Heresy Part Three Heresies about Christ 30 March
Heresy! Part Three Heresies about Christ 30 March 2017 Cathedral Church of St Peter
Some guidance from Augustine “And if we discuss all heresies, we find that they deny that Christ came in the flesh. ” – Sermon 183
More useful guidance from Hooker “There are but four things which concur to make complete the whole state of our Lord Jesus Christ: his Deity, his manhood, the conjunction of both, and the distinction of the one from the other being joined in one. ” – Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity 5. 54. 10
Four ways of going wrong “his Deity” p “his manhood” p “the conjunction of both” p “the distinction of the one from the other” p
Is there also a fifth way? Hooker’s words concern the person of Christ. p We should also mention the possibility of going wrong concerning the work of Christ. p Both in practice and in theory, the two are very closely connected. p
A heresy about the humanity of Christ The view that Christ wasn’t genuinely human is called “docetism. ” p 1 John 4: 1 -3: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God: for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. ” p
Early docetisms Christ merely appeared to suffer (docetism about the Passion). p One particularly popular version held that it was actually Simon of Cyrene who was crucified. p Christ merely appeared to be human (docetism about the Incarnation). p Docetism is closely associated with. . . p
Gnosticism Mc. Grath: Gnosticism “is a family of religious doctrines and myths that flourished in late antiquity and that maintain or presuppose two things: (1) that the cosmos is a result of the activity of an evil or ignorant creator; and (2) that salvation is a process in the course of which believers receive the knowledge of their divine origin so that they are enabled to return to the realm of light after having been freed from the limitations of the physical world in general and human body in particular. ”
Valentinianism Valentinus (d. c. 165) founded a Gnostic form of Christianity. p Accounts of Valentinian doctrines differ, and there was variety within the group. p The true God dwells in the pleroma with thirty aeons. p The last of these aeons, Sophia (Wisdom), rebelled in some way. p Sophia’s rebellion somehow produced the Demiurge. p
Valentinianism The Demiurge imprisoned divine spirits in the human body, in a hostile world, at the mercy of the archons. p The divine spirit within us allows to establish a connection with the highest God. p The body imprisons the divine spirit and makes us forget who we really are. p Christ awakens the divine spark and opens our eyes to the esoteric knowledge of who we really are. p
Valentinian Christologies Christ is an aeon who descends from the pleroma and unites to the man Jesus (at birth or baptism) to bring humanity the saving knowledge of its true origin. p Jesus “ate and drank in a special way, without excreting his solids. ” p So how do we classify Valentinianism in light of Hooker’s approach? p
Bishop Wright on Gnosticism
Four ways of going wrong p “his Deity” p “his manhood” p “the conjunction of both” p “the distinction of the one from the other”
Four ways of going wrong p “his Deity” Arianism – Council of Nicaea, 325 p “his manhood” p “the conjunction of both” p “the distinction of the one from the other”
Four ways of going wrong p “his Deity” Arianism – Council of Nicaea, 325 p “his manhood” Apollinarianism – Council of Constantinople, 381 p “the conjunction of both” p “the distinction of the one from the other”
Four ways of going wrong p “his Deity” Arianism – Council of Nicaea, 325 p “his manhood” Apollinarianism – Council of Constantinople, 381 p “the conjunction of both” Nestorianism – Council of Ephesus, 431 p “the distinction of the one from the other”
Four ways of going wrong p “his Deity” Arianism – Council of Nicaea, 325 p “his manhood” Apollinarianism – Council of Constantinople, 381 p “the conjunction of both” Nestorianism – Council of Ephesus, 431 p “the distinction of the one from the other” Eutychianism – Council of Chalcedon, 451
Apollinarianism Apollinaris (c. 310 -c. 390) was a leading anti-Arian, friend of Saint Athanasius, and Bishop of Laodicea. p He denied that there was a human mind or soul in Christ. p You can see how this is an anti-Arian move. p
Does this sound Apollinarian? p p “The Word assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, through belonging to the Word Who is above all, might become a sufficient exchange for all. . It was by surrendering to death the body which He had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from every stain, that He forthwith abolished death for His human brethren. . For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required. . For the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word's indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all. ”
What’s wrong with Apollinarianism? Gregory of Nazianzus: “That which was not assumed is not healed, but that which is united to God is saved. ” p The Council of Constantinople (381) condemned Apollinarianism, ratified the anti-Arian doctrine of the Council of Nicaea, and affirmed the divinity of the Holy Spirit against the Pneumatomachoi. p
Nestorianism “I’m OK calling Mary ‘Mother of Christ, ’ but not ‘Mother of God. ’” p Nestorius (b. after 361, d. after 451) was Patriarch of Constantinople. p He supported his chaplain Anastasius, who was preaching against the use of the term Theotókos. p Nestorius is said to have held that there are two persons in Christ. p The Council of Ephesus in 431 deposed Nestorius and upheld the title Theotókos. p
Is a kind of neo-Nestorianism alive and well? A sharp separation between the “Jesus of history” and the “Christ of faith” arguably goes wrong in a way that parallels the Nestorian heresy.
Eutychianism (Monophysitism) Eutyches (c. 378 -454) was archimandrite of a large monastery in Constantinople. p In his zeal to oppose Nestorianism, he fell into the opposite error. p He held that there was only one nature “after the union” and denied that Christ’s human nature is consubstantial with ours. p Remember what Gregory of Nazianzus said: “That which was not assumed is not healed, but that which is united to God is saved. ” p
Anti-Monophysitism extended Du. Bose “bought his theological glasses at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. ” p Applied to Scripture p Applied to the Church p Applied to the Eucharist p
The Chalcedonian definition p “Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance (homoousios) with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood;
The Chalcedonian definition p like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the Godbearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation;
The Chalcedonian definition p the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers handed down to us. ”
Heresy! Part Three Heresies about Christ 30 March 2017 Cathedral Church of St Peter
- Slides: 28