TH6301 - Exam 2 Flashcards
(42 cards)
Ebionism - deity
Denied the real or ontological deity of Jesus
Had God’s presence. “Christ” withdrew from him at the end.
Derived from the word “poor”. Applied to all Xs, then Jewish Xs, then heretics
Traced to Judaizing movements within the apostolic or NT community
Rejected or denied the authority of Paul’s letters
Arianism - deity
Absolute uniqueness and transcendence of God.
Father alone is uncreated and eternal.
The Word (Jesus) is created, although the first and highest of the beings.
The Son has no communion with or even direct knowledge of the Father
Jesus “first-born” actually means first in rank, or preeminent.
Passages referring to weakness, ignorance, or suffering confirm the incarnation
Arius - Alexandrian presbyter
Still lingers as Jehovah Witnesses
Functional Christology
An emphasis on what Jesus did rather than upon what he is.
Claims to work on the basis of purely NT grounds rather than metaphysical
Oscar Cullmann - “Christology of the New Testament”
salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) - used as an organizing principle.
Docetism - humanity
Jesus only appeared to be human
dokeo - to seem or appear
Based on Greek assumption of Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies.
Matter is morally bad so Jesus couldn’t be human
Nestorianism
Split the God-man into two distinct persons
Think in terms of “conjunction” rather than “union”
Nestorius
Eutychianism
Two natures before the incarnation, one after
Humanity of Jesus was so absorbed into the deity as to be eliminated.
Form of Docetism
Rejected at the “Robber Synod”
Adoptionism
Jesus was merely human and at some point (baptism?) was adopted by God.
Human becoming God instead of God becoming human
preexistence, prebirth narrative, virgin birth are obstacles
Anhypostatic Christology
Humanity of Jesus was impersonal and had no independent subsistence. The divine Word was not united with an individual person.
Jesus had no individual human personality
Absurd - Word became united with the whole human race or with human nature
Apollinarianism
Kenoticism
The incarnation consisted of an exchange of part of the divine nature for human characteristics
Similar to modalistic monarchianism in that Jesus was God or man
Ongoing incarnation argues against
Dynamic Incarnation
The active presence of of the power of God within the person of Jesus
Similar to dynamic monarchianism
Against - preexistence, uniqueness of sonship
Chalcedon council
Affirmed the Nicene Creed
Two main types of Christology
Word-flesh
Word is major element of Christ and soul is mostly unimportant
Word-man
less sure the Word was dominant and affirmed complete human nature
Six Biblical Evidences for the deity of Christ
Jesus’s Self-Consciousness
The Gospel of John
Hebrews
Paul
The Term “Lord” - Kurios - Lord
The Evidence of the Resurrection
Four implications of the deity of Christ
We can have real knowledge of God.
Redemption is available to us.
God and humanity have been reunited
Worship of Christ is appropriate
Aspects of Jesus’ humanity
Jesus had a human body
Was fully and genuinely human psychologically
He had remarkable knowledge
He had a “human religious life”
Sinlessness of Jesus
Claimed explicitly and implicitly to be righteous.
Gospels confirm his sinlessness
Jesus could have sinned but it was certain he would not. The person who resists knows the full force of temptation
Jesus was true humanity. Not spoiled and corrupted like us.
Implications of the humanity of Jesus
The atoning death of Jesus can truly avail for us
Jesus can truly sympathize with and intercede for us
Jesus manifests the true nature of humanity
Jesus can be our example
Human nature is good
God is not totally transcendent
Basic Tenets of the Doctrine of Two Natures in One Person
The incarnation was more an addition of human attributes than a loss of divine attributes.
The union of the two natures meant that they did not function independently.
In thinking about the incarnation, we must begin not with the traditional conceptions of humanity and deity, but with the recognition that the two are most fully known in Jesus.
It is important to think of the initiative of the incarnation as coming from above, as it were, rather than below.
It is also helpful to think of Jesus as a very complex person.
Six categories of Christological heresies
Deny the genuineness of Jesus’s deity - Ebionism
Deny the completeness of Jesus’s deity - Arianism
Deny the genuineness of Jesus’s humanity - Docetism
Deny the completeness of Jesus’s humanity - Apollinarianism
Divide his person - Nestorianism
Confuse his natures - Eutychianism
Objections to the Virgin Birth
Unexpected Ignorance regarding the Virgin Birth
The possibility of the virgin birth precluding full humanity
Parallels in other religions
Incompatibility with the preexistence of Christ
Conflict with Natural Law - no miracles
Why is pneumatology important?
The Holy Spirit is the point at which the Trinity becomes personal to the believer.
The work of the Spirit is more prominent in our time than the other members of the Trinity
Our culture stresses the experiential and it is primarily through the Spirit that we feel God’s presence within and the Christian life is given a special tangibility.
Four factors that may make pneumatology more difficult than others
We have less explicit revelation in the Bible regarding the Spirit than about the Father or Son
There is a lack of concrete imagery.
During this present era, the Spirit performs a ministry of serving the Father and the Son, carrying out their will
Discussion of the Spirit can lead to dissension. In certain circles “charisma” is a badge of prestige and in others a stigma.
Clement of Rome
coordinated the three members of the Trinity in an oath. - “as the Father lives, the Son lives, the Spirit lives”
All three poured out on us.
Origen
spoke of the Bible as “written by the Holy Spirit”
moved from the view of the Spirit as part of an ontological Trinity
Spirit is the “most honorable of all beings brought into existence by the Word”
Distinguished the three to almost be tritheism
