Q&A Home > N > Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ

If Jesus Christ’s Divinity did not part from His Humanity not for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye, then:
How then did He die and was buried in the tomb?
While on the cross, did His divinity get involved?
Did Christ have all the human drives that any human body is entitled to have? Bad desires? Did he control them through His divinity or Humanity?
After resurrection, did He get the same body that we will get at the end of the world?

To answer your question, I will start by bringing to your attention what the priest prays during the Confession in the Divine Liturgy:

"Amen, Amen, Amen, I believe, I believe, I believe, and confess to the last breath, that this is the Life-giving Flesh that Your Only Begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ, took from our Lady, the Lady of us all, the holy Theotokos St. Mary..."

This is in accordance with what the Holy Bible teaches us regarding our Lord Jesus Christ’s Incarnation and His Birth of the Virgin Mary. The Apostle St. Paul says, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman" (Galatians 4:4). His body was exactly like ours but He was born without the original sin, as we say in the Gregorian Liturgy "He resembles us in everything save for sin alone."

"He made it One with His Divinity without mingling, without confusion and without alteration. He confessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate..."

This also is in accordance with what the Holy Bible tells us in the narration of the trial of the Lord of Glory before Pontius Pilate, the governor of Jerusalem at that time. The Apostle St. Paul says, "...Jesus Christ who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate" (I Timothy 6:13).

"... He gave it up for us upon the Holy wood of the Cross of His own will for us all. Truly I believe that His Divinity parted not from His Humanity, for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye. Given for us for salvation, remission of sins, and eternal life to those who partake of Him..."

For the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has Eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For My Flesh is food indeed and My Blood is drink indeed" (John 6:54-55).

On the Cross His Divinity did not part from His Humanity. However, in Its unification with His Human nature, the former had let the latter to suffer with no intervention whatsoever, thus making  the redemptive act of suffering quite genuine. This state of play is expressed by the Lord Jesus Christ's words: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"

The words "and was buried" indicate that His Body had died. That death was the price of sinfulness of the whole world. In that death, His Human Soul left His Body, though His Divinity  never separated from either His Soul nor His Body. The Soul , unified with Divinity, went to Hades and announced the Good Tidings to the dead, opened up the gates of Paradise, and let them in, together with the thief on the right side. The Body, united with Divinity, stayed in the tomb without becoming decomposed.

Resurrection means that the Divinity–united Human Soul came at dawn on the third day, and united with the Divinity-united Body.

God does not literally ascend or descend. He is everywhere. He is in Heaven, on earth, and in-between the two. No place is void of  Him. He is in Heaven where it is said that He goes up to and He is always on earth, from which He goes up to Heaven, and which He never leaves.
His Ascension does not mean that He ascended by His Divinity, but He did so in Body (which is united with Divinity). Please read the Holy Book of Acts 1:9. "He ascended" does not mean, "He was taken up." We shall not see Him later on in the Body of His modesty, but in His Glory. Even that Body that  had ascended did so as a glorified One.

As for us, when we rise, we shall do so in bodies that will be  similar to the Body of His Glory, which has defied all the laws of earthly gravity in its ascent, passed through solid walls, and which we shall not see except in its transfiguration, its luminosity, and its spirituality. His Second Coming will be one of glory, for He has  already descended.

There are many well-written books addressing your questions. Three of those include: The Spirituality of the Rites of the Holy Liturgy (His Grace Bishop Mettaous), The Nature of Christ (His Holiness Pope Shenouda), and How to Benefit From the Holy Liturgy (His Grace Bishop Mettaous).

May God bless you in your search toward True Understanding.