CHEMNITZ’S WORKS

VOLUME 6

THE

TWO NATURES

IN CHRIST

Martin Chemnitz

Translated by J. A. O. Preus

concordia publishing house ⸱ saint louis

15-5127

0-7586-1545-0

978-0-7586-1545-9

RELIGION/Christianity/Lutheran

A translation of De Duabus Naturis in Christo, published in Leipzig, 1578, with the following on the title page:

A monograph concerning the two natures in Christ, their hypostatic union, the communication of their attributes, and related questions, recently prepared and revised on the basis of Scripture and the witnesses of the ancient church by Dr. Martin Chemnitz, with a preface by Dr. Nicolaus Selnecker, pastor at Leipzig. With the grace and permission of the illustrious Elector of Saxony.

Reprinted in 2007 by Concordia Publishing House

Copyright © 1971 Concordia Publishing House

3558 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, MO 63118-3968

1-800-325-3040 • cph.org

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chemnitz, Martin, 1522-1586.

[De duabus naturis in Christo. English]

The two natures in Christ / Martin Chemnitz ; translated by J.A.O. Preus.

p. cm. — (Chemnitz’s works ; v. 6)

Includes index.

Originally published: 1971.

ISBN 978-0-7586-1545-9

1. Jesus Christ—Person and offices. 2. Hypostatic union. I. Title. II. Series.

BT203.C44513 2007

232’.8—dc22

2007028752

CONTENTS

Translator’s Preface

Dedicatory Epistle

Preface

chapters

I. The definition of such terms as essence, person, abstract, concrete, and attributes

II. The divine nature in the incarnate Christ

III. The human nature in the incarnate Christ

IV. The existence and nature of the hypostatic or personal union of the divine and human natures in Christ

V. The matters pertaining to the definition and understanding of the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ, gathered, arranged, proved, confirmed, and clarified on the basis of testimonies from Scripture

VI. How we can in a useful and Scriptural way teach and clarify the doctrine of the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ by using the similes of the union of light and the sun, of iron and fire, and of the soul and the body

VII. A description of the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ illustrated by comparing it with other methods by which two different things or substances are customarily united, and with other modes of the presence and indwelling of the deity in other creatures, and an indication of the differences

VIII. How the doctrine of the hypostatic union in Christ can be made clear from the antitheses of the ancient church in its struggle against heretics

IX. Light is shed on this doctrine by a consideration of the main words used by the Scripture and the ancient church to describe ...