We Catholics celebrate CHRISTMAS with greatest Solemnity because we believe that GOD WAS BORN BY THE VIRGIN MARY and we celebrate with great solemnity the GOOD FRIDAY because we believe that GOD DIED ON THE CROSS. No more, no less.
The Splendor of the Church
SOME MEMBERS OF CFD MANILA REQUESTED ME TO COMMENT ON THE ARTICLE WRITTEN BY OUR VERY GOOD FRIEND AND HIGHLY RESPECTED CFD NATIONAL PRESIDENT EMERITUS AND CFD NATIONAL LEGAL ADVISER ATTY. MIGUEL ‘MIKE’ ABAS CONCERNING THE ISSUE OF HYPOSTATIC UNION AND COMMUNICATIO IDIOMATUM.
THEREFORE I DECIDED TO WRITE THIS ARTICLE. I HAVE READ THIS ARTICLE YEARS AGO WHEN I VISITED CEBU TO CONFER WITH THE CFD NATIONAL BOARD. I DIDN’T MAKE AN ISSUE OF IT BECAUSE WHAT ATTY. ABAS HAD WRITTEN IS “NOT” CONTRARY TO WHAT WE’VE BEEN EXPLAINING CONCERNING THE ‘GOD-DIED THEOLOGY’.
HERE IS THE ARTICLE AND IT IS FOLLOWED BY MY COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS:
DID JESUS’ GODHEAD DIE ON THE CROSS?
By: Atty. Miguel L. Abas
CFD National President
Not few Christians believed and taught that Christ’s Godhead died on the cross. This belief may be attributed to their failure to grasp fully the doctrine on “Hypostatic Union.”
So what is “Hypostatic Union”? By Hypostatic Union, we mean the union of divine and human natures in the second person of the Holy Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ. As such, Jesus possesses two natures, human and divine. He is both God and man. These two natures are joined but not mixed in one divine person of Christ. The fundamental teaching of the Church on the subject is clear. “The Latin Fathers, principally under the influence of Tertullian, came to a clear Trinitarian and Christological terminology as follows:
‘Videmus duplicem statum (=naturam), non confusum, sed conjunctum in una persona, Deum et hominem Jesum’, which means, “We hold a double state (nature), not mixed with one another but joined in the one person, the God and man Jesus (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott, p. 144).
Jesus redeemed us through his sacrifice on the cross as Divine Person, not only as man, but His Divinity, as well. But while His Divinity concomitantly joined in the sacrifice as the essence for the mystery of salvation, the same was not subjected to death. The reason is simple. According to St. Paul, “That thou keep the commandment unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Blessed and only Mighty, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY (emphasis supplied), and inhabiteth light inaccessible…” (1 Tim. 4: 14-16). So there is a nature in Christ which is immortal and that is His Divinity.
Further, the Church teaching in regard to these two natures in Christ, is stated more clearly when it said, “It follows from the essence of the Hypostatic Union, that while on the one hand things pertaining to both the Divine and the human nature can be attributed to the person of Christ, on the other hand, things specifically belonging to one nature (as man) cannot be predicated to the other nature (as God). The rule is not valid if there be reduplication. By reduplication the concrete term is limited to one nature. Thus, it is false to say that ‘Christ has suffered as God.’ (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott, p. 159).
Finally, “the 3rd General Council of Ephesus (year 431) confirmed the Twelve Anathematism of St. Cyril of Alexandria… They were later recognized by Popes and Councils as the expression of the Church doctrine of Faith. The main content is the following:
a) x x x
b) x x x
c) The human and Divine activities predicated of Christ… may not be divided between two persons or hypostases, the man-Christ and the God-Logos, but must be attributed to the one Christ, the Logos become Flesh. It is the Divine Logos, who suffered in the FLESH, was crucified, died, and rose again”(Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott, p. 142).
To this, St. Peter has confirmed the above truth when he said, “Because Christ also died once for our sins: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).
