True God and True man: The Practical Paradox

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 03, 2025

The union of the human and divine natures of Jesus, from the moment of Mary’s fiat to the Angel Gabriel, is the key to our salvation. Jesus—true God and true man—is a practical paradox of Catholic dogma.

The Incarnation provokes pleasant and profound theological speculation, clarified and corrected by the Church (and in healthy arguments). We need to renew our efforts to understand Jesus as both true God and true man because every age over-emphasizes one over the other. The reconciliation of God and man in the Incarnation provides confidence in the compatibility of faith and reason, faith and science, and faith and morals.

We sometimes hear: “It doesn’t matter what we believe as long as we’re good people.” But even Jesus responds, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” (Mk. 10:18) Authentic human goodness participates in God’s goodness. Jesus, true man, intimately participates in the Father’s goodness because He is true God.

We’ve seen the irreverence that comes with an excessive emphasis on the humanity of Jesus, true man, as we take God and His goodness for granted. We often become careless with sacred things. Reverence for Jesus, true God, is the corrective.

Reverence is the holy fear of God. Reverence brings wisdom (cf. Prov. 1:7). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Disrespect and irreverence darken our minds: “Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The Church teaches us to approach Almighty God with reverence that enriches our wisdom.

We find reverential awe in approaching the Almighty throughout the Scriptures. Moses is in awe when he encounters God in the burning bush (cf. Ex. 3:5). The Apostles are in awe of Jesus when He calms the storm: “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mk. 4:41) Mass requires our reverent participation. Fear of the Lord—reverence—acknowledges the supremacy and wisdom of God. As we fear the Lord in reverence, how do we muster the courage to approach Him in devout prayer?

Our quest to encounter an all-good God is impossible without Jesus. Jesus—true God—leads us to the Father: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (Jn.14:6) Jesus—true man—humanizes reverence with His divine love as true God: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (Jn. 15:15)

St. Paul testifies to the sacred humanity of Jesus: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:5) Jesus—true man—bridges our humanity with the divinity of the Father. Saint Paul also testifies to the divinity of Jesus: He is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) “For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily.” (Col. 2:9)

The denial of the divinity of Jesus compounds our fear of the all-powerful God. Our fear isn’t reverent; it’s servile. The Resurrection becomes a meaningless, pious story. How could a mere man overcome sin, suffering, and death? But the denial of the humanity of Jesus—true man—renders the Cross meaningless. How could Jesus—true God—apart from humanity, suffer and atone for the sins of mankind?

The early Church corrected both errors. The Council of Nicea affirmed Jesus as true God and true man. The Council of Ephesus affirmed Mary as the “Mother of God” (the integral Christ). The Council of Chalcedon affirmed the unity of the divine and human natures of Jesus in one Person.

The Mass re-presents and reinforces Jesus as true God and true man. The priest greets the congregation with a Trinitarian formula: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” With reverence, we humbly offer our prayers to God “through Christ our Lord.” In union with His humanity, Jesus is the one Mediator with the Father. In union with His divinity, Jesus is one with the Father.

During the Eucharistic Prayer—especially the Roman Canon—we repeatedly pray “through Christ our Lord.” The priest takes the bread and wine and pronounces the words of Institution as he stands in the person of Christ, the Head of the Church, and we enter into the mystery of the Holy Sacrifice. We address Jesus as intercessor, true man. “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.” (Heb. 4:15) Jesus—true man—in the Eucharist is our bridge to our heavenly Father.

Jesus is also true God. The Eucharistic Prayer concludes with this familiar prayer: “Through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever.” The prayer is the grand finale—the exclamation point—of the Canon of the Mass. Jesus and the Father are one in the Spirit: “He who sees me sees him who sent me.” (Jn. 12:45)

Emboldened, the priest directs us to address God without fear because Jesus, true God and true man, grants His permission: “At the Savior’s command and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say…” “Our Father, who art in heaven….” Casting aside servile fear in approaching the Almighty, we even dare to address Jesus as God and friend. “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof….”

And we receive Jesus—true God and true man—in the intimacy of Holy Communion.