John 17:3
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Message: The Necessity of Christology
In John 11, Jesus wept, thus showing us his emotions. This is his humanity, but him being divine is also united with his humanity. Issues related to the natures and person of Christ fall under the heading of Christology. Recently, there has been less about Jesus being God and Man and more about simply knowing Jesus. Many religions hold to an understanding of Jesus, but often define Him differently, so who is the real Jesus? It can't be the Jesus of our imagination.
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Mark 1:9-11
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
Message: Early Denials of Christ's Deity
Heresy is false teaching and scripture warns us that people will seek to lead people astray. Many heresies deny the deity of Christ. The Ebionites (using texts like Mark 1:9-11), up until the 5th century, believed Jesus was the Messiah, but only a man, not divine. Yet, in light of all scripture, Jesus is more than just a man. Arianism believe that the Son of God existed before Jesus and before creation but still believe the Son was created. They say that the Son is the first and greatest creature of God. The Council of Nicaea in 325 said Jesus is the same essence as the Father (after much debate).
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2 John 7
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Message: The Docetic Heresy
Even in apostles time there was a denial of Jesus having a human nature. Docetism holds that Jesus does not have a real body, but only an illusion of one. 2 John 7 states it is false to deny that Jesus came in the flesh. Christianity born in the Greek world that looked down on the physical world and looked forward to a time with the soul would be released from the body. This thinking mostly went away but still we sometimes get too focused on only defending his divinity and forget to defend his humanity.
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Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Message: The Eutychian Heresy
Eutyches was a 5th century monk. He taught that Christ has only one nature - divine; or one theanthropic nature instead of one person with two natures as Christology teaches. Yet, by teaching it absorbs the human nature, then the divine nature is not fully divine. 2 problems result: many scriptures that speak to His humanity become confusing, like Jesus pretending to be asleep on a boat. Second, how can he be the perfect mediator between God and man, and thus He cannot atone for our sin.
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Luke 2:52
And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Message: The Apollinarian Heresy
Apollinaris, a the fourth-century bishop of Laodicea, early on defended the Council of Nicaea and the full deity of Christ. Later, though, he was opposed by orthodox because of what he taught of Christ's two natures. He said human beings are made up of 3 parts -- a physical body, a “lower” soul that makes us living creatures, and a “higher” soul or spirit that is equivalent to the rational mind that humans possess. Yet scripture grounds humans in two constituent aspects - soul and body. Again, he compromises Jesus's full humanity. He felt in Jesus his divinity replaced the higher spirit.
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Hebrews 5:9
And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.
Message: The Nestorian Heresy
Docetism, Eutychianism, and Apollinarianism did at least believe Jesus has one nature. Nestorius, the fifth-century bishop of Constantinople not only confessed two different natures in Christ but also two different persons. He said the humanity of Jesus does not belong to the Son of God, but rather simply to the human person. Thus, a human died. And so when a miracle was performed, it was the divine nature acting independent of the human. Once again, though, we are left with an insufficient atonement, one that is only fully human or only fully divine, but not sharing in those essences.
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Luke 1:41-43
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?
Message: Cyril and Nestorius
Cyril, a bishop of Alexandria wrote to Nestorius asking him to recant his position, which led to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. He asserted theotokos toward Mary meaning, "God-bearer" meaning that Jesus had a divine nature that was pre-existent in Himself when He was born. Nestorius rejected this title, preferring Christotokos or "Christ-bearer." He did not intend to deny his divinity, but Christotokos is not enough to preserve the divine nature. Nestorius did not believe Jesus could undergo suffering and change, but Orthodox Christianity does not believe this about Jesus. When Jesus suffered, it was only according to his human nature that He suffered. It is true that the divine nature did not suffer, only Jesus' human nature suffered. Christ died as a man in order to pay for the sins of other human beings. And yet His divine nature remained unchanged.
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Acts 20:28
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Message: The Chalcedonian Solution
In 451, in the City of Chalcedon, the Roman emperor Marcian wanted to settle these debates of Jesus' humanity and divinity and those denying His true union in the one divine person of the Son of God. There we received our standard definition that in Christ we have a perfectly united divine nature and human nature that is without confusion and mixture an each nature retains its own attributes, thus the hypostatic union - Christ is one person with two natures. He may act according to His divine nature or according to His human nature, but the same Christ acts no matter whether He is exercising His divine attributes or His human attributes.
Summary: We need to clearly understand that Jesus has two natures in one person: divine and human. We distinguish these two natures, but do not separate them. There is no division. It is important to understand the error to better understand the truth.
Promise: Thank you Lord for those individuals that came before us, that went through a process of vetting out the true nature and we can stand firm in this belief today.
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