So, the official teaching of the Catholic Church is, that Christ through His flesh (human nature), suffered and died on the cross, not his Divinity. Thus as quoted above, if it is false and erroneous to say that Christ has suffered as God, more so, would it be false and erroneous to say that Christ has died as God.
Note: Scripture citations are quoted from the Douay & Rheims Version of 1935.
The Splendor of the Church
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS:
[DID JESUS’ GODHEAD DIE ON THE CROSS? By: Atty. Miguel L. Abas CFD National President]
The title itself tells us the essential difference.
The Question that I answered was: DID GOD DIE ON THE CROSS? The focus is the Person of Jesus which is one and that one and only Person of Jesus is God. The answer is YES because Jesus is God. His Person is God and it is to the one and only Person of Jesus is death predicated and attributed:
THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH [CCC]
#468 “Thus, EVERYTHING IN CHRIST’S HUMAN NATURE is to be ATTRIBUTED TO HIS DIVINE PERSON AS ITS PROPER SUBJECT, not only his miracles but ALSO HIS SUFFERINGS AND EVEN HIS DEATH: ‘He who was CRUCIFIED in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is TRUE GOD, LORD OF GLORY, AND ONE OF THE HOLY TRINITY.'”
On the other hand, our dear Atty. Abas focuses on JESUS’ GODHEAD: DID JESUS’ GODHEAD DIE ON THE CROSS? Well, of course if that will be asked of me the answer is NO! NO, NO NO… NADA, NUNCA, NIENTE… NEVER EVER. IN RUSSIAN: NYET NYET. HA HA HA….
Why? Because the term ‘Godhead’ doesn’t refer to the Person of Jesus but to His NATURE. Nature is Abstract. Person is Concrete. Death is referred to the person and not to nature.
[Not few Christians believed and taught that Christ’s Godhead died on the cross. This belief may be attributed to their failure to grasp fully the doctrine on “Hypostatic Union.”]
WE DO NOT TEACH THAT CHRIST’S GODHEAD DIED. NO NO NO… NADA, NUNCA, NIENTE… IN RUSSIAN: NYET, NYET. AND WE DIDN’T FAIL TO GRASP PROPERLY THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE ‘HYPOSTATIC UNION’. WE SPENT YEARS STUDYING IT IN DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. WE REMEMBER OUR LESSONS WELL.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES THAT ‘GOD DIED’ REFERRING TO THE PERSON OF THE LORD JESUS OUR LORD AND GOD. THAT IS SPECIFICALLY AND CATEGORICALLY TAUGHT AND PROCLAIMED BY THE CHURCH IN TWO OF HER UNIVERSAL CATECHISMS:
CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT [Also known as THE ROMAN CATECHISM or The Catechism of Pope St. Pius V]:
“It is not, however, our belief that the body of Christ alone was interred. The above words propose, as the principal object of our belief, that GOD WAS BURIED; as according to the rule of Catholic faith, we also say with THE STRICTEST TRUTH that GOD DIED, and that GOD WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN. For as the Divinity was never separated from His body which was laid in the sepulcher, we truly confess that God was buried.” (THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, Trans. by John A. McHugh, OP & Charles J. Callan, OP. Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1982. P. 56)
SO THERE IT IS. WORD FOR WORD. STRAIGHT FROM THE FIRST EVER UNIVERSAL CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. IT STATES: “GOD DIED” “GOD WAS BORN” “GOD WAS BURIED”… AND THE SAME CATECHISM REFERS TO IT AS ‘STRICTEST TRUTH’. IT IS NOT MERE FIGURE OF SPEECH BUT A DEFINED DOGMA OF THE CHURCH.
