CHRISTOLOGY

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CHRISTOLOGY
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APPROACHES TO CHRISTOLOGY

• Christology from Below
• Favorite method of modern theologians
• Emphasizes humanity of Christ and his complete
  openness to God
• Does not rule out from above but infrequently
  goes there

• Christology from Above
• Historic, Ecumenical and Creedal Approach
• Postulates that God, the Second Person, took unto
  himself true humanity
• Does not rule out Christology from below

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ORTHODOX CHRISTOLOGY

• Christ is God even as the Father is God
• Christ is Human even as we are, excepting for sin
• Christ is truly one person
• God, the SON, took unto himself a true human
  nature and became the God-Man

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CHRIST IS GOD

• Old