Greetings, I’ve heard and/or read opposing views on the topic of Jesus having a human soul. On a recent Catholic Answers podcast, I heard Jesus did not have a soul because He is the second person of the trinity, the Son of God. And I’ve read that He had a human soul because He was 100% man and, of course, 100% Divine. Any thoughts on this one?
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Hi Andrea yes the true teaching of the church from your very good question that because Jesus was both fully God and fully man he did have a human soul and that in fact was in addition to his ultimate divine essence.
And his human nature while he was before the resurrection from what I understand had cognition from a human soul but not not apart from the fact that his Divine essence beheld the beatific vision.
From what I also understand although his human nature had limited knowledge both in terms of physical experience and in the spiritual
Nevertheless his human soul had infused knowledge from the Eternal son.
The catechism probably clarifies this let me dig it out
Secondly when Jesus prayed and Gethsemane to be spared or supposedly spared from the passion this was a contention in the church as to whether Christ really did not will to participate in the redemption
In this case the church dogmatically settled that Christ had two wills fully compatible namely a Divine will and a human will
There was no contradiction between the two but rather that is preparing for the passion Christ’s human will was shrinking from Passion but in the end he truly is fully is prepared to embrace it
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Hi Andrea here is the catechism on the subjects which clarifies in a way that much better then I can
Starting in paragraph 470
Because “human nature was assumed, not absorbed”,97 in the mysterious union of the Incarnation, the Church was led over the course of centuries to confess the full reality of Christ’s human soul, with its operations of intellect and will, and of his human body. In parallel fashion, she had to recall on each occasion that Christ’s human nature belongs, as his own, to the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it. Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from “one of the Trinity”. The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity. In his soul as in his body, Christ thus expresses humanly the divine ways of the Trinity:98
The Son of God. . . worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin.99
Christ’s soul and his human knowledge
[471](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/471.htm’)
Apollinarius of Laodicaea asserted that in Christ the divine Word had replaced the soul or spirit. Against this error the Church confessed that the eternal Son also assumed a rational, human soul.100
472 This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be unlimited: it was exercised in the historical conditions of his existence in space and time. This is why the Son of God could, when he became man, “increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man”,101 and would even have to inquire for himself about what one in the human condition can learn only from experience.102 This corresponded to the reality of his voluntary emptying of himself, taking “the form of a slave”.103
[473](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/473.htm’) But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God’s Son expressed the divine life of his person.104 "The human nature of God’s Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God."105 Such is first of all the case with the intimate and immediate knowledge that the Son of God made man has of his Father.106 The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts.107
[473](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/473.htm’) But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God’s Son expressed the divine life of his person.104 "The human nature of God’s Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God."105 Such is first of all the case with the intimate and immediate knowledge that the Son of God made man has of his Father.106 The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts.107
474 By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal.108 What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewhere declared himself not sent to reveal.109
Christ’s human will
[475](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/475.htm’) Similarly, at the sixth ecumenical council, Constantinople III in 681, the Church confessed that Christ possesses two wills and two natural operations, divine and human. They are not opposed to each other, but cooperate in such a way that the Word made flesh willed humanly in obedience to his Father all that he had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation.110 Christ’s human will "does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his divine and almighty will."111
Christ’s true body
[476](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/476.htm’) Since the Word became flesh in assuming a true humanity, Christ’s body was finite.112 Therefore the human face of Jesus can be portrayed; at the seventh ecumenical council (Nicaea II in 787) the Church recognized its repres
474 By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal.108 What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewhere declared himself not sent to reveal.109
Christ’s human will
[475](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/475.htm’) Similarly, at the sixth ecumenical council, Constantinople III in 681, the Church confessed that Christ possesses two wills and two natural operations, divine and human. They are not opposed to each other, but cooperate in such a way that the Word made flesh willed humanly in obedience to his Father all that he had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation.110 Christ’s human will "does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his divine and almighty will."111
Christ’s true body
[476](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/476.htm’) Since the Word became flesh in assuming a true humanity, Christ’s body was finite.112 Therefore the human face of Jesus can be portrayed; at the seventh ecumenical council (Nicaea II in 787) the Church recognized its representation in holy images to be legitimate.113
477 At the same time the Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus "we see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see."114 The individual characteristics of Christ’s body express the divine person of God’s Son. He has made the features of his human body his own, to the point that they can be venerated when portrayed in a holy image, for the believer “who venerates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted”.115
If Christ was 100% human, He had a human soul. He was sinless; therefore, He was not born with the Law of Sin like we are (cf. Matthew 26:41; Romans 7:14 thru 8:2). This is the human weakness that was superimposed on Adam and Eve’s humanity when they disobeyed. They were fully human without it.
The Word was made flesh. Before the incarnation, Christ was the Word. He literally became the physical Son of God at the incarnation because He had no human father. I don’t understand why He is called the Son of God before that.
Thanks for your reply! It’s a mystery to me, that God, in the person of Jesus Christ, could also have a soul when He, the Father, created all things!
Thank for posting from the Catechism. I still ponder this one, because I wonder what happened to the human soul of Jesus Christ when He ascended to His rightful place with the Father.
#469 in the Catholic Catechism says: “The Church thus confesses that Jesus IS INSEPARABLY true God and true Man.” Jesus is and will for eternity be the incarnate God with both body and soul. By the way, the Catholic Catechism is on the Vatican website: www.vatican.va.
THANKS for the clarification. Catholic Catechism holds definitive answers.
Hi Anthea, I’m Eugene,
Jesus was fully God, and fully man, but because he wasn’t conceived in the usual way, from woman and man, and because he is fully equal to the Father, in a spiritual sense, He is God, second person of the Blessed Trinity. It’s a mystery for us, because we having finite knowledge, cannot comprehend God completely. We need only to have faith, in believing that God was always…he has no beginning, and no end… For us, we have a soul, that has it’s beginning in conception, and of course we believe that once conceived, our souls live on forever. I’ve never questioned the Trinity, but just accepted it’s doctrinal truth, and although I’ve thought about it, I know that I will never fully understand the mystery. I hope this has helped a little,
Eugene.
Dear Eugene, You have a beautiful and faith-filled statement on the topic! We live our faith in the belief of Jesus and what He’s accomplished for us–eternal life!
Anthea
Well,
Thank you for the nice compliment. I have a strong faith inside, and although there are many things that we don’t fully understand, I accept them, and being older now, 76, I believe that when I pass away, most likely, God will explain some of the mysteries. The most important thing, is to be good, honest, and kind to people. If we do this, although we make mistakes, I know that God Loves us, more than we can ever imagine, and someday, I’d like to give Jesus a hug, for all that He’s helped me with, in my life. My wife, and I have been married for over 56 years now, I’ve been truly Blessed to have her…
Eugene.