CCC #626 Since the “Author of life” who was killed[467] is the same “living one [who has] risen”,[468] THE DIVINE PERSON of the Son of God necessarily continued to possess his human soul and body, separated from each other by death: By the fact that at Christ’s death his soul was separated from his flesh, his one person is not itself divided into two persons; for the human body and soul of Christ have existed in the same way from the beginning of his earthly existence, IN THE DIVINE PERSON OF THE WORD; and in death, although separated from each other, both remained with one and the same person of the Word.[469]
[So what is “Hypostatic Union”? By Hypostatic Union, we mean the union of divine and human natures in the second person of the Holy Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ.]
CORRECT.
[As such, Jesus possesses two natures, human and divine. He is both God and man. These two natures are joined but not mixed in one divine person of Christ.]
CORRECT. THEY ARE NOT MIXED BUT THEY ARE ‘JOINED’. THE COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH REFERS TO THAT AS ‘ESSENTIAL UNION’. JESUS AS DIVINE NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE BUT HE ONLY GOT ONE DIVINE PERSON. BOTH THE DIVINE AND HUMAN NATURES OF CHRIST INHERE TO ONE DIVINE PERSON.
[The fundamental teaching of the Church on the subject is clear.]
VERY CLEAR INDEED.
[“The Latin Fathers, principally under the influence of Tertullian, came to a clear Trinitarian and Christological terminology as follows:
‘Videmus duplicem statum (=naturam), non confusum, sed conjunctum in una persona, Deum et hominem Jesum’, which means, “We hold a double state (nature), not mixed with one another but joined in the one person, the God and man Jesus (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott, p. 144).]
CORRECT. THIS IS JUST A SUPPORT FROM WHAT IS ALREADY AGREED UPON ABOVE.
[Jesus redeemed us through his sacrifice on the cross as Divine Person, not only as man, but His Divinity, as well.]
CORRECT. JESUS REDEEMED US ON THE CROSS AS DIVINE PERSON. SO THE ONE ON THE CROSS IS GOD. JESUS WAS A DIVINE PERSON ON THE CROSS. THAT’S IT.
THAT IS WHY THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT REFERRED TO THE GOD WHO DIED AND THE GOD WHO SUFFERED, THE GOD WHO WAS BURIED AND THE SAME GOD WAS BORN OF THE VIRGIN. IT REFERS TO THE PERSON OF JESUS WHO IS GOD.
[But while His Divinity concomitantly joined in the sacrifice as the essence for the mystery of salvation, the same was not subjected to death.]
YES. THE DIVINITY DIDN’T DIE. BECAUSE THE DIVINITY REFERS TO THE NATURE OF GOD. THE DIVINITY DIDN’T DIE AND IT WAS NOT SUBJECTED TO DEATH. BUT THE PERSON OF JESUS DIED AND THAT PERSON IS GOD. SO GOD DIED ON THE CROSS… REFERRING TO THE DIVINE PERSON OF JESUS.
[ The reason is simple. According to St. Paul, “That thou keep the commandment unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Blessed and only Mighty, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY (emphasis supplied), and inhabiteth light inaccessible…” (1 Tim. 4: 14-16). So there is a nature in Christ which is immortal and that is His Divinity.]
CORRECT. THE DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST DIDN’T DIE AND WAS NOT SUBJECTED TO DEATH. JESUS IS IMMORTAL BY VIRTUE OF HIS DIVINE NATURE. HOWEVER, THE BIBLE ALSO STATES THAT JESUS OUR LORD AND GOD DIED FOR US:
Phil 2:5-8 [Douay-Rheims] “For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.”
EVERY CATHOLIC PROCLAIMS: JESUS IS OUR GOD AND LORD! YET WE ALSO SAY: CHRIST HAS DIED, CHRIST IS RISEN, CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN! WE DO NOT SAY: THE GODHEAD OF CHRIST DIED. THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST DIED, THE DIVINITY WILL COME AGAIN. THE DIVINITY HAS RISEN. THE DIVINITY HAS SAVED US. HA HA HA… THAT IS ILLOGICAL AND STUPID. HA HA HA…
WE SAY: GOD SAVES US. THE LORD REDEEMED US. YET WE DO NOT SAY: THE GODHEAD SAVES US. THE DIVINITY REDEEMED US. WE ALWAYS REFER TO THE PERSON NOT TO THE NATURE. WE CONSIDER NATURE AS THE PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION BUT THOSE OPERATIONS OR ACTIONS ARE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PERSON.
