Theological Equipping Class Christological Heresies February 21, 2021
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Theological Equipping Class Christological Heresies February 21, 2021 Recap: What are Heresies? "a doctrine that ultimately destroys, destabilizes, or distorts a mystery rather than preserving it" (Alistair McGrath) Trinity: unity, plurality, equality, mystery - how do Trinitarian heresies "minimize the mystery"? Christology: humanity, deity – how do Christological heresies tend to "minimize the mystery"? Major Heresies of the First Two Centuries of the Church: legalism and dualism Major Heresies of the Next Two Centuries: Trinitarian heresies (Arianism, adoptionism, & modalism) Five Christological Heresies to consider today: 1. Apollinarianism 2. Nestorianism 3. Eutychianism 4. Monophysitism 5. Monothelitism Context and Significance Political jockeying for preeminence Emphases of Alexandria and Antioch Why does this really matter? ● Does God actually save man? Well, in order to do so, God must become man. So if Jesus isn't God or isn't man, that doesn't happen! ● When it comes to Trinitarian heresies, we established that it is truly God who comes down. But today we will address the question of whether He comes down far enough. Does the Son of God actually incarnate, unite Himself to humanity; or does He just come part of the way? Is He only partly human and thus we are only partly saved. 1 Apollinarianism ● Apollinaris (sometimes Apollinarius) of Laodicea (360s & 370s) ● What is humanity? Spirit + flesh/body o the immaterial logos was simply clothed with physicality ● So Christ possessed a human body, but not a human soul or mind or emotions, or, as it would be called in Greek, a "rational soul." ● Is Jesus fully human? o God in a man suit ● What drives Apollinaris? o Fear that if Christ is truly and fully human with a human mind and soul, then that will somehow compromise or taint Christ. o Presupposition: humanity itself is weak and sinful o Original vs. fallen humanity ● What's the big deal? Why does it matter if Jesus had a human soul or not? o Well, if Jesus was only half human, then we are only half saved. o He only redeems what He assumes. o "If any believe in Jesus Christ as a human being without human reason, they are the ones devoid of reason (mic drop), and unworthy of salvation. For that which he has not taken up he has not saved (in other words, he only redeems what he assumes or could also be translated as the unassumed is unhealed). He saved that which he joined to his divinity. If only half of Adam had fallen, then it would be possible for Christ to take up and save only half. But if the entire human nature fell, all of it must be united to the Word in order to be saved as a whole Let them not grudge us our total salvation, or endue the Savior only with … the bones and nerves and mere appearance of humanity." (Gregory of Nazianzus) ● Apollinarianism was officially condemned by the Council of Constantinople in 381 and Apollinaris died the next year, in 382. 2 Nestorianism ● Key proponents: o Diodore, bishop of Tarsus o Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia o Nestorius, (386-450), who became the archbishop of Constantinople in 428 and whose name has been forever linked with this heresy known as Nestorianism. o They hated Apollinarianism. ● Solution: divide the two natures of Jesus into 2 persons and ask "to whom should we ascribe the different events in Christ's life." o Human Jesus vs. divine Son ● Complete deity and humanity, but divided! o Analogy of the indwelling Spirit ● Mary, theotokos? o Christotokos? o Not about Mary, but about the Son ● What drove the Nestorians? What were they afraid of? Why were they seeking to minimize the mystery? o Fear that if we speak of deity and humanity as being joined in one person that the deity would overwhelm the humanity and we would lose sight of the true humanity. ● Rebuke: Cyril of Alexandria. o Nestorianism compromises the gospel! Who actually dies? o In Nestorianism, you don't have God becoming man, you have God coming alongside a man. o "Nestorianism ends up making too little of Jesus and too much of us." (Kevin deYoung) ● Church's complicated response (talk about next week) 3 rd o Nestorius was deposed at the 3 ecumenical council at Ephesus in 431 and spent the rest of his life in exile, dying in 450, only one year before his views were formally condemned at th the 4 council at Chalcedon in 451. ● Side note: Nestorianism today Eutychianism ● Eutyches (about 380-486) - monastic leader in Constantinople ● Hated Nestorianism o Whereas Nestorianism promoted two persons and two natures, Eutyches swung the pendulum the other way. He said that not only are there not two persons, but there aren't two natures. Instead, the divine and human natures merge to form a new nature. o "I confess that our Lord was of two natures before the union but after the union one nature " (Eutyches) … ● Confusion or mixture of natures o Acids and bases o Yellow and blue o Donkeys and horses ● Church's complicated response (to discuss next week) th o formally condemned by the language of the 4 ecumenical council at Chalcedon in 451. 4 Next Two Heretical Views are Variations on the Above Monophysitism ● Like Eutychianism o Monos: one, physis: nature. o But not all monophysites were Eutychian. ● Historical context and Armenia ● Old Oriental Orthodox Churches: don't embrace later ecumenical councils and have a completely different hierarchy than Eastern Orthodox churches and are not in formal communion with Eastern Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism. ● Bottom line, monophysitism is a heresy that denies that Christ has two natures and thus mingles or confuses the deity and humanity. Its expressed clearest historically in Eutychianism, but there are other forms as well. Monothelitism ● monos: one, thelema: will ● Promoted by Sergius I, patriarch of Constantinople from about 610-638 ● As the name suggests, this view promoted the idea that Jesus didn't possess two wills, a human will and a divine will, but rather one will. ● Which previous heresy does this resemble? o If Christ didn't possess a human will, then neither did He save the human will. He only redeems what He assumes. o Christ descends, but not far enough and thus we aren't actually saved. We are partially saved, but there is still some aspect of our being that remains perpetually unreconciled. ● Church's Response led by Maximus the Confessor (580-662) o Is the will located in the nature or the person? th o Monotheletism was condemned at the 6 ecumenical council at Constantinople 680-1. 5 Conclusion ● Counterfeits and doppelgangers o "For if the incarnation was a phantasm, so too is salvation a phantasm." (Cyril of Jerusalem, th 4 century) o "It is necessary that the self-same Person who is to make this satisfaction [for sin] be perfect God and perfect man, since He cannot make it unless He be really God, and He ought not to th make it unless He be really man." (Anselm of Canterbury, 11 century) 6 .