21. Many people these days think of the Lord only as an ordinary person like themselves because they think only of his human nature and not at the same time of his divine nature, when in fact his human and divine natures cannot be separated. “The Lord is both God and a human being; and God and a human being in the Lord are not two but one person. He is one altogether, as the soul and the body are one human being”-this is according to what is taught throughout the Christian world, a teaching that has been ratified by councils and is called the Athanasian statement of faith. So that people will not keep thinking of the divine nature and human nature in the Lord as separate, I would ask them to read the passages from Luke cited above, and also this from Matthew:
The birth of Jesus Christ was like this. His mother, having been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together was found to be carrying a child from the Holy Spirit; and Joseph her husband, being an upright man and not wanting to disgrace her, decided to divorce her secretly. But while he was considering this, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is being born in her is from the Holy Spirit; and she will give birth to a son, and you will call his name ‘Jesus.’ He will save his people from their sins.” And Joseph woke from his dream and did as the angel of the Lord had commanded, and took [Mary] as his wife. But he did not have intercourse with her until she had given birth to her firstborn son. And he called his name “Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18-25)
We are assured by this passage and by what Luke says about the circumstances of the Lord’s birth, as well as by the passages cited earlier, that the Son of God is the Jesus who was conceived by Jehovah the Father and born of the Virgin Mary, the one of whom all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John [Matthew 11:13; Luke 16:16].
