Christology

1A. INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTOLOGY

1B. Definition.

Christology is the study of the doctrines concerning Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, His person and His work.

2B. Importance.

The Lord Jesus Christ, in giving witness to His Deity in John 5:39, 46, made two remarkable statements concerning the Scriptures:

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me."

"For if you believe Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me."

These statements should be sufficient evidence to point to the unique claim of Christ that Scriptures were written about Him. At the very heart of Christianity is the person and work of Christ. Our salvation is based solely and entirely on the death and resurrection of Christ. The Efficacy of the death of Christ rests completely on the person of Christ.

2A. VARIOUS HISTORICAL PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING CHRIST

1B. Ebionism.

1C. Arose early in the Second Century.

2C. A Jewish sect.

3C. Belief in Christ's Deity seemed incompatible with monotheism. They would say that Jesus was a prophet or rabbi. A man endowed with extra ordinary capacities for the work of God.

2B. Gnosticism.

1C. Arose when Paul and John were still on the scene and during the Second Century it spread with swiftness over the church.

2C. An amalgam of Alexandrian philosophy and Zoroastrian dualism.

3C. Belief that matter was evil thus denying the true humanity of Christ. Christ was a phantom.

3B. Arianism.

1C. Arose in the Third Century.

2C. Followers of Arius, a presbyter (elder) in Alexandria.

3C. Belief that Jesus pre-existed as the first creature which came from the hand of God. Arianism denied the Deity and eternal existence of Christ. They used the verses in Colossians 1:15-17, "the first born of creation."

4B. Apollinarianism.

1C. Arose during the Fourth Century.

2C. Followers of Apollinaris, a distinguished bishop of Laodicea.

3C. Believed that Christ had only a human body and soul, but did not have a human spirit. He therefore denied the integrity of the complete human nature of Christ. Apollinaris was condemned at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D.

5B. Nestorianism.

1C. Arose during the Fourth Century.

2C. Followers of Nestorius, a Patriarch of Constantinople.

3C. Denied the real union of the divine and human natures in Christ, thus two natures and two persons. He separated the human and the divine Christ to the point of denying that what could be said of the human and the divine in Christ could be said of one person. Nestorius was condemned for his views by the Synod of Ephesus in 431 A.D.

6B. Eutychianism.

1C. Arose during the Fourth Century.

2C. Followers of Eutyches, a presbyter of Constantinople.

3C. Belief that there was but one nature in Christ because by the incarnation, or hypostatic union, the human was changed into the divine. Eutychianism was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D.

7B. Orthodox Doctrine.

1C. Promulgated in 451 A.D.

2C. Was defined at the Council of Chalcedon.

3C. Stated the following concerning Christ:

In the one person Jesus Christ there are two natures, a human nature and a divine nature, each in its completeness and integrity, and these two natures are organically and indissolubly united yet so that no third nature is formed thereby. In brief, to use the antiquated dictum, orthodox doctrine forbids us either to divide the person or to confound the natures.

8B. Modern Liberalism, Neo-Orthodoxy, Neo-Evangelicalism.

1C. Some of the key men are Ritschl, Schleiermacher, Barth, Neibuhr, and Bultman.

2C. General tendency to discredit the Bible as factual revelation and thus dilute the facts concerning the historical Jesus Christ as the God-Man, true deity and humanity.

9B. Conclusion.

Because of the wide divergence of the historical and contemporary statements concerning the person and work of Christ, it will be the purpose of this section of doctrine to note the outstanding evidence from Scripture to authenticate the true Deity and Humanity of Jesus Christ as the second person of the Godhead who has existed eternally and became incarnate to fulfill the plan of redemption.

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