[Further, the Church teaching in regard to these two natures in Christ, is stated more clearly when it said, “It follows from the essence of the Hypostatic Union, that while on the one hand things pertaining to both the Divine and the human nature can be attributed to the person of Christ, on the other hand, things specifically belonging to one nature (as man) cannot be predicated to the other nature (as God). The rule is not valid if there be reduplication. By reduplication the concrete term is limited to one nature. Thus, it is false to say that ‘Christ has suffered as God.’ (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott, p. 159).]
IF WE WILL FOLLOW THIS REASONING THEN BOTH THE COUNCIL OF TRENT CATECHISM AND THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON WILL BECOME ERRONEOUS. THAT IS ABSURD AND THAT IS PREPOSTEROUS. IS DR. LUDWIG OTT HIGHER IN AUTHORITY THAN ST. PIUS V AND THE ENTIRE MAGISTERIUM THAT RATIFIED THE ROMAN CATECHISM? HERE IT IS AGAIN:
“It is not, however, our belief that the body of Christ alone was interred. The above words propose, as the principal object of our belief, that GOD WAS BURIED; as according to the rule of Catholic faith, we also say with THE STRICTEST TRUTH that GOD DIED, and that GOD WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN. For as the Divinity was never separated from His body which was laid in the sepulcher, we truly confess that God was buried.” (THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, Trans. by John A. McHugh, OP & Charles J. Callan, OP. Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1982. P. 56)
THAT QUOTE FROM DR. LUDWIG OTT IS NOT ENOUGH TO INVALIDATE THE SOLEMN AND DEFINED DECLARATION OF THE ROMAN CATECHISM WHICH IS THE OFFICIAL TEACHING OF THE MAGISTERIUM. DR. LUDWIG OTT’S EXPLANATION IS ONLY AN OPINION OF AN EXPERT BUT HE IS NOTHING IN COMPARISON WITH THE GREAT ST. POPE PIUS V.
MOREOVER, IT CONTRADICTS THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS AND ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA IN ANOTHER OFFICIAL TEACHING OF THE CHURCH KNOWN AS ‘THE 12 ANATHEMAS AGAINST NESTORIUS’. HERE IS THE 12TH ANATHEMA:
“If anyone does not profess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh, and was crucified in the flesh, and experienced death in the flesh, and became the first-born from the dead [see Col 1:18], INASMUCH AS HE IS, AS GOD, BOTH LIFE AND GIVER OF LIFE: LET HIM BE ANATHEMA.” [St. Cyril of Alexandria, ANATHEMAS AGAINST NESTORIUS #12. Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary’s College. The Church Teaches, Documents of the Church in English Translation. Trans by John F. Clarkson, S.J., John H. Edwards, S.J., William J. Kelly, S.J., John J. Welch, S.J. Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. 1973. p. 170]
MUCH MORE, IT CONTRADICTS ANOTHER UNIVERSAL CATECHISM WHICH IS THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WHICH FOLLOWS THE 5TH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, CONSTANTINOPLE II:
CCC#468 “… the fifth ecumenical council at CONSTANTINOPLE in 553 confessed that ‘there is but one hypostasis [or person], which is our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity. Thus, EVERYTHING IN CHRIST’S HUMAN NATURE is to be ATTRIBUTED TO HIS DIVINE PERSON AS ITS PROPER SUBJECT, not only his miracles but ALSO HIS SUFFERINGS AND EVEN HIS DEATH: ‘He who was CRUCIFIED in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is TRUE GOD, LORD OF GLORY, AND ONE OF THE HOLY TRINITY.'” [Footnote: Council of Constantinople II (553) DS 424.]
