2 divinity and humanity(3)

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Prepared by:Richard G. Pazcoguin

UST Institute of Religion



WHEN CHRISTIANITY WAS FINALLY ALLOWED TO SURFACE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE,DOCTRINAL DEBATES BEGAN TO ARISE. AS A RESULT, THE CHURCH HAD BEEN PLAGUED

BY CHRISTOLOGICAL HERESIES OR FALSE TEACHINGS REGARDING THE PERSON ANDNATURE OF JESUS.

IN HER COMMITMENT TO PRESERVEUNADULTERATED THE TEACHINGS OF THE

APOSTLES, THE CHURCH CONVOKEDECUMENICAL COUNCILS . THESE WEREGATHERINGS OF BISHOPS FORM ALL OVER

THE WORLD, THROUGH WHICH THE CHURCHONCE AND FOR ALL DEFINED THE TRUEDOCTRINES HANDED DOWN BY THE

APOSTLES.



The Greek work ´ dokei µ means´ seemed µ. Docetism is theheresy which teaches thatChrist was Divine whoappeared to be human . He didnot have a real human body.

What people saw of Christ wasa phantom, an illusion.

READ: JOHN 1:14MATTHEW 4:2

JOHN 4:7, 19:28

MATTHER 9:24



Attributed to Sabellius , thisheresy is the belief that theFather and the Son are oneand the same person .

´Fatherµ and ´Sonµ are justnames by which this single

person revealed himself.

READ:MARK 1:11

JOHN 17:1



Arius, an Alexandrian priest., preached that the Word (Jesus) wasnot eternal, but was merely createdby the Father. Though Jesus was of a similar substance as that of theFather, he is not of the samesubstance. In other words,

Arianism is the belief that Jesus isnot God but a unique creature-

greater than man but less than God .

READ: JOHN 1:1-2,18 JOHN 14:PHIL. 2:6



Apollinarius spread the belief thatChrist had a human body but not ahuman soul . The ´Wordµ (The

Spirit of God the Son) replaced thehuman spirit. Apollinarius arguedthat if Christ had a human soulthen he might have sinned. READ:

MARK 14:34



Nestorius , Patriarch of Constantinople,questioned the Divine Motherhood of Mary with the argument that in Christare two persons: a human person and adivine person . Mary is mother only of the human Jesus.

Nestorius believed that God the Sonsimply used the human body as aninstrument . Jesus is ´God-bearingmanµ rather than ´God-Manµ

READ:LUKE 1:43



´ Physitos µ is Greek for ´ nature µ.Eutyches , an Abbot in

Constantinople, preached the belief that Christ had only one nature:Divine . Jesus is not man.

This, according to him, was becausethe human nature was absorbed bythe Divinity of God the Son .

READ:GAL. 4:4

ACTS 2:22



The Son was ´ begotten, not made µ andtherefore had no beginning.

Jesus is ´ of the same substance as theFather µ and therefore is of Divinenature.



During the Council of Nicaea, St. Athanasiusdefended the Divinity of Christ by arguingthat:

If the Son were a creature, then he would

just be like humans, unable to save humanityfrom sin.Christians worshipped Jesus. If Jesus were

not God, then the Christians since the Apostolic times have been practicing idolatry.



The Council of Constantinople, which Fathers were Sts. Cyril of Jerusalem and GregoryNazianzen , professed that:Christ is of the same substance with humanity ,

possessing a human soul .

What is not assumed is not redeemed . Toredeem humanity fully, Christ must be fullyhuman.



The Council of Ephesus presided over bySt. Cyril of Alexandria, declared that:Christ is one person with two natures :

Human and Divine ² HYPOSTATIC UNION The distinctness of the natures was notdestroyed by the union, thus Christ was fullyhuman and fully divine .



During the Council of Ephesus, St. Cyril of Alexandria defended the Divine Motherhoodof Mary by arguing that:Since Christ is only one person, what was

born of Mary was both human and divine.Mary is the Mother of God because by

virtue of the Hypostatic Union, what can besaid about the Humanity of Jesus can be

said about his Divinity .



The Council of Chalcedon , under theleadership of Pope St. Leo the Great ,taught that:Christ was complete in Godhead and

complete in manhood, truly divine andtruly human, consisting of a rational souland body. The distinction of the human and divinenature is not annulled by their union in

the one person of Christ.



Because Christ is trulyhuman, we know that heunderstands our humanstruggles. He knows

what we feel aboutthings. He knows what

we need. He knows our

weaknesses.

He is a compassionateGod.

´For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.µ Hebrews 5:15



Because Christ is truly Divine, we can pray to him as St. Stephendid:

´Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.µ Acts 7:59

We can call him Lord and God asSt. Thomas the Apostle did:

´My Lord and My God.µ John 20:28



We can worship him as theapostles did:

´Those that were in the boat did him homage saying: ¶Truly you are the Son of God.·µ

Matthew 14:33 We can affirm Jesus Christ asCreator:

´For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth« all things were created through him and for himµ



The Son of God/Eternal Word, without losing

divine nature, assumed human nature. Jesus is truly God and truly human . Jesus has two natures (divine & human ), notmixed but united in one divine person As truly human, Jesus has human intellect and

will perfectly attuned to his divine intellect and will.

Incarnation = union of the divine and humannatures in the one person of the Word ²

HYPOSTATIC UNION



James Finley and Michael Pennock JESUS AND YOU: DISCOVERING THE REAL CHRISTInd: Ave Maria Press, 1977

Robert C. WaltonCHRONOLOGICAL AND BACKGROUND CHARTS OF CHURCH HISTORY

Zondervan, 1986MAJOR COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH www.dailycatholic.org/history/councils.htm

CHRISTOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES AND HERESIES www.ritchies.net/p2wk4.htm

2 divinity and humanity(3)

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