Was Jesus Christ's soul ever created, or has it existed forever?
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I address this question to Christians who believe that Jesus Christ possesses both divine and human natures—those who believe that Christ has always been the Son of God, that is, God, and, since the moment of His incarnation, also the Son of Man, that is, a human. In other words, I address the following three main branches of Christianity: the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and mainstream Protestantism (those Protestant believers who directly address Jesus in their prayers): **Was Jesus Christ's soul ever created, or has it existed forever?**
On the one hand, as the Son of God, Christ, being divine, has always possessed a soul—that is, the ability to have thoughts, feelings, and will. Verses like this one seem to indicate that:
> “Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often I have longed to gather your
> children together” (Matthew 23:37, NIV) (clearly, the longing here extends over a period of more than 33 and a half years)
In other words, at His incarnation, Christ only received a physical body, which seems to be confirmed by this verse:
> "Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and
> offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me’" (Hebrews
> 10:5, NIV).
On the other hand, from the moment of His incarnation, Christ possessed human nature. A key element of human nature is the possession of a created soul, not just a physical body. If so, then Jesus Christ should also possess a created human soul—regardless of when exactly it was created (whether at the moment of conception or at some point prior). If that is the case, then which of the two options is correct:
1. Was it like His divine soul simply entered His created human soul and the two joined as one, and thus, showing no contradictions to each other and abiding in perfect harmony and agreement, can be considered one soul, one personality?
2. Or is it like, rather, in case with Jesus there is only His uncreated divine soul that Christ has always posessed eternally, and the absence of a created human soul does not exclude Him from being fully human (just as the absence of a biological human father does not)?
How is this matter viewed in the above-mentioned branches of Christianity?
Asked by brilliant
(10250 rep)
Oct 14, 2024, 03:17 AM
Last activity: Oct 17, 2024, 04:45 PM
Last activity: Oct 17, 2024, 04:45 PM