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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
Ubiquity The doctrine of the ubiquity (or omnipresence) of the human nature of Jesus is a feature of Lutheran theology that derives from M. Luther's teaching that Christ is present in the consecrated elements of the Eucharist in both his divine and human natures. Luther argued that restricting the real presence to the divine nature violated the Christology of Chalcedon, according to which both natures are united in Jesus' person without division or separation. In short, Luther maintained that to have Christ in his divinity only was not to have Christ at all, since the Christ is always the Word made flesh (John 1:14). In order to account for Christ's simultaneous presence in both natures in heaven (see Ascension and Session) and at an indefinite number of geographically separate celebrations of the Eucharist on earth, however, his human nature had to share the omnipresence characteristic of the divine nature (see Attributes, Divine).
Though Luther sometimes referred to medieval Scholastic distinctions between various modes of presence to justify his claims, he preferred to defend his position by appeal to biblical texts rather than through metaphysical speculation. Later Lutheran theologians grounded the omnipresence of Christ's human nature in the Christological doctrine of the communication of attributes (communicatio idiomatum).
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- The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology , pp. 524 - 527Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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