council with a
prayer but suddenly a man in the left-hand group interrupted. He had
a cloth head-covering on with a hat on top of it. He touched his hat
with one finger and said, “I too am associated with a man in your
world. He has been appointed to a highly exalted position. I know this
because I speak on his behalf as on my own.”
I asked him where that eminent man lives. He answered, “In Göte-
borg. From him I once got the impression that your new doctrine smacks
of Muhammadanism.”
I saw that all the spirits on the right where the apostolic fathers were
standing were shocked when they heard that word, and their faces fell. I
heard them crying, both in thought and out loud, “What an outrage!
What times we live in!”
§137 the lord the redeemer & redemption 199