IT ALSO CONTRADICTS MY OWN RESEARCH FROM THE SAME BOOK WHEREIN DR. LUDWIG OTT REFERS TO THE HUMAN ACTIONS OF JESUS AS ACTS OF GOD. THE DIVINE LOGOS, WHO IS DIVINE IN ESSENCE, OPERATES HUMAN ACTIVITIES AS PRINCIPIUM QUOD THROUH INCARNATION [OR THROUGH HUMAN NATURE THAT HE ASSUMED AS PRINCIPIUM QUO]. THUS, SEEING, HEARING, EATING, DRINKING, SUFFERING AND DYING ARE HUMAN ACTS NOT OF HUMAN NATURE BUT OF DIVINE PERSON… SOMEONE WHOSE ESSENCE IS DIVINE… IT IS ON THIS LIGHT THAT THEY CAN BE CONSIDERED GOD-HUMAN ACTS:
The God-human (Theandric) Activities
b) The human activities, which the Logos operates as principium quod through the human nature as principium quo, for example, seeing, eating, drinking, SUFFERING, DYING. In so far as these activities are HUMAN ACTS OF A DIVINE PERSON, THEY CAN, IN THE WIDER SENSE, BE DESIGNATED GOD-HUMAN (Theandric). [Dr. Ludwig Ott. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 149.]
WHAT DR. LUDWIG OTT TRIES TO EXPLAIN THEREIN IS THE REJECTION THAT THE DIVINE NATURE SUFFERED AND DIED. BUT HE IS NOT IN ANYWAY DENYING THAT SUFFERING AND DEATH IS PREDICATED TO THE PERSON OF JESUS OUR GOD. IT IS FOUND IN THE FIRST PART OF THAT QUOTE:
2. Rules Concerning the Predication of Idioms
The nature of the Hypostaic Union is such that while on the one hand things pertaining to both the Divine and the human nature CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PERSON OF CHRIST, on the other hand things specifically belonging to one nature cannot be predicated of the other nature. Since CONCRETE TERMS (GOD, SON OF GOD, MAN, SON OF MAN, CHRIST THE ALMIGHTY) designates the Hypostasis and ABSTRACT TERMS [Godhead, humanity, omnipotence) the nature, the following rule may be laid down: communicatio idiomatum fit in concreto, non in abstracto. THE COMMUNICATION OF IDIOMS IS VALID FOR CONCRETE TERMS NOT FOR ABSTRACT ONES. [Dr. Ludwig Otto, FUNDAMENTALS OF CATHOLIC DOGMA, p. 161]
FOR THE CONCRETE TERMS REFERRING TO PERSONS SUCH AS “GOD” “SON OF GOD” “SON OF MAN”, CHRIST THE ALMIGHTY” THE COMMUNICATION OF IDIOMS IS VALID. THUS WE CAN SAY GOD DIED, THE SON OF GOD DIED, CHRIST THE ALMIGHTY DIED, THE SON OF MAN DIED. BUT FOR ABSTRACT TERMS SUCH AS GODHEAD, HUMANITY, OMNIPOTENCE, ETC. IT CANNOT BE APPLIED. SO IT IS ERRONEOUS TO SAY THAT THE GODHEAD DIED, THE HUMANITY DIED… NO NO NO… NADA, NUNCA, NIENTE… IN RUSSIAN: NYET, NYET.
