Divine will

Doctrine Concept

Will belongs to nature. The Father, Son, and Spirit share one divine will; the incarnate Son also possesses a complete human will according to His human nature.

Key points

One divine will expresses the unity of divine nature, not an absence of personal distinction.
In Christ, divine and human natural wills belong to the one person of the Son.

Scripture

Luke 22:42 — Christ's prayer in Gethsemane is central to discussion of His human willing.

Primary sources

The council's definition states:

Constantinople III speaks of Christ's two wills as natural wills, corresponding to his divine and human natures.

in him are two natural wills and two natural operations
— Third Council of Constantinople, Dogmatic Definition (Definition of Faith, Session XVIII), trans. Henry Percival, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 14

Passage context and translation

The council's Definition of Faith rejects Monothelitism by confessing that Christ's complete divinity and humanity include two natural wills and operations united in his one person. The prior wording in this record came from Pope Agatho's letter earlier on the linked page.

Before the excerpt

defining all this we likewise declare that

After the excerpt

indivisibly, inconvertibly, inseparably, inconfusedly, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers.

Percival translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 14; quoted from the Definition of Faith in Session XVIII, not from Agatho's preceding letter.

Sources and further reading

John of Damascus, Exposition, Book III, chapter 14 (Patristic primary text)
Constantinople III: definition of faith (Primary council text in translation)

Related records

Christ's human will (Doctrine Concept)
Third Council of Constantinople (Council)
Maximus the Confessor (Church Father)

All records