Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 January 2006 20:24:41
The tension between the humanity and divinity of Jesus is reflected in the Four Great Heresies over "who is Jesus" in the early centuries of the church:
1. Arius
2. Apollinaris
3. Nestorius
4. Eutyches
Dwelt with in four ecumenical councils:
Council of Nicea 325 C.E.
Council of Constantinople in 381 C.E.
Council of Ephesus in 431 C.E.
Council of Chalcedon 451 C.E.
Led to the "Classical Christology" formulation of Jesus as one person who was fully divine and fully human, a union of both divine and human natures. That is: one person, two full natures: divine & human.
This is the Chalcedonian Definition of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Person of Christ" 451 C.E. (printed in the back of the Book of Common Prayer).
And Did this end debate about the nature of Jesus? No. But it did define a set of parameters within which Jesus is understood. Henceforth, explanations of Christ's divinity cannot be framed in a way that makes him out to be anything less than fully human, and at the same time, explanations of his humanity cannot be drawn in such a way as to compromise his divinity.
So basically, the church decided that they can't answer this question, so decided to dismiss it and give a random definition which doesn't really resolve the question?
So As Dr. Baille has so cogently stated, "Our Lord's life on earth was a life of faith, and His victory was the victory of faith. His temptations were real temptations, which it was difficult and painful for Him to resist."[Footnote: D. M. Baille, God was In Christ, p. 14.] Jesus overcame his temptations not by relience on some inherent divine dimension, but by the constancy of his will. So we are moved to the conclusion, on the basis of peremptory evidence, that Jesus shared fully our human life.
Which must also be rubbish, because by being human, he would have been sinful, as that is what humans do - they sin. A human cannot have a will that strong. He would also not have been able to 'understand' or 'sympethise' with human feelings if he were divine, because he wouldn't have felt things like guilt or shame and stuff.