Christology: Who is God the Son? There are three statements that must be understood and affirmed in order to attain a complete biblical picture of the person of Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ is fully and completely divine. Jesus Christ is fully and completely human. The divine and human natures of Christ are distinct and yet completely united in Him. Fully God + Fully Man = Fully Sufficient Fully God John 1:1-14 begins with, “In the beginning was the Word (preexistence) and the Word was with God (face-to-face) and the Word was God. (deity) Hebrews 1:3 “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.” Luke 2:11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Hebrews 1:1-4 “…He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature…” Heresy against Jesus’ deity: The Kenosis Theory was put together by several theologians (1860-1910) who advocated a view of the incarnation that had not been advocated before in the history of the church. This theory holds that Christ gave up some of His divine attributes while He was on earth as a man. They use Phil 2:7 to say that Christ “emptied Himself” of some of the uncommunicable attributes of God. This theory began to sound more like an acceptable way to say that Jesus was God, but a kind of God who had for a time given up some of His Godlike qualities, those that were most difficult for people to accept in the modern world. Fully man John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus had a human birth and a human genealogy. Gal 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Jesus had a human body that experienced growth (Luke 2:40), hunger (Matt 4:2), thirst (John 19:28), tiredness (John 4:6), and death (Luke 23:46). He experienced everything we do. Because of Jesus’ humanity, He can truly be a substitutionary sacrifice. (Heb 2:17; Hebrews 4). Heresy against Jesus’ humanity Docetism (late 1st century) – denies the humanity of Christ Ebionism (2nd century) – denies the deity of Christ Arianism (4th century) – reduces His deity Apollinarianism (4th century) – reduced His humanity Nestorianism (5th century) – denied the union of the two natures Eutychianism (5th century) – emphasized only one nature The Chalcedonian Definition of AD 451 wrote a creed to solve the problems raised by the controversies that affirmed both Jesus’ full humanity and His full deity, with His two natures united in one person. You can read that creed HERE. Jesus says of Himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Our salvation directly depends on what we believe about Christ. Other belief systems say that He was just a good teacher, or that He was just one of many prophets. In reality, He is fully God, who has always been, and fully man who took the sin of the world so that if we believe that He is the way, the truth, and the life, we can be forgiven and reconciled to God as His children. (John 1:12) Questions to Consider: You have probably heard that the way officials are trained to identify counterfeit money is by studying the real thing and knowing it so well that they can spot a flaw in a fake bill. There are teachers and churches that are preaching a gospel message, but is it the True gospel? How can you be sure that who you are listening to is accurate? How does knowing that Jesus was fully man encourage you as you follow Him? How does knowing that Jesus is fully God encourage you as you follow Him? Whose theology (teachers, preachers, podcasters, shows) are you allowing to have an influence in your life? Take some time this week to evaluate whether they are pointing you to biblical accuracy.