Defining Human Nature
A common and complex question is often asked, how can Jesus be both fully God and fully man, isn’t this an obvious contradiction? I think this question is best tackled by how we might explain human nature, and what we might agree or disagree upon is the essence of humanity. My human essence must be shared universally, but it must also be irreducibly personal and particular to me. I have all the universal descriptive properties that partake of the human essence. However I have my own irreducible particular qualities in which I actualise the essence of humanity. My own particular voice enunciation, body language and mannerisms. These are irreducibly personal. But these irreducible personal particulars are precisely what makes me who I am. Crucially They are not separate from the essence of humanity, and neither do they add something to it. My irreducible personality instantiates and subsists as a subject which emerges from the hylomorphic union of the primary substance of my (soul) and the secondary substance of the human form or rather essence.
The Divine Incarnation Of Jesus
With this definition I think we can conceive of Jesus as both God and man inclusive with the human soul, and perhaps avoid any logical contradiction? We consider the oneness of Jesus’s primary transcendental divine essence and irreducible divine personality, actualizing the human essence in his own irreducible particular way. Yet Jesus, unlike me and you, does not have a distinct and separate human personality which emerges as subject from hylomorphic instantiation. Jesus’ divine personality restores perfect human nature. If Jesus had an extra additional emergent irreducible subsistent personality, then he’d have two personalities, one divine the other terrestrial. This personality confusion can easily be confused with the atonement of the two natures. But Jesus’ irreducible personality is one, with the atonement of divine essence and irreducible divine personality and the hypostatic union of human essence.