The Lord’s two essences were not merely added together; they were mingled together. Actually, any conceiving is a mingling, not merely an addition. With the Man-Savior it was not the case that the divine essence was simply added to the human essence. Rather, in the conception of the Man-Savior the divine essence and the human essence were mingled.
Some Bible students and even some Bible teachers have failed to understand the matter of mingling. In ancient times there was a debate regarding the mingling of the divine essence and the human essence in the Person of the Lord Jesus. Some who misunderstood this mingling said that it caused a third nature to be produced, something which is neither divine nor human. To say that with respect to the Lord Jesus the mingling of the divine essence and the human essence produced a third nature, a nature that is neither fully human nor divine, is heretical. However, we wish to make it clear that this is not our understanding of the word “mingle.” We agree with the first definition of this word given in Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary: mingle—“to combine or join (one thing with another, or two or more things together), especially so that the original elements are distinguishable in the combination.” According to this definition, when two or more things are mingled together, their original natures are not lost but remain distinguishable.
We may use tea as an illustration of mingling. When tea is mingled with water to make a beverage, neither the essence of tea nor the essence of water is lost. Instead, both essences remain. These two essences mingle together to produce a beverage, but they do not produce a third nature, something which is neither tea nor water.
Our Savior was conceived of the divine essence and born of the human essence. Therefore, He is a Person with two essences—the divine and the human—mingled together without a third nature being produced. Although the Lord has two essences, He is still a single complete Person, One who is both God and man.
As the Man-Savior, the Lord Jesus possesses both the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. The divine attributes are related to what God is and has. We cannot speak exhaustively concerning the attributes of God. But we can say that the Lord Jesus possessed the nature of God with all the divine attributes.
I would call attention to the fact that here we are using “attributes” in relation to God and “virtues” in relation to man. Because the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence, He possesses the divine nature with the divine attributes. Because He was born of a human virgin with the human essence, He possesses the human virtues. Therefore, while He was on earth, He lived a life that was both human and divine. He was a Man living a human life, but in that human life the divine attributes were expressed.
In the Gospel of John we see God expressing Himself in man. According to John 1:1 and 14, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, and this Word, which is God, became flesh. God became flesh to live a life expressing Himself in humanity. In the Gospel of John the emphasis is on God expressing Himself in man. But in Luke the emphasis is on a Man living a life to express God. It seems that these two matters are very similar; yet there is a difference. John emphasizes God’s side, and Luke emphasizes man’s side. In John we see God expressing Himself in humanity; in Luke we see a Man expressing God in His human living. As this Man lived on earth, in His living God’s attributes were expressed.
We know that our Savior has both the divine essence and the human essence. However, in possessing the human essence He does not have anything related to man’s fallen nature. According to John 1:14, God became flesh. But from Paul’s word in Romans 8:3 we see that the Lord was in the likeness of the flesh of sin. This indicates that He was born with all the human virtues created by God, but with Him there was only the likeness of the flesh of sin.
As those who are fallen, we cannot realize how sweet and how pleasant was the man created by God. Imagine how sweet and pleasant Adam and Eve were before the fall. They had all the human virtues created by God. But due to the fall, these virtues were spoiled.
When the Lord Jesus was born of a human virgin with the human essence, He possessed the human virtues. However, the human essence of the Lord Jesus did not include man’s fallen nature. His human essence was that created by God. He had the appearance of fallen mankind, the likeness of the flesh of sin, but His human essence, as that created by God, was pure, sweet, and pleasant.
The makeup of the Man-Savior’s being, His constitution, is a composition of the divine attributes and the human virtues. How marvelous that there could be One in this universe with such a composition! In the Man-Savior man and God, God and man, are mingled to form a composition full of the divine attributes and the human virtues.
We need to have this view of the Man-Savior as we read the Gospel of Luke. In the early years I did not have such a view of the Gospel of Luke. But eventually the Lord opened my eyes and I began to see that in Luke’s narration we have One who is a composition of God and man. This understanding has been confirmed by the writings of others.
In the Gospel of Luke we see the God-man, a Person who is the mingling of divinity with humanity. In this Person we see all the attributes of God and all the human virtues.
If we read the Gospel of Luke carefully, we shall see that the divine attributes strengthen and enrich the human virtues. For example, the Bible clearly reveals that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that God loves (John 3:16). The Bible also says that as those created by God, we should love others (Rom. 13:9). God loves, and we also should love. However, we may love without having God’s love to strengthen and enrich our love. Confucius said that we should love others. But he did not point out that human love can be strengthened and enriched by the divine love. In Luke we see a Man, the Man-Savior, who was very loving. Yet in His love there is the divine love strengthening and enriching the human love.
The Lord’s living was the living of a Person who was a wonderful composition of divinity and humanity. As such a Person, the Lord was constituted of the divine attributes and the human virtues.
We have indicated that in the Gospel of Luke there are a number of gospel messages, gospel parables and gospel cases. If we get into the depths of Luke’s narration, we shall see that these three categories of things reveal that the living of the Lord Jesus on earth was fully strengthened and enriched by the divine attributes. As a result, He lived in the highest standard of morality. In the following message we shall consider in more detail the meaning of the highest standard of morality portrayed in the Gospel of Luke.