Hypostatic union (from the Greek: ὑπόστασις hypóstasis, “sediment, foundation, substance, subsistence”) is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ’s humanity and divinity in one hypostasis, or individual existence.
The First Council of Ephesus in 431 AD recognized this doctrine and affirmed its importance, stating that the humanity and divinity of Christ are made one according to nature and hypostasis in the Logos.
The Greek term hypostasis had come into use as a technical term prior to the Christological debates of the late fourth and fifth centuries. In pre-Christian times, Greek philosophy (primarily Stoicism) used the word. Some occurrences of the term hypostasis in the New Testament foreshadow the later, technical understanding of the word; especially Hebrews 1:3. Although it can translate literally as “substance,” this has been a cause of some confusion; accordingly New American Standard Bible translates it as “subsistence”. Hypostasis denotes an actual, concrete existence, in contrast with abstract categories such as Platonic ideals.
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Author: Wikipedia
Keywords: Hypostatic union, hypostasis, incarnation, two natures, two natures of Jesus, God incarnate, Trinity, Trinitarian, Trinitarianism
Bible reference(s): John 1:14
Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Hypostatic union,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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