Nestorius

NESTORIUS : UNDERSTANDING INCARNATION
PROF. M. M. NINAN
come in the form (morphēn, i.e., very nature) of a servant. That is, he must come fully as a man,
and as a man he must live his life and give his life as one of us. In so doing, Christ pours himself out
(all of who he is) as he takes on, in addition to his full divine nature, a full human nature. Again, it is
crucial to see that in the self-emptying (ekenōsen) of the eternal Son, Paul does not say that he
poured something “out of” himself. No, absolutely not! Rather, he poured out himself. All of who he
is as the eternal Son of the Father, as the one who is the form (morphē) of the Father, is poured out
fully. Here, then, is no subtraction, strictly speaking. It is a “subtraction” (i.e., a pouring out, an
emptying) by adding human nature to his divine nature. He came, then, to become the
God-man—the one whose very divine nature took on fully the existence of a created human nature.
He poured himself out by adding to himself the nature of a man, indeed, the nature of a servant par
excellence who would give his life in obedience on the cross to fulfill the will of his Father.
There is another important point which is often overlooked by almost all theologians in the kenosis
concept is that they forget the principle of power in the Kingdom of God. The principle in the the
Kingdom of God is upside down to the Principles of greatness of the Kingdom of this world as
created by Adam because of the fall. Jesus in fact did explain pretty clearly before he went to the
cross at the last supper.
Who Is the Greatest?
Luke 22:24- 26 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the
greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in
authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you
become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.
Mark 9:35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be
the last of all and the servant of all.”
John 13:13-15 You call me Master, and Lord; and you say well, for so I am. If then I being your
Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have
given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also.
In the Kingdom of God each one serves the other. That is the characteristics of Love and is that
not how we define God. So when Jesus was saying “My Father is greater than I” this was simply
the characteristics of the Kingdom authority. While equality is the basic principle, each one serves
the other.
Christ though he was always God willingly gave up his privileges and took the human aspect
seriously. Otherwise to say that he was sinless as a God would not make any sense. To give up
his God powers and be a servant to the humanness would be the right character of the master in
the Kingdom of God principle.
He would not be partakers in humanness and be human to pay the price of redemption. Jesus the
could have all the powers as God if he wanted and the God could have swallowed up the man in
Jesus. But then that is not the Character of God and that would have made God a lower creature
than the man Jesus.
Luke 4: 7-8 You worship me, it will all be Yours.” But Jesus replied, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord
your God and serve Him only.’” 9Then the devil led Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle
of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here.…
All these replies of Jesus to the tempter overlooked the “if you are the Son of God” All his answers
were as though he was just human even though he was aware the he was indeed God.
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