Of course, those who formulated The Definition would themselves have seen no tension between their reflections on not confusing the two natures and a virginal conception, because their biological understanding was different from ours. As we have seen, their notions of procreation and reproduction were such that they could think of Jesus as a fully human subject simply on the basis of his mother’s role in his conception and birth. What they wanted to safeguard was the claim that the whole of Jesus’ human life has its origin and subsistence in his unique relationship to God.
