Will and Activity in Christ
In the terminology of the sixth ecumenical council, natural will is a nature's capacity to will, and energy means its activity or operation. Christ has divine and human natural willing and activity because he is fully divine and fully human. The subject who wills and acts remains the one incarnate Son; two natural wills do not mean two personal identities.
Why it matters
The distinction protects the reality of Christ's human response without imagining a conflict between two separate personal subjects.
Historical context
Seventh-century proposals for one activity or one will in Christ sought a formula for contested Christological questions. Maximus the Confessor and Martin of Rome opposed these proposals. Constantinople III in 680-681 confessed two natural wills and operations. Maximus died in 662, before that council, so his contribution belongs to the preceding controversy.
Key points
- Dyothelitism names the confession of two natural wills; monothelitism names the claim that Christ has only one will.
- A real human will is part of complete humanity. Christ's obedience is not the absence or destruction of human willing.
- Two natural activities belong to the one Christ. The theological term energy here does not mean a measurable physical force.
Scripture
- Luke 22:42 — The prayer in Gethsemane expresses Christ's human willing in obedience to the Father and became central to the controversy.
- Hebrews 5:7-9 — The passage speaks of Christ's prayers, suffering, and obedience rather than an unreal human experience.
- Philippians 2:5-11 — The one who takes the form of a servant is the subject of obedience and exaltation.
Primary sources
Constantinople III explicitly confesses two natural wills and two natural operations in Christ.
in him are two natural wills and two natural operations
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.
Sources and further reading
- Saint Maximus the Confessor and Saint Martin of Rome
Explains the defense of Christ's complete natural human willing and activity before Constantinople III. - Third Council of Constantinople
Source of the catalog's reviewed quotation naming two natural wills and operations.