Monophysitism Blind To The Dual Character Of Christ's Experience


Such were the difficulties and errors into which their Christology

forced the monophysites with respect to Christ's body. Difficulties

equally great and errors equally fatal attended their attempt to

conceive the conjunction of psychic elements with the divine person.

Their formula was too narrow. It compelled them to shut their eyes to

one outstanding fact, namely, the duality of Christ's earthly

experience. This f
ct confronts the reader on every page of the

gospels. The duality is deep-seated; it extends to each psychic

element, yet stops short of the personality. In the world of Christ's

nature there are two hemispheres. His experiences are on two planes.

In both of these hemispheres or planes we find thought, will, and

feeling. His thought on the higher plane is radically different in

mode and scope from His thought on the lower plane. The two are of a

different order. The same difference holds with respect to the other

two psychic elements. We propose to exemplify this assertion, first,

in the case of cognition, and then in the case of will and feeling.

This procedure will simplify the task of exposing the further

consequences of the monophysite Christology.



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