NOW LET ME CONTINUE THE QUOTATION FROM DR. OTT FROM WHICH ATTY. MIKE GOT HIS CITED MATERIAL. IT IS ON PAGE 161 OF FUNDAMENTALS OF CATHOLIC DOGMA AND NOT ON PAGE 141. HERE IT IS:
The rule is not valid if there be reduplication, by reduplication the concrete term is limited to one nature. Thus, it is false to say “Christ has suffered as God.” “Christ created the world as a human being.” It must be observed that the essential parts of the human nature, body and soul are referred to the nature, whose parts they are. Thus it is false to say: “Christ’s soul is omniscient,” “Christ’s body is ubiquitous.” [Dr. Ludwig Otto, FUNDAMENTALS OF CATHOLIC DOGMA, p. 161]
DR. LUDWIG OTT CLEARLY USES THE TERM “AS GOD” IN THIS QUOTE AS REFERRING TO THE DIVINE NATURE OF JESUS AND NOT TO HIS PERSON.
[Finally, “the 3rd General Council of Ephesus (year 431) confirmed the Twelve Anathematism of St. Cyril of Alexandria… They were later recognized by Popes and Councils as the expression of the Church doctrine of Faith. The main content is the following:]
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR REFERRING TO THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS WHICH IS THE ANTIDOTE TO NESTORIUS AND PARTICULARLY TO THE 12 ANATHEMAS CONTRA NESTORIUS BY ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. THIS WILL REALLY GIVE US CLARIFICATION BEYOND ANY REASONABLE DOUBT.
[a) x x x
b) x x x
c) The human and Divine activities predicated of Christ… may not be divided between two persons or hypostases, the man-Christ and the God-Logos, but must be attributed to the one Christ, the Logos become Flesh. It is the Divine Logos, who suffered in the FLESH, was crucified, died, and rose again”(Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott, p. 142).]
THIS QUOTATION IS ‘INCOMPLETE’. LET ME PROVIDE ONCE AGAIN THE COMPLETE TEXT IN ENGLISH OF THE 12TH ANATHEMA OF ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA WHICH IS PROMULGATED IN THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS AS THE OFFICIAL TEACHING OF THE CHURCH:
“If anyone does not profess that THE WORD OF GOD SUFFERED IN THE FLESH, and was CRUCIFIED IN THE FLESH, and EXPERIENCED DEATH IN THE FLESH, and became the first-born from the dead [see Col 1:18], INASMUCH AS HE IS, AS GOD, BOTH LIFE AND GIVER OF LIFE: LET HIM BE ANATHEMA.” [St. Cyril of Alexandria, ANATHEMAS AGAINST NESTORIUS #12. Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary’s College. The Church Teaches, Documents of the Church in English Translation. Trans by John F. Clarkson, S.J., John H. Edwards, S.J., William J. Kelly, S.J., John J. Welch, S.J. Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. 1973. p. 170]
SEE, THE DIVINE LOGOS SUFFERED AND DIED IN THE FLESH “AS GOD”. THAT IS VERBATIM.
WORD FOR WORD FROM THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS.
WORD FOR WORD FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
[To this, St. Peter has confirmed the above truth when he said, “Because Christ also died once for our sins: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).]
ST. PETER SAID THAT CHRIST OUR GOD DIED IN THE FLESH. BUT HE DIDN’T SAY THAT THE HUMAN NATURE OR THE FLESH WERE THE ONES WHO DIED. THE ONE WHO SUFFERED AND DIED FOR US IS ‘CHRIST’ OUR LORD AND GOD. IT IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE PERSON OF JESUS AND THE PERSON OF JESUS IS GOD.
[So, the official teaching of the Catholic Church is, that Christ through His flesh (human nature), suffered and died on the cross, not his Divinity.]
WE ALSO DO NOT SAY THAT THE DIVINITY OF THE LORD JESUS SUFFERED AND DIED ON THE CROSS.
[Thus as quoted above, if it is false and erroneous to say that Christ has suffered as God, more so, would it be false and erroneous to say that Christ has died as God.]
