Church History Assignment

Church History
By
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Presented to…..
In partial Fulfillment of requirements
Church History
23th February 2020
KAG East University

Nairobi Kenya
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
First ecumenical council..................................................................................................................4
Constantinople.................................................................................................................................4
Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference.........................................................................................................................................7
Introduction
The topic of the nature and the person of Christ and his divinity was debated amount the
Orthodox Church in the early church. This is due to different teachings which had immerged that
provided different views on the nature of Christ which was contrary to the beliefs and teachings
of the church. The first four famous council were concerned with this subjected of explaining the
dogma of Jesus in the process of ensuring that there were true teachings regarding the person of
Christ. The paper will provide information on the historical theology concerning Christ, the
factors that caused these issues in the early medieval church and how the early church fathers
were able to solve this issue and determine whether these issues are relevant to the church today.
In the view of different misinterpretations of the person of Christ, it is good to note that
as Christians continued to differentiate themselves from the teachings of the Jews, there was a
new challenge of explaining the Jesus, his person and deity (Fromm, 2004). Some people led
scriptures and came up with theology that completely complicated the stats of Jesus as explained
in the Bible. Among some of the details which were given, there are those who indicated that
Jesus was adopted as the son of God in his time of baptism which means that in the process of
baptism is when he got to be considered as the son of God and this heresy was termed as
Adoptionsm. Others like Gnostics stated that Jesus had a body which was not real and these
were referred as Decetists. The biggest debate however was on the case of how Christ was
related to the father where many provided their view. Their concept was regarded as the mode
which declared God as the state of divine manifestation which was referred as Sabellianism.
Further details indicates that there is also a group which regarded Jesus as inferior or not equal to
the father. Arius was the first person to introduce this concept where he stated that Jesus was less
than the Father though he was superior to man.
First ecumenical council
Emperor Constantine who had been newly converted in 325 sort to explain the issue of
Arianism. In this council, Athanasius stated and made it clear that Christ was begotten and not
made. He was therefore the creator of mankind and creation and thus we was not created as
heretics had indicated (Haykin, 2011). The council of Bishops who had met therefore concluded
that Jesus was of the same substance with the father which was against the view of
subordinationsm. Due to these given explanations, the council supported the view of the Holy
Trinity.
Constantinople
Looking at what was given in Nicaea, there was a provision of the way which was
followed by the next council in order to provide a better solution to this case. Post-Nicene
controversies brought about the issue of trinity which now needed to be discussed. This council
met in 381 and they sort to provide information on these distinct persons who had eternity and
power. Though it was not clear seeing that there was a question of unity between the three heads,
the explanation of Nicaea was used to refer to the case of three heads in trinity.
Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon
Another council that met led by the early church fathers was the Councils
of Ephesus and Chalcedon. The discussion of the presence of two persons in the nature of Christ
was discussed together with the separation of the state of the three persons in one who is God
which was also in trinity. The question of the relationship between the son and the father was
also explained. The 5th century theologians were able to continue with this discussion. The big
question was, how would Jesus bare the two states which are humanity and God?
Towards 451, there were parties like the Alexandria and Antioch which explained
concepts like “the mother of God” which had been introduced in explanation of the position of
Mary the mother of Jesus. Antoichian separated the two natures of the Jesus and Alexandria was
against this for they stated that there is no way these natures would be separated (Haykin, 2011).
Cyril on the other hand came up with the point that there was only one nature of Christ but after
the incarnation, these two natures were divided into two thus forming the human and divine
nature.
The early Church fathers therefore responded through the councils which were formed. In
this they also wrote books and materials which were used for teachings and they were against
what had been taught to people regarding the state of Christ. They even quoted the message
which had been given by those who contradicted the Bible for the purpose of explaining to the
church what was wrong regarding the gospel which had been given by the heretics. In connection
to this, it is important to understand that the church fathers contributed a lot to the information
which us used by churches today. In this case, things like the concept of trinity were formulated
which acts as the guides for the Christian doctrine were established and their work has helped to
even protect the gospel and create a firm foundation for churches. Farther details reveals that
there was a platform that was laid by these early church fathers.
Looking at the case which is there today, the church is in the same situation as seen in the
period 325-451. For example, the Catholic Church was tried to show how Mary was the mother
of Jesus and they have tried to include her among the deity terming her as divine. This has
however been answered by church leaders considering that people like St Augustine came up
with a good explanation. There are still people today who still have arguments seeing that there
are those who do not believe that Jesus was full man and full God while he was here on earth.
Second, they argue based on whether Jesus was the son of God and how he appeared to be the
son seeing that a son must be born thus the elevation of the gospel of Mary as the mother of
Jesus which is mainly advocated by the Catholics.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, the paper has discussed how there was a dogma of Christ and the way the
church responded. Further information shows that there was a great necessity in this time seeing
that the church fathers were able to communicate an important message to the church. The same
issues as of that time are happening today as seen in the examples which have been given.
Reference
Bible KJV
Fromm, E. (2004). The dogma of Christ. In The Dogma of Christ (pp. 19-100).
Routledge.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/The-interpretation-of-Christ-in-Western-
faith-and-thought
Haykin, M. A. (2011). Rediscovering the church fathers: Who they were and how they
shaped the church. Crossway.
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Church History

KAG East University

First ecumenical council..................................................................................................................4

Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon................................................................................................4

than the Father though he was superior to man.

Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon

Jesus which is mainly advocated by the Catholics.

shaped the church. Crossway.

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