#901 Could I Have Two Natures?
August 18, 2024Hello,
I’ve called myself a Christian for over 2 decades, but it’s only in the past year that I’ve actually had a real, personal, amazing relationship with our Creator. I’m trying to play “catch-up” now, and I have a few questions about souls and persons, as these topics are of great personal interest and importance to me.
Jesus is fully God and fully human; He has two natures while being one person. We are created in God’s image. Does that mean it is possible for us to have multiple natures as well?
Jesus took on human nature at the incarnation, and so the nature was added to Him, right? That obviously seems to be a bodily change (having a human body). Was there an addition to His soul, such that humanity was “added” to it? Dr. Craig has previously said that he believes that Logos *is* the soul that is joined with human flesh to complete the full human nature, so maybe this idea doesn’t even make sense on this view. But are we (our souls) similar to Christ’s in the respect?
If I’m not mistaken, it seems that Dr. Craig would say that the answer is “yes.” In question of the week #760, Dr. Craig says that “[a] human is an individual composed of a rational soul and a hominin body,” and further in that same response, “a rational soul conjoined with the non-hominin body of an extra-terrestrial like a Klingon would not be a human person. He would, indeed, be a person but not a human person.”
To get to the heart (or perhaps soul) of my question: is that really all that makes a person a human? Or do souls have a “type,” such that they are made specifically for a particular type of creature?
Could an existing soul, that is currently joined with a human body, have (or have had) a different body? Would that person suddenly be no longer human?
If there is more to one’s being than simply the combination of soul and body, and souls do indeed have a “type,” is it possible that someone’s soul could have the attribute “will have the body of
If you’ll indulge one more question: what about our resurrection bodies? They will be different than our current bodies, so could they perhaps be non-hominin?
I’m sorry for the scattershot questions. I know that there are so many details about these topics that we will probably never learn in this life, but this is an area of great personal importance to me. Even if this is not chosen for a question of the week, I would greatly appreciate any suggestions of other resources or references to continue studying this topic.
Thank you and God bless,
D F
United States
Dr. craig’s response
A
Whoa, this really is scattershot! Still your questions are fascinating, DF, and I’m thrilled about the newfound vitality to your faith. So let me respond with quick retorts.
1. Is it possible for us to have multiple natures? I honestly don’t know, but why not? The movie Avatar features a very plausible case in which a person has both a human nature and a Na’vi nature, and given body/soul dualism, it’s not at all obvious that such a scenario is impossible.
2. At the incarnation a human nature was added to the Logos, right? Right, the incarnation is not a matter of subtraction from the divine nature but a matter of the addition of a human nature.
3. Was there an addition to His soul, such that humanity was “added” to it? Depends on what you mean! On the classical view, the pre-incarnate Logos did not have a soul. Rather in the incarnation he acquired both a human soul and a human body. On my view the Logos becomes the soul of Jesus, so in that sense he acquires just a human body.
4. Are we (our souls) similar to Christ’s in the respect that the Logos *is* the soul that is joined with human flesh to complete the full human nature? That is my view, yes; our souls in conjunction with our bodies also make up a complete, concrete human nature. But the traditional view denies that the Logos is the soul of Christ; rather he *has* a human soul.
5. Do souls have a “type,” such that they are made specifically for a particular type of creature? If sentient animals have souls, then there are certainly different kinds of souls, depending on what sort of cognitive faculties they have. I am not inclined to believe that there is a specifically human type of soul. It seems to me that a soul endowed with rational faculties sufficient for personhood could be united with different sorts of bodies and therefore be, say, a human soul or a Klingon soul.
6. Could an existing soul, that is currently joined with a human body, have (or have had) a different body? Would that person suddenly be no longer human? So long as the alternative body has neurological complexity comparable to that of the human brain in order to support personhood, I see no reason to think that your soul could not be conjoined with another sort of body. In such a case, you would no longer be a human person.
7. Is it possible that, either now or in the future, someone could be both fully human and fully
8. Since our resurrection bodies will be different than our current bodies, could they perhaps be non-hominin? Here I think I can say confidently, no. Not only are our resurrection bodies portrayed as hominin bodies, but the God of the Bible is not going to give up on the human race and do away with all the human beings. Look at the human body of Jesus, for example. Our resurrection bodies will be fully human, but glorified so as to be immortal, incorruptible, powerful, and Spirit-directed (I Corinthians 15.42-44).
- William Lane Craig