Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

B. SCRIPTURAL PROOF FOR THE UNIPERSONALITY OF CHRIST.
The doctrine of the two natures in one person transcends human reason. It is the
expression of a supersensible reality, and of an incomprehensible mystery, which has no
analogy in the life of man as we know it, and finds no support in human reason, and
therefore can only be accepted by faith on the authority of the Word of God. For that
reason it is doubly necessary to pay close attention to the teachings of Scripture on this
point.
1. NO EVIDENCE OF A DUAL PERSONALITY IN SCRIPTURE. In the first place there is a
negative consideration of considerable importance. If there had been a dual personality
in Jesus, we would naturally expect to find some traces of it in Scripture; but there is not
a single trace of it. There is no distinction of an “I” and a “Thou” in the inner life of the
Mediator, such as we find in connection with the triune Being of God, where one person
addresses the other, Ps. 2:7; 40:7,8; John 17:1,4,5,21-24. Moreover, Jesus never uses the
plural in referring to Himself, as God does in Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7. It might seem as if
John 3:11 were a case in point. The plural is peculiar, but in all probability refers to Jesus
and those who were associated with Him, in opposition to Nicodemus and the group
which he represented.
2. BOTH NATURES ARE REPRESENTED IN SCRIPTURE AS UNITED IN ONE PERSON. There are
passages of Scripture which refer to both natures in Christ, but in which it is perfectly
evident that only one person is intended, Rom. 1:3,4; Gal. 4:4,5; Phil. 2:6-11. In several
passages both natures are set forth as united. The Bible nowhere teaches that divinity in
the abstract, or some divine power, was united to, or manifested in, a human nature; but
always that the divine nature in the concrete, that is, the divine person of the Son of
God, was united to a human nature, John 1:14; Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4; 9:5; I Tim. 3:16; Heb.
2:11-14; I John 4:2,3.
3. THE ONE PERSON IS SPOKEN OF IN TERMS TRUE OF EITHER ONE OF THE NATURES.
Repeatedly the attributes of one nature are predicated of the person, while that person
is designated by a title derived from the other nature. On the one hand human
attributes and actions are predicated of the person while he is designated by a divine
title, Acts 20:28; I Cor. 2:8; Col. 1:13,14. And on the other hand divine attributes and
actions are predicated of the person while he is designated by a human title, John 3:13;
6:62; Rom. 9:5.
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