seeing in a mirror dimly

My journey in thinking about the Extra Calvinisticum has now taken me to the realm of what’s known as the communicatio idiomatum (english: the Communication of the Attributes).  That the attributes (such as omniscience, omnipresence, immensity etc) cannot be transferred between the human and divine natures of Jesus, but are correctly predicated of his person and also are referred to using the reduplicative expression (as man, or as God) .  Thomas G. Weinandy in Does God Suffer? has recounted a great little example that he shares with his students – what do you think?

“Jesus goes to Martha’s, Mary’s, and Lazarus’ home for dinner.  Martha serves as a starter (to use the English term) raw carrots with garlic dip (a yet to be discovered American culinary invention).  Jesus ate the carrots.  Who was it who ate the carrots?  Who was the acting subject?  It was the Son of God who ate the carrots.  Was he eating the carrots as God or as man?  Obviously, he was eating the carrots as man.  God as God cannot eat carrots for he does not have teeth, a mouth, a stomach etc.  Lazarus also ate the carrots, but unfortunately he ate a rotten carrot and died of food poisoning.  Four days later Jesus returned and raised Lazarus from the dead.  Who was it who raised Lazarus from the dead?  It was the Son of God who raised Lazarus from the dead.  But did he raise Lazarus from the dead as God or as man?  At this juncture there is silence among the students.  Inevitably the more pious students first break the silence by saying that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead ‘as God.’  I remain silent.  Then some brave soul, usually a girl, will hesitantly whisper, almost inaudibly, ‘as man.’  That is precisely the correct answer.

Within the Incarnation the Son of God never does anything as God.  If he did, he would be acting as God in a man.  This the Incarnation will never permit.  All that Jesus did as the Son of God was done as a man - whether it was eating carrots, or raising someone from the dead.  He may have raised Lazarus from the dead by his divine power or, better, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but it was, nonetheless, as man that he did so.  Similarly, the Son of God did not suffer as God in a man, for to do so would mean that he was not a man.  The Son of God suffered as a man.” (pg 205).

Ironically, as I’ll go on to show in another post (sometime… I’ve been pretty slack lately!), protecting God’s impassibility is done in order to uphold Christ’s humanity – particularly his solidarity in our weakness!

Oh, here’s an excerpt from the excellent book which this quote was taken from.