SUBJECT: RECM 402 – Christology and Mariology

INSTRUCTOR: Sr. Lorna S. Fabillar, OP - MAED Math

Email Add: oplorna@gmail.com
Handouts #3
II. Early Christologies (1st century)

According to Casey and Dunn, this "high Christology" developed after the time of Paul, at the
end of the first century CE when the Gospel according to John was written. ... Some 'Early
High Christology' proponents scholars argue that this "High Christology" may go back to
Jesus himself.

2.1. Early notions of Christ

The earliest Christological reflections were shaped by both the Jewish background of the
earliest Christians, and by the Greek world of the eastern Mediterranean in which they
operated. The earliest Christian writings give several titles to Jesus, such as Son of Man, Son
of God, Messiah, and Kyrios, which were all derived from the Hebrew scriptures. According
to Matt Stefon and Hans J. Hillerbrand.

Until the middle of the 2nd century, such terms emphasized two themes: that of Jesus as a
preexistent figure who becomes human and then returns to God and that of Jesus as a creature
elected and "adopted" by God. The first theme makes use of concepts drawn from Classical
antiquity, whereas the second relies on concepts characteristic of ancient Jewish thought. The
second theme subsequently became the basis of "adoptionist Christology" which viewed Jesus'
baptism as a crucial event in his adoption by God. Historically in the Alexandrian school of
thought (fashioned on the Gospel of John), Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos who already
possesses unity with the Father before the act of Incarnation. In contrast, the Antiochian
school viewed Christ as a single, unified human person apart from his relationship to the
divine.

Development of "low Christology" and "high Christology"

Two fundamentally different Christologies developed in the early Church, namely a "low" or
adoptionist Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation Christology." The chronology of the
development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary
scholarship.

The "low Christology" or "adoptionist Christology" is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be
his Son by raising him from the dead," thereby raising him to "divine status." According to the
"evolutionary model" "evolutionary theories," the Christological understanding of Christ
developed over time, as witnessed in the Gospels, with the earliest Christians believing that
Jesus was a human who was exalted, adopted as God's Son, when he was resurrected. Later
beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his pre-
existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John. This "evolutionary model" was proposed by
proponents of the Religions geschichtliche Schule, especially Wilhelm Boussets influential
Kyrios Christos (1913). This evolutionary model was very influential, and the "low
Christology" has long been regarded as the oldest Christology.

The other early Christology is "high Christology," which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-
existent divine being who became a human, did the Father’s will on earth, and then was taken
back up into heaven whence he had originally come," and from where he appeared on earth.
According to Bousset, this "high Christology" developed at the time of Paul's writing, under
the influence of Gentile Christians, who brought their pagan Hellenistic traditions to the early
Christian communities, introducing divine honours to Jesus. According to Casey and Dunn,
this "high Christology" developed after the time of Paul, at the end of the first century CE
when the Gospel according to John was written.

Since the 1970s, these late datings for the development of a "high Christology" have been
contested, and a majority of scholars argue that this "High Christology" existed already before
the writings of Paul. According to the "New Religions geschichtliche Schule," "Early High
Christology Club," which includes Martin Hengel, Larry Hurtado, N. T. Wright, and Richard
Bauckham, this "incarnation Christology" or "high Christology" did not evolve over a longer
time, but was a "big bang" of ideas which were already present at the start of Christianity, and
took further shape in the first few decades of the church, as witnessed in the writings of Paul.
Some 'Early High Christology' proponents scholars argue that this "High Christology" may go
back to Jesus himself.

There is a controversy regarding whether Jesus himself claimed to be divine. In Honest to

God, then-Bishop of Woolwich John A. T. Robinson, questioned the idea. John Hick, writing
in 1993, mentioned changes in New Testament studies, citing "broad agreement" that scholars
do not today support the view that Jesus claimed to be God, quoting as examples Michael
Ramsey (1980), C. F. D. Moule (1977), James Dunn (1980), Brian Hebblethwaite (1985) and
David Brown (1985). Larry Hurtado, who argues that the followers of Jesus within a very
short period developed an exceedingly high level of devotional reverence to Jesus, at the same
time rejects the view that Jesus made a claim to messiahship or divinity to his disciples during
his life as "naive and ahistorical". According to Gerd Lüdemann, the broad consensus among
modern New Testament scholars is that the proclamation of the divinity of Jesus was a
development within the earliest Christian communities. N. T. Wright points out that arguments
over the claims of Jesus regarding divinity have been passed over by more recent scholarship,
which sees a more complex understanding of the idea of God in first century Judaism. But,
Andrew Loke argues that if Jesus did not claim and show himself to be truly divine and rise
from the dead, the earliest Christian leaders who were devout ancient monotheistic Jews
would have regarded Jesus as merely a teacher or a prophet, but not as truly divine, which they
did.

