Definition of Christology

It is the part of theology that is concerned with the attributes, nature and deeds of Jesus
Christ. It is the study of the work and person of Jesus Christ1 In addition, Oscar Cullman defines it
as “the attempt to explain the uniqueness of Jesus”.2 More specifically, in the words of John Hick,
“The central task of Christology is to give meaning to the dogma that Jesus was both God and
Man”.3
How is Christology connected to Ethics?
The study of the nature of Jesus Christ; his teachings, works and lifestyle, deals with the hu-
man condition, how one ought to live and treat others. From the individual towards the community.
Therefore one can draw out values of life from it. For example; The Beatitudes, loving our enemies,
helping the needy, dealing with issues, authorities and people. Ethics is relational, this relational
factor is what makes Bonhoeffer say that “Christ cannot be understood any other way than relation-
ally”.4 The principles that Jesus taught can be used as governing principles in a person’s life, it can
be a framework or guideline. One can take the works and stories of Jesus to be a moral paradigm.
And if ethics is primary a matter of character, both individual and that of one’s community, then the
imitation of exemplars and the application of their views is central to living moral life. In agreement
with this Scheleiermacher said that “as qualifying to do what Jesus did”.5 in this way belief and In-
terpretation fuse Christology and Ethics”. When one really honestly examines the very person and
nature of Jesus Christ; his virgin birth, sinless life, miraculous works, diety and who he claimed to
be, his death and resurrection, it is very unique. So unique that there is none like him, who lived a
perfect life. If one is really to believe his diety, that he is God, then Jesus is the basis of ethics. Be-
cause in him morality flows, now the question is not how is Christology connected to ethics? But
how is it not connected to ethics? Everyone talks so much about rights, human rights, any kinds of
rights. But no has defined what is right. In Christology one has the basis to define what is right, be-
cause he gives the standard and values, instead of ending up being autonomous.

1
Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to New Testament Christology (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994), 5.
2
O. Ciullman, The Christology of the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1959), 5.
3
J.H. Hick,The Christology of D.M. Baillie,” Scottish Journal of Theology (New York: Macmillan, 1958), 3.
4
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, Edited by eberhard Bethge, Third Edition (New York:
Macmillan, 1967), 7.
5
Fredrich Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith (Edinburgh: T &T Clark, 1976), 22.