Important Heresies and Orthodoxy
|
GROUP |
TIME |
HUMAN NATURE |
DIVINE NATURE |
CHURCH COUNCIL |
|
Docetism |
1st Century |
Denied—only an appearance of humanity |
Affirmed |
|
|
Ebionism |
2nd Century |
Affirmed |
Denied—Jesus was natural son of Joseph and Mary | |
|
Arianism |
4th Century |
Affirmed |
Denied—Jesus was not eternal; similar to, but not same as God | Condemned by Nicea, 325 |
|
Apollinarianism |
4th Century |
Divine Logos replaced human spirit |
Affirmed |
Condemned by Constantinople, 680 |
|
Nestorianism |
5th Century |
Christ was two Persons |
Condemned by Ephesus, 431 | |
|
Eutychianism |
5th Century |
Not fully human
|
Not fully divine |
Condemned by Chalcedon, 451 |
|
Christ was a single mixed nature
|
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|
Orthodoxy |
Perfect humanity |
Perfect Deity
|
Defined by Chalcedon, 451 | |
|
Christ is one Person
|
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A Visual Explanation of the Trinity
February 29, 2012 at 12:14
You omitted one (the one which i accept) and is held b y the Oriental Orthodox Church to this day: Perfect Human Deity. Aka, you state the traditional belief as Christ having a human nature and a divine nature. While that is the traditional belief (so you are correct that is what is held to be the truth by most christians), i am strongly convinced that the Orientals Orthodox are correct, in that Christ did not have two natures. Rather His human nature is the same as His divine nature. aka: the human nature is not distinct from the divine nature. How can this be? in the same way that Max has a body and a spirit, the same way Christ has a body and a spirit. Aka: spirit plus body equals humans. Divine spirit plus human body equals divine human (not human+divine; rather christ’s human=christ’s divine)
March 4, 2012 at 11:56
Probably depends on what you mean by nature. Also, a more complete understanding of human composition is offered by the apostle Paul. We are tripartite beings composed of spirit, soul, and body. The soul is generally understood here to include the mind, will and emotions. So, there’s room here for Christ’s human spirit to be according to the divine nature, his soul sinless, and his body likewise untainted by sin. In Scripture human nature is closely associated with one’s body, so this slice-and-dice approach is probably simplistic.
February 29, 2012 at 14:34
I like the trinity (pyramid) picture.
So in set theory you could say: God := {father, son, holy}
If so what would you say the cardinality of God was? |God| = ? would it be 3, meaning God is finite in his aspects? (leaving open the case that his aspects then have their own sub-aspects)
Or maybe God = father ∩ son ∩ holy, so no elements are left defined and you could argue that |God| = ∞
March 1, 2012 at 23:38
Hey friend, i might have not realized you omitted it (unless you edited it after wards). if i mistook you including it, i apologize. if you included it after i mentioned it, thanks lol