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Comparing Beliefs in
Jesus Christ.
Is the true Jesus Christ
a Man, a God-Man or God?
Is the true Jesus Christ the Son of God
or God the Son?
Christ is the English term for the Greek Khristós
meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of
the Hebrew (Māšîa),
usually transliterated into English as Messiah. The word is
in fact used as a title, hence its common reciprocal use
Christ Jesus, meaning "Jesus The Anointed One", or "Jesus
The Messiah"
Historically
Jesus Christ is known
as:
- Jesus
of Nazareth (c. 5 BC/BCE – c. 30 AD/CE), also known
as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus.
- Jesus
Christ is the central figure of Christianity, which
views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old
Testament. Islam considers Jesus a prophet and
also the Messiah. The majority of Jews rejects this
claim and are still waiting for the Jewish Messiah
to come.
The controversy
as to who Jesus Christ really is, that is, how He should be
correctly known regarding His person and nature traces its
roots in the first century and continues to this day. For
at present, there exist many so-called Christian religions, all professing belief
in Jesus Christ but with conflicting beliefs on who Jesus
truly is. This controversy among Christians revolves around
the divinity of Jesus.
The Great Theological Conflict -
The Arian Controversy
More than 200 years after the death
of Jesus and His Apostles, a great theological
conflict rocked the Christian world.
This
controversy centered upon the nature
of the the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his precise
relationship to God the Father.
This controversy led to the
convening of the
First Council of
Nicaea in 325 A.D. by the Roman Emperor
Constantine I. The Council of Nicaea adopted a term
for the relationship between the Son
and the Father that from then on was
seen as the hallmark of orthodoxy;
it declared that the Son is "of the
same substance" (ὁμοούσιος)
as the Father. This was further developed
into the formula "three persons, one
substance". The answer to the question "What
is God?" indicates the one-ness of the
divine nature, while the answer to the
question "Who is God?" indicates the
three-ness of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit".
Thus, The main accomplishment of the
council was the settlement of the
Christological issue of the
relationship of Jesus to God the
Father.
The Nicene Creed of 325 explicitly affirms
the divinity of Jesus,
applying to him the term "God".
The Council
of Nicaea did not end the Arian controversy
which it had been called to clarify.
Up until about 360
A.D.,
theological debates mainly dealt with the
Divinity of Jesus, the 2nd person of the
Trinity. As
the The Council of Nicaea said little
about the Holy Spirit, it failed to
to clarify the divinity of the Holy Spirit,
the 3rd
person of the Trinity, thus it also
became a topic of debate.
The
Council of Constantinople in 381 was
called to finally settle the great
controversy regarding the divinity
of Jesus, the 2nd person of the
Trinity and divinity of the Holy
Spirit, the 3rd person of the
Trinity.
This council also developed a
statement of faith which
included the language of Nicaea,
but expanded the discussion on
the Holy Spirit.
It expanded the third article of
the creed dealing with the Holy
Spirit, as well as some other
changes. About the Holy Spirit
the article of faith said he is
"the Lord, the Giver of Life,
Who proceeds from the Father,
With the Father and the Son he
is worshipped and glorified".
The statement of
proceeding from
the Father is seen as
significant because it
established that the Holy Spirit
must be of the same being as God
the Father. Thus it took
the Church 56 years to affirm
the divinity of the Holy Spirit after the
Church initially affirmed the divinity of Jesus
in the year 325 A.D. This
Council's decision regarding the
Holy Spirit also gave
official
endorsement to the concept of the
Trinity. By the end of the 4th
century, the Byzantine Emperor
Theodosius "issued a decree that the
doctrine of the Trinity was to be
the official state religion and that
all subjects shall adhere to it".
(see
Lesson-3F for more details)
Christian views of Jesus
Christ:
Theological disputes over the nature
of Jesus and the Holy Sprit has made
the concept of "monotheism - belief
in one God" a complex issue.
Generally, the basic difference
between the Trinitarian and Unitarian views
revolves around the belief in the divinity of Jesus.
Trinitarians believe that Jesus is "God the 'Son", the
second person in the Trinity, whereas the Unitarians believe
that Jesus is the "Son of God"
a
great man and a prophet of God, perhaps even a supernatural
being, but not God himself. (see
Lesson-3A for more details)
Is Jesus the "Son of God
or God the Son"?
-
God the Son is the
second person of the Trinity in Christian theology.
The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus of
Nazareth as God the Son, united in essence but
distinct in person with regard to God the Father
and God the Holy Spirit (the first and third persons
of the Trinity). God the Son is co-eternal with God
the Father (and the Holy Spirit), both before
Creation and after the End.
