Episode Details

Bible Study on the Person of Christ. What does it mean that Christ is true God and true man in one person? 

As always, you can read and follow along to the Bible Study at Christforus.org. 

#Arianism #Adoptionism #Docetism #Nestorianism #Christology #PersonofChrist #TwonaturesofChrist #FormulaofConcord #Lutheran #Theology

       …And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

     the only-begotten Son of God,

     begotten of His 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;

     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 at the right hand of the Father.

     And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead,

     whose kingdom will have no end. …

• Arianism
  • Arius was a presbyter near Alexandria, who died in 336 AD. He was excommunicated by a council of Alexandria in AD 321 and later Arianism was condemned at the Council of Nice in 325, which produced the first draft of the Nicene Creed.
  • Arius taught that God is only one undivided person, who, in order to create the universe, first created an intermediate being through whom he would create the rest of creation. This being is the Logos or Son of God, but is not himself God. He has a beginning, he is capable of sin, and he is capable of changing. This teaching of course conflicts with John 1; Hebrews 13:8; among many other passages.
• Adoptionism
  • A teaching that Jesus received Divine power at his Baptism and was adopted as the Son of God, but really wasn’t one person with the second person in the Trinity.
  • One proponent of a form of Adoptionism was Paul of Samasota (Bishop of Antioch 260-272), whom the Formula of Concord condemns with a quote from Theodore, “He wickedly taught that the Lord Christ was nothing other than a mere man in whom God the Word dwelt, just as in every prophet.” SD VIII:16
• Docetism
  • The teaching that Jesus was not really true man, but that he only appeared to be true man, hence the name from the Greek δοκεῖν, which means to seem. So, Christ only appeared to be suffering on the cross.
• Apollinarianism
  • A reaction to Arianism, named after Apollinaris of Laodocea (ca 310-390), who taught that Jesus is God; however, he erred by saying that he had a Logos instead of a human soul, which would make Jesus not fully man. This then is a form of Docetism, because Jesus would only seem like a man. This was condemned in the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD.
• Eutychianism
  • Named after Eutyches (ca. 378-454 ca.), which teaches that there are two natures of Christ before the incarnation, but only one after, because the divine nature swallowed up the human nature like a great ocean swallowing up a drop of liquid. This is a form of Monophysitism, which teaches that there is only one nature in Christ, as opposed to dyaphysitism, which is taught in the Nicene Creed.  
    • Gregory of Nazianzus writes, “For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved.” Letter 101 to Cledonius the priest against Apolinarius in NPNF 7:440.
    • Monothelitism, a form of monophysitism