THIS IS WRONG BECAUSE IT CONTRADICTS THE WORD FOR WORD TEACHING OF THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT AND THE COMPLETE DECLARATION OF THE ANATHEMAS OF THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS. LET ME GIVE THEM AGAIN:
“It is not, however, our belief that the body of Christ alone was interred. The above words propose, as the principal object of our belief, that GOD WAS BURIED; as according to the rule of Catholic faith, we also say with THE STRICTEST TRUTH that GOD DIED, and that GOD WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN. For as the Divinity was never separated from His body which was laid in the sepulcher, we truly confess that GOD WAS BURIED.” (THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, Trans. by John A. McHugh, OP & Charles J. Callan, OP. Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1982. P. 56)
MADRE MIA, NO ONE CAN REFUTE SUCH POWERFUL VERBATIM TEACHING OF THE ROMAN CATECHISM. HERE IS THE ONE FROM THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS AGAIN:
“If anyone does not profess that THE WORD OF GOD SUFFERED IN THE FLESH, and was CRUCIFIED IN THE FLESH, and EXPERIENCED DEATH IN THE FLESH, and became the first-born from the dead [see Col 1:18], INASMUCH AS HE IS, AS GOD, BOTH LIFE AND GIVER OF LIFE: LET HIM BE ANATHEMA.” [St. Cyril of Alexandria, ANATHEMAS AGAINST NESTORIUS #12. Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary’s College. The Church Teaches, Documents of the Church in English Translation. Trans by John F. Clarkson, S.J., John H. Edwards, S.J., William J. Kelly, S.J., John J. Welch, S.J. Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. 1973. p. 170]
DR. LUDWIG OTT SIMPLY REFERS TO THE DIVINE NATURE OF JESUS WHEN HE USED THE PHRASE “AS GOD”. BUT THE TERM GOD BEING A CONCRETE TERM CAN BE THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT OF JESUS’ SUFFERING AND DEATH.
[Note: Scripture citations are quoted from the Douay & Rheims Version of 1935.]
MY CITATIONS OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES ARE TAKEN FROM THE SAME TRANSLATION OF THE CODIFIED WORD OF GOD.
THE ‘GOD DIED’ DOCTRINE IS NOT ONLY SUPPORTED BY THE UNIVERSAL CATECHISMS OF THE CHURCH APPROVED BY TWO GREAT POPES: POPE ST. PIUS V OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT AND POPE ST. JOHN PAUL THE GREAT. IT IS ALSO SUPPORTED BY CONCILIAR DECREES OF EPHESUS AND CONSTANTINOPLE II.
IN ADDITION IT IS SUPPORTED BY THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH:
“O only begotten SON and WORD OF GOD, IMMORTAL BEING, you who deigned for our salvation to become INCARNATE of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, you who WITHOUT CHANGE BECAME MAN and were CRUCIFIED, O CHRIST OUR GOD, you who by your death have crushed death, you who are one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us!” [Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Troparion “O monogenes”, cf. CCC#469]
ONCE AGAIN, I REPEAT WE CFD ARE UNITED IN OUR DECLARATION THAT THE DIVINITY OF JESUS DIDN’T DIE. THE GODHEAD DIDN’T DIE. THAT IS CLEAR AND THAT IS AGREED UPON. NOW, AS REGARDS “GOD DIED” WE UPHOLD IT BECAUSE THE ROMAN CATECHISM TEACHES IT AND THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS DEFINED IT IN ITS ANATHEMA AGAINST NESTORIUS. THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH SUPPORTS IT AS WELL AS NUMEROUS PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE POPES, DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH AND GREAT THEOLOGIANS FAITHFUL TO THE MAGISTERIUM.
I EXPRESS GRATITUDE TO OUR BELOVED AND HIGHLY RESPECTED BROTHER IN CFD ATTY. MIKE ABAS FOR HIS EXPLANATION AND FOR INITIATING THIS DISCUSSION FOR THE GOOD OF OUR PEOPLE. MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT LEAD US TO THE FULLNESS OF TRUTH ROOTED IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY.