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Life, Ministry and Identity of Jesus

  1. Lesson One
    Nativity and Early Years (Matthew 1–2, Luke 1–2)
    18 Activities
  2. Lesson Two
    Baptism and the Desert (Matthew 3–4, Mark 1:1–13, Luke 3–4:13)
    18 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    The Ministry of Jesus (Mark 1:21–2:12, Luke 4:14–6:49)
    17 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  4. Lesson Four
    The Miracles of Jesus (Mark 5–6, John 2, 20)
    14 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    The Identity of Jesus
    18 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Life, Ministry and Identity of Jesus The Identity of Jesus In Front | Early Mistakes About the Identity of Jesus
Lesson 5, Activity 9

In Front | Early Mistakes About the Identity of Jesus

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Because God becoming human in Jesus was such a difficult thing for people to grasp, there were many attempts in the Early Church to explain the mystery of Jesus’ identity. In the Council of Chalcedon leading Christian thinkers and bishops framed the consensus succinctly: “Jesus Christ is at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting of a reasonable soul and body.”

As we’ve seen in earlier lessons, the idea of being fully God and fully human was at odds with the Jewish tradition that Christianity emerged from. Many thinkers struggled with the Church’s official position and tried to find ways to avoid it. A number of key mistakes about Jesus’ identity arose in the Early Church, each of which was condemned by the Church as an error that compromised the power of the Gospel. A few of these views are listed in the chart below. 

The ViewName for this View
This view held that Jesus was born a human like the rest of us who had received special favor and status when he was baptized. In this view Jesus was not fully divine but was “adopted” by the Father during his lifetime.Adoptionism
This view is most identified with an Alexandrian priest named Arius (256-336) who claimed that, “there was a time when the Son was not.” This was Arius’ way of saying that Jesus was created by the Father rather than “begotten.” In this view Jesus was really human but not really divine.Arianism
This view suggests that Jesus had a human body but not a human mind or human will. In other words, God simply wore a human body but was not really human.Apollinarianism