There are a lot of heresies that came out in the early churches. They emerge probably because the early church does not have a very strong understanding of theology, and also because some people just wanted to share their ideas on how to interpret things from the Bible. Nestorius is one of those people. He developed a heresy that is called as Nestorianism.
The Christians at that time was having an issue about the exact nature of Jesus Christ. This is because the idea that a person can be 100% God (Divine) and also 100% human simply defies logic. This idea was written mainly in the gospel of John. Jesus stated that he was there even before Abraham (John 8:58) and also, Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” Therefore, he is 100% God. The gospel also said that Jesus was also 100% human in John 1:14 which stated that the Word (God) has become flesh (human). Due to this, many heresies started to show up. An example would be Apollinaris of Laodicea. To explain this, he stated that Jesus’ body was simply a ‘mouthpiece’ of God and that His mind is the divine one. The Alexandrians held the term monophysites to explain the issue. The Roman Catholic Church, which has the most power at that time, simply declared that Jesus is, “Two natures in one person.” (“What is Nestorianism?”)
The Eastern churches also have their own views. However, they are mainly divided into two factions that contradict each other. The factions are the Antiochenes and the Alexandrians. The Antiochene got their influence from Aristotle and they mainly interpreted the Bible from historical exegesis. Historical exegesis explanation focused mainly on what the Bible said about Jesus. And so, they affirm Jesus’ humanity. However, they also believe that ...
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One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...
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This amazement continues when one ponders why the similarities are rarely, if ever, discussed when the topic of Judaism or Christianity comes up in an academic setting. It would seem as if the shared beliefs between the two are not simply a product of chance, but rather the opposite. It is clear that Zoroastrian theology had an enormous effect on the formation and rise of Christianity.
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1. Carter’s book focuses on the diverse ways the Early Christians dealt with their world, where imperial politics, economics, culture, and religion were mixed together (x). Furthermore, the author organized his book around important imperial realities that New Testament writings negotiate (x). The audience for Carter’s book includes high school or college students, Bible study groups, Sunday school students, clergy, and scholars interested in insights about passages in the New Testament to study.
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Four movements, now heresies, of the past each adopted one of these four views mentioned previously. They are: Nestorianism, Eutychianism, Apollinarianism, and Arianism. Nestorianism and Eutychianism fall under the controversy of the relationship between the two natures. The controversy of Nestorianism arose over the propriety of the term theotokos (“God-bearing”) as a description of Mary. At the Council of Chalcedon in 428 Nestorius gave his view of theotokos to which he held and overly dividing view of the two natures of Christ. Nestorius felt that the term was of doubtful propriety unless the term anthropotokos (“human-bearing”) was also used. Nestorius was later condemned when Cyril of Alexandria; who held the belief in Christ having one nature got involved. Nestorius’ pronouncement towards the birth of Christ caused Cyril to oppose him. Nestorius said that God cannot have a mother; no woman can give birth to God. Cyril of Alexandria suggested that Nestorius was proposing that Jesus has two natures joined in a purely moral union. After Nestorianism came Eutychianism. Eutyches who was repeatedly summoned to the standing Synod of Constantinople in 448, finally appeared and stated his position whereas Christ has two natures before the incarnation, that was but one afterwards. The result of the Synod was the Eutyches was deposed and excommunicated and the one- nature doctrine rejected.
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