But who do you say that I am? (Mt.

16:15)

Jesus of Nazareth:
the most contentious character in all of history.
“Who is Jesus?”
CHRISTOLOGY
 Contemporary Christology
A contemporary focus in
theology has been on the
Jesus of history - the Galilean
peasant and charismatic
teacher, and the Christ of faith
– the post-resurrection
Saviour and Lord.
• Theologians frequently refer
to ‘ascending’ and
‘descending’ Christology, or
to Christology ‘from below’
and ‘from above’. Both can
be seen in the Scriptures.
 -Ascending Christology centres
on the historical Jesus of Nazareth
and his life and ministry ; it starts
with the Jesus who was human
like us in all things except sin, who
lived and died like us, and whose
life, death and resurrection
centred on realization of the
Kingdom of God.
-The ideas behind ascending
Christology are expressed
throughout the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark and Luke.
 -Descending Christology
focuses on Jesus as the
eternal Word of God which
came down to earth, taking on
human flesh and offering
salvation to sinful humanity,
rising gloriously from the
dead, and returning to his
Father as Lord in heaven.
 - In the New Testament,
John’s Gospel and the Letters
of Paul promote the ideas of
descending Christology.
Ascending and descending
Christology should act as
complements to each other.
Emphasis on either one, to
the detriment of the other,
gives a distorted picture of
Jesus Christ.
 • The Christian Church
gradually developed its ideas
about Jesus into a coherent
set of beliefs.
 The questions posed in the
centuries following Jesus’ death
were: - what was the relationship
between God the Creator/Father,
and Jesus? - what was the
nature of Jesus - human? divine?
human with divine
characteristics? or someone who
was fully human and fully divine?
CHRISTOLOGY
how the divine and human are related in the person of Jesus Christ, or the
overall study of his life and work

Significance
Christology is linked to several theological disciplines. Soteriology, or the study
of the doctrine of salvation, requires an understanding of Jesus’ nature. The
same is true for subjects such as ecclesiology, or the study of the Church, and
Trinitarian theology, or the study of God in the Trinity (the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit).

Christology relates to many areas of theology, but most important is its place in
the life of the believer. Recognizing who Jesus is, what he did and why — these
are essential to knowing him. Only then may someone believe in Jesus and
have eternal life (John 3:11-21).
 There are three major heresies regarding the Lord
Jesus Christ:
(1) The denial of Christ's Divinity -- which lead to the heresies known as Ebonism,
Arianism (Jehovah's Witnesses), Nestorianism, Socinianism, Liberalism, Humanism,
Unitarianism.

(2) The denial of Christ's two natures -- which created heretical groups such as
Monophysitism, Eutychianism, Monothelitism. These all confuse the two natures of
Christ; i.e., absorbed one of His natures into the other.

(3) The denial of Christ's humanity -- which gave rise to Docetism, Marcionism,
Gnosticism, Apollinarianism, Monarchianism, Patripassianism, Sabellianism,
Adoptionism, Dynamic Monarchianism.

All of these heresies in some way ended up by "dividing" God-Man Jesus Christ!
 • Jesus only seemed to have a
body.
• Denied the humanity of Jesus

Divine
soul
trapped in
a human
body.
Son is divine and does not have a body.
 • Denied the full divinity of the Son
• The Son was a creature or lesser God
• The Father alone was true God

A
Created
God

Son is divine only by adoption

Arianism
Orig., 4th cent. Jesus was a demigod—less than God, more than man.
*Jesus was less than God but more than man. A demigod. *Jesus was
created, finite, and could sin. *Similar to ebionism and compatible with
adoptionism. *Advanced by 4th Century Bishop Arius. *It took 18
church councils to resolve the issue, most of them being the Nicene
Council. *Condemned in 325 at the Council of Nicea.
Adoptionism
Orig., 2nd cent. Jesus was man who became Christ or God by adoption.
*AKA: Dynamic Monarchianism. *Jesus was a righteous man who
became the Son of God by adoption. *The adoption was at baptism
where the Spirit or “Christ” descended on Him. *Some think He
became “God” at the Resurrection. *Earliest expression of this view
was in the “Shepherd of Hermas.” *Also affirmed by Theodotus.
*Rejected by the church in the 2nd and 8th centuries. *Compatible
with Arianism. *Condemned in 325 at the Council of Nicea.
 SOUL

• Denied the full humanity DIVINE

SOUL BODY

HUMAN
BODY

Only God and partly man

God…………….Man
• Affirmed Christ’s Deity
• Affirmed Christ’s Humanity
• A Divided the two
• Christ is divided into two
persons one divine
and one human

DIVINE HUMAN
NATURE NATURE

Two separate beings

God…………….Man
 • Unity but confusion of natures
• A single third nature

DIVINE HUMAN
NATURE NATURE

Third Mixed Being - Godman

• Gnosticism – divine but not material, the
spirit is good but the body is bad
• Docetism – divine and only “seemed” to
have a body
• Arianism – divine but only a lesser God
• Apollinarianism – divine mind in a human
body or shell
• Nestorianism – divine and human but the two
are separate
• Euctychianim – divine and human but the
two are mingled
 • The Son is God from eternity
• Both divine and human natures
• Undivided
• Unmingled
DIVINE
and
HUMAN
NATURE

One Person: Two Natures

 (C.E. 325)

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of
God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of
God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten,
not made, being of one substance with the Father, by
whom all things were made.
 (C.E. 325)

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down

from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit
of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was
crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He
suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose
again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended
into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the
Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to
judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall
have no end.
 (C.E. 325)

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver

of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son;
who with the Father and the Son together is
worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the
prophets. And I believe one holy catholic and
apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for
the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection
of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
 (C.E. 451)

Following, then the holy fathers, we unite in

teaching all men to confess the one and only Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is
perfect both in deity and also in human-ness; This
selfsame one is also actually God and actually
man, with a rational soul and a body. He is of the
same reality as God as far as his deity is
concerned and of the same reality as we are
ourselves as far as his human-ness is concerned;

Creeds of the Church: Edited by John H. Leith

 (C.E. 451)

…thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted.

Before time began he was begotten of the Father,
in respect to his deity, and now in these “last
days,” for us and on behalf of our salvation, this
selfsame one was born of Mary the virgin, who is
God-bearer in respect of his human-ness.
We also teach that we apprehend this one and only
Christ-Son, Lord, only-begotten-in two natures…

Creeds of the Church: Edited by John H. Leith

 (C.E. 451)

…and we do this without confusing the two

natures without transmuting one nature into the
other, without dividing them into two separate
categories, without contrasting them according to
area or function. The distinctiveness of each
nature is not nullified by the union.

Creeds of the Church: Edited by John H. Leith

 (C.E. 451)

Instead, the “properties” of each nature are

conserved and both natures concur in one
“person” and in one prosopa, but are together the
one and only and only-begotten Logos of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old
testified; thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself
taught us; thus the Symbol of the Fathers has
handed down to us.
 Hypostatic Union

Without the hypostatic union of Jesus being fully God and

fully man, He would not be able to execute His office of
Mediator.
 The VIRGIN BIRTH

There are at least five reasons why the virgin conception of Christ is an
important doctrine. First, it confirms Jesus heavenly origin. Second, it is
necessary for His sinless nature. In addition, the virgin conception was also
necessary for Him to be the perfect sacrifice. It also points out the
uniqueness of Jesus. Finally, the virgin birth is important because the Bible
says that is what happened.
theopassianism

patripassianism