New Testamentical writings

Paul

The oldest Christian sources are the writings of Paul. The central Christology of Paul conveys
the notion of Christ's pre-existence and the identification of Christ as Kyrios. Both notions
already existed before him in the early Christian communities, and Paul deepened them and
used them for preaching in the Hellenistic communities.

What exactly Paul believed about the nature of Jesus cannot be determined decisively. In
Philippians 2, Paul states that Jesus was preexistent and came to Earth "by taking the form of a
servant, being made in human likeness." This sounds like an incarnation Christology. In
Romans 1:4, however, Paul states that Jesus "was declared with power to be the Son of God
by his resurrection from the dead," which sounds like an adoptionistic Christology, where
Jesus was a human being who was "adopted" after his death. Different views would be
debated for centuries by Christians and finally settled on the idea that he was both fully human
and fully divine by the middle of the 5th century in the Council of Ephesus. Paul's thoughts on
Jesus' teachings, versus his nature and being, is more defined, in that Paul believed Jesus was
sent as an atonement for the sins of everyone.

The Pauline epistles use Kyrios to identify Jesus almost 230 times, and express the theme that
the true mark of a Christian is the confession of Jesus as the true Lord. Paul viewed the
superiority of the Christian revelation over all other divine manifestations as a consequence of
the fact that Christ is the Son of God.

The Pauline epistles also advanced the "cosmic Christology" later developed in the fourth
gospel, elaborating the cosmic implications of Jesus' existence as the Son of God, as in 2
Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed
away; behold, the new has come." The Bible begins with the story of alienation (Genesis 1–
11). Christ came in the middle of time to draw all back to God: "Through him God was
pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (Col 1:20). Also, in
Colossians 1:15: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
The Gospels

The synoptic Gospels date from after the writings of Paul. They provide episodes from the life
of Jesus and some of his works, but the authors of the New Testament show little interest in an
absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life, and as in John 21:25,
the Gospels do not claim to be an exhaustive list of his works.

Christologies that can be gleaned from the three Synoptic Gospels generally emphasize the
humanity of Jesus, his sayings, his parables, and his miracles. The Gospel of John provides a
different perspective that focuses on his divinity. The first 14 verses of the Gospel of John are
devoted to the divinity of Jesus as the Logos, usually translated as "Word", along with his pre-
existence, and they emphasize the cosmic significance of Christ, e.g. John 1:3: "All things
were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." In the
context of these verses, the Word made flesh is identical with the Word who was in the
beginning with God, being exegetically equated with Jesus.

Post-Apostolic controversies

Following the Apostolic Age, from the second century onwards, a number of controversies
developed about how the human and divine are related within the person of Jesus. As of the
second century, a number of different and opposing approaches developed among various
groups. In contrast to prevailing monoprosopic views on the Person of Christ, alternative
dyoprosopic notions were also promoted by some theologians, but such views were rejected
by the ecumenical councils. For example, Arianism did not endorse divinity, Ebionism argued
Jesus was an ordinary mortal, while Gnosticism held docetic views which argued Christ was a
spiritual being who only appeared to have a physical body. The resulting tensions led to
schisms within the church in the second and third centuries, and ecumenical councils were
convened in the fourth and fifth centuries to deal with the issues.

Although some of the debates may seem to various modern students to be over a theological
iota, they took place in controversial political circumstances, reflecting the relations of
temporal powers and divine authority, and certainly resulted in schisms, among others that
separated the Church of the East from the Church of the Roman Empire.

First Council of Nicaea (325) and First Council of Constantinople (381)

In 325, the First Council of Nicaea defined the persons of the Godhead and their relationship
with one another, decisions which were ratified at the First Council of Constantinople in 381.
The language used was that the one God exists in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit);
in particular, it was affirmed that the Son was homoiousios (of the same being) as the Father.
The Nicene Creed declared the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus. After the First Council
of Nicaea in 325 the Logos and the second Person of the Trinity were being used
interchangeably.

First Council of Ephesus (431)

In 431, the First Council of Ephesus was initially called to address the views of Nestorius on
Mariology, but the problems soon extended to Christology, and schisms followed. The 431
council was called because in defense of his loyal priest Anastasius, Nestorius had denied the
Theotokos title for Mary and later contradicted Proclus during a sermon in Constantinople.
Pope Celestine I (who was already upset with Nestorius due to other matters) wrote about this
to Cyril of Alexandria, who orchestrated the council. During the council, Nestorius defended
his position by arguing there must be two persons of Christ, one human, the other divine, and
Mary had given birth only to a human, hence could not be called the Theotokos, i.e. "the one
who gives birth to God". The debate about the single or dual nature of Christ ensued in
Ephesus.