- Son of God
Throughout
the New Testament the phrase "son of God" is applied repeatedly, in the
singular, only to Jesus. There are over 40 places in the New Testament where
Jesus is given the title "the Son of God".
The exact phrase
"God the Son" is not
in the New
Testament. Later
theological use of
this expression
reflects what came
to be standard
interpretation of
New Testament
references,
understood to imply
Jesus' divinity, but
the distinction of
his person from that
of the one God he
called his Father.
As such, the title
is associated more
with the
development
of the doctrine of
the Trinity than
with the
Christological
debates. "God the
Son" is rejected by antitrinitarians,
who view this
reversal of the most
common term "Son of
God" for
Jesus Christ as a
doctrinal perversion.
(see
Lesson-3B for more
details)
God the Son as
explained through the Doctrine of Incarnation
The
Doctrine of Incarnation is a fundamental theological teaching of
orthodox (Nicene) Christianity, based on its
understanding of the New Testament.
Incarnation is the
belief that the second person in the Godhead, also
known as God the Son or the Logos (Word), "became
flesh" when he was miraculously conceived in the
womb of the Virgin Mary. The word incarnate means
"to make into flesh" or "to become flesh". The
incarnation represents the belief that Jesus, who is
the non-created second person of the triune God,
took on a human body and nature and became both man
and God. As
traditionally defined, the divine nature of the Son
was joined but not mixed with human nature in one
divine Person, Jesus Christ, who was both "truly God
and truly man".
(see Lesson-3C for
more details)
Doctrine
of the Hypostatic Union also known as two nature
doctrine
The
Chalcedonian creed
also known as the "Doctrine
of the Hypostatic Union"
or "Two-Nature Doctrine"
was written amid controversy between the western and
eastern churches over the meaning of the Incarnation in
451 AD. That is more than 125 years after the Trinity
doctrine was defined in the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
The precise nature of the "Hypostatic Union" was not
made clear as it is held to defy finite human
comprehension, the hypostatic union is also referred to
by the alternative term "Mystical Union."
Hypostatic
Union is a technical term in Christian theology employed
in mainstream Christology to describe the union of two
natures, humanity and divinity, in Jesus Christ.
A
brief definition of the doctrine of two natures
can be given as: "Jesus Christ, who is identical
with the Son, is one person and one hypostasis
in two natures: a human
and a divine."
A
brief definition of the doctrine of two natures
can be given as: "Jesus Christ, who is identical
with the Son, is one person and one hypostasis
in two natures: a human and a divine."
in addition, the second
person of the Trinity—God the Son, Jesus—assumed human nature, so that he
has two natures (and hence two wills), and is really and fully both true God
and true human.
(see Lesson-3C for
more details)
The great deception
about Jesus Christ
While billions of people
throughout the world profess belief in Jesus, many do not
have a clear conception of who Jesus really is, as proven by
the fact that, at present, there exist
contradictory beliefs
about Jesus Christ.
In
2 Corinthians 11:3, Apostle Paul expressed
his fears, that a great deception would come and he
comparatively liken it to what happened in the Garden of
Eden when the snake fooled Eve with a clever trick, that
led to the downfall of the first couple. (Genesis
3:1-6). He said,
With a clever trick,
as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, "People's mind
will be corrupted" from the simplicity and purity
that is in Christ. In the succeeding verse, Apostle
Paul explained
further on
how people's
mind will be corrupted. He said "they
will preach 'another Jesus' who is different from
the 'Jesus that was preached by the
Apostles'".
Thus,
people will be cleverly tricked to believe
"another Jesus".
In 2 Thessalonians 3:9-10, The
deception will be done by the wicked or lawless one, in
accordance with the work of Satan, They will use every kind
of deceit.
In 2 Peter
2:1-2, this is written: These
False Teachers will secretly or stealthily introduce
heretical doctrines or destructive heresies, even
denying and disowning the "Master" (true Jesus) who
bought them with His blood. (see Lesson-3E for
more details)
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Let us be aware that
there are indeed
doctrines of
"another Jesus" that
are being preached
by religious teachers
of today.
Let us
therefore continue
our study of the scriptures so we may come to know
the "true Jesus" so we will not be misled or
tricked to believe "another Jesus" that will lead us to
destruction and ruin our chances of gaining salvation and
eternal life on the Day of Judgment.
Welcome!
Keep an open
mind.
Try. . . . . . Take
a closer look at the
scriptural truth.
The
scriptures will be
made clear and
meaningful to you as
you continue to study the
following lessons.
Lessons' List -
Comparing Beliefs in Jesus Christ
Comparing beliefs in
Jesus Christ.
"We present the
verses - not
opinions. You decide
which is the
biblical truth."
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