Additional Inquiry on the Suffering of Jesus and the Immortality of God

Jesus, The Pantokrator... The All Powerful

Anonymous said...

Good day Father,

I learned a lot of things from this blog. Thank you very much for your generosity and zeal in sharing and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ and his Church. I salute you for this.

Father, I want you to read and comment on this article I found about the suffering of Jesus. Here is the link: http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/does-god-suffer-6

I need to be clarified on the human suffering of Jesus if his divinity also experienced the same.

Thank you and God bless

November 23, 2009 1:13 PM

Fr. Abe, CRS said...

Dear Anonymous,

The term 'God died' or 'God suffered for us' is not invented by simple members of the Church but found in the Official Catechism of the Church and supported by Patristic writings.

However, it must be clarified that the term God in that phrase refers to THE INCARNATE SON OF GOD. It refers to Jesus who suffered and died for us. It does not point to God the Father and the Holy Spirit neither to the Godhead.

Now concerning your need to be clarified on the human suffering of Jesus if his DIVINITY ALSO EXPERIENCED THE SAME. Of course the Divinity didn't experience the same because the Godhead cannot suffer but the phrase 'God died' refers not to the Godhead but to the Person of Jesus Christ and the historical event of the Crucifixion. It happened when the Eternal Word took flesh.

There lies the mystery of our faith. God cannot die but by Incarnation God suffered and died for us on the Cross. The same mystery is expressed by Nativity. God cannot be born but the Mystery of Christmas proclaims that God was born by Mary in Bethlehem. In the same manner what was born was not the Godhead but the Person of the Incarnate Logos.

That article in First Thing magazine is obviously an answer to other contemporary theologians supporting the phrase 'God died'. Some of those theologians are named JOHN PAUL THE GREAT and JOSEF CARDINAL RATZINGER, to name a few.

The author advocates total absence of suffering on the part of God which is never denied by anyone. Now, the question is WHEN JESUS WAS HANGING ON THE CROSS WAS HE MAN ONLY OR GOD-MAN STILL? He, he, he... OF COURSE, THE ANSWER IS GOD-MAN. Because the union of Divinity and Humanity of Jesus was never separated. We simply give DISTINCTION [which is not a separation but simply pointing the difference] that suffering and death have their principle of operation from His Humanity while His redemptive act on the Cross has its principle of operation from His Divinity. But essentially speaking they are SUBSTANTIALLY UNITED.

The position of the article and those that it answers are actually complementary to one another. That is why the Church sees no reason to sanction any of the two position. They are both efforts to explain and understand the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God and its relation to the Godhead or the very Being of God. One preserves the Immortality of God while the other proclaims the Love of God who came down to earth in sublime humility and died on the Cross.

May I also point out that it is nowhere stated in the First Things text that ONLY THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST DIED. That phrase is unsupported by any of the official documents of the Church. It is the Person of Christ who died but not His human nature only even though the capacity of dying is rooted in his humanity. In Filipino, no theologian teaches that: ANG PAGKATAO LANG NI CRISTO ANG NAMATAY [Only the human nature of Christ died]. Instead, there are numerous statements of ANG PANGINOON AY NAMATAY PARA SA ATIN [The Lord died for us]. Of course the Lordship of Jesus didn't die, but since Jesus is LORD when he died it is proper to say that THE LORD DIED.

The Creedal formula is that: "I believe in Jesus Christ His Only Son, our Lord... He suffered, died and was buried." The one who died is a Person [He] = JESUS and not human nature only.

Even among us, we never say: "Only the human nature died". Imagine, the News Anchor declaring: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we want to inform you that THE HUMANITY OF MRS. AQUINO DIED early this morning." That is illogical and unacceptable. We say: "Mrs Aquino died". We refer to the person. Then if the person is King we say: THE KING DIED OF HEART ATTACK or THE PRIME MINISTER DIED OF ASSASINATION. We know that the Kingship or the Office of the Prime Minister didn't die but the person who is the King or Prime Minister.

Jesus is God and therefore since he died on the Cross it is correct to say that GOD DIED FOR US ON THE CROSS.

November 23, 2009 1:54 PM