The First Council of Ephesus debated miaphysitism (two natures united as one after the
hypostatic union) versus dyophysitism (coexisting natures after the hypostatic union) versus
monophysitism (only one nature) versus Nestorianism (two hypostases). From the
christological viewpoint, the council adopted Mia Physis (But being made one κατὰ φύσιν) –
Council of Ephesus, Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius, i.e. One Nature of the Word of God
Incarnate (μία φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένη mía phýsis toû theoû lógou sesarkōménē).
In 451, the Council of Chalcedon affirmed dyophysitism. The Oriental Orthodox rejected this
and subsequent councils and continued to consider themselves as miaphysite according to the
faith put forth at the Councils of Nicaea and Ephesus. The council also confirmed the
Theotokos title and excommunicated Nestorius.

Council of Chalcedon (451)

The 451 Council of Chalcedon was highly influential, and marked a key turning point in the
Christological debates. It is the last council which many Anglicans and most Protestants
consider ecumenical.

The Council of Chalcedon fully promulgated the Western dyophysite understanding put forth
by Pope Leo I of Rome of the hypostatic union, the proposition that Christ has one human
nature and one divine nature each distinct and complete, and united with neither confusion nor
division. Most of the major branches of Western Christianity (Roman Catholicism,
Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Reformed) and Eastern Orthodoxy subscribe to the
Chalcedonian Christological formulation, while many branches of Oriental Orthodox
Churches (Syrian Orthodoxy, Assyrian Church, Coptic Orthodoxy, Ethiopian Orthodoxy, and
Armenian Apostolicism) reject it.

Although the Chalcedonian Creed did not put an end to all christological debate, it did clarify
the terms used and became a point of reference for many future Christologies. But it also
broke apart the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the fifth century, and unquestionably
established the primacy of Rome in the East over those who accepted the Council of
Chalcedon. This was reaffirmed in 519, when the Eastern Chalcedonians accepted the Formula
of Hormisdas, anathematizing all of their own Eastern Chalcedonian hierarchy, who died out
of communion with Rome from 482 to 519.

Fifth-seventh Ecumenical Council (553, 681, 787)

The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 interpreted the decrees of Chalcedon, and
further explained the relationship of the two natures of Jesus. It also condemned the alleged
teachings of Origen on the pre-existence of the soul, and other topics.

The Third Council of Constantinople in 681 declared that Christ has two wills of his two
natures, human and divine, contrary to the teachings of the Monothelites, with the divine will
having precedence, leading and guiding the human will.

The Second Council of Nicaea was called under the Empress Regent Irene of Athens in 787,
known as the second of Nicaea. It supports the veneration of icons while forbidding their
worship. It is often referred to as "The Triumph of Orthodoxy".

Western mediaeval Christology

The term "monastic Christology" has been used to describe spiritual approaches developed by
Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux. The Franciscan piety of the
12th and 13th centuries led to "popular Christology". Systematic approaches by theologians,
such as Thomas Aquinas, are called "scholastic Christology".

In the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas provided the first systematic Christology that
consistently resolved a number of the existing issues. In his Christology from above, Aquinas
also championed the principle of perfection of Christ's human attributes.

The Middle Ages also witnessed the emergence of the "tender image of Jesus" as a friend and
a living source of love and comfort, rather than just the Kyrios image.

Reformation

John Calvin maintained there was no human element in the Person of Christ which could be
separated from the Person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the "Work
of Christ" in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ and cautioned against ignoring
the Works of Jesus during his ministry.

Roman Catholicism

Catholic theologian Karl Rahner sees the purpose of modern Christology as to formulate the
Christian belief that "God became man and that God-made-man is the individual Jesus Christ"
in a manner that this statement can be understood consistently, without the confusions of past
debates and mythologies. Rahner pointed out the coincidence between the Person of Christ
and the Word of God, referring to Mark 8:38 and Luke 9:26 which state whoever is ashamed
of the words of Jesus is ashamed of the Lord himself.

Hans von Balthasar argued the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved
not by the "absorption" of human attributes, but by their "assumption". Thus, in his view, the
divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine.
My dear Students God bless you for reading comprehensively the given materials and for
answering/working the following study guide questions/activities diligently:

1. What did Christians mean when they used the term "Lord" in speaking of Jesus?

2. How can you gain access to the knowledge of the person and work of Jesus Christ?

3. Why is Christology Studies very important?

N.B. Submit/Encode directly your work/s to oplorna@gmail.com wall for your

Class Standing records (60%). God bless you for following instructions very
strictly in submitting/sending your activity/ies.

God bless you all!!!