1571–1577

Lutheran christology: the communication of properties and the ubiquity of Christ's humanity

Luther's teaching on the real presence in the Supper, according to Berkhof, led to the recognition of the ubiquity of Christ's human nature: each nature permeates the other, and the humanity possesses the attributes of divinity. The Lutherans understood the communication of properties literally, while the Reformed stressed the distinction of the natures and limited it. In 1571 Martin Chemnitz, in the treatise On the Two Natures in Christ, taught that the humanity received the attributes of divinity in the incarnation itself, and that the limitations of Jesus' earthly life were imposed by will; instead of "ubiquity" he spoke of "multivolipresence" – Christ's body is present wherever he chooses. The Formula of Concord (1577) adopted the communication of properties "in deed and in truth": Christ always possessed "almighty majesty" but renounced it "in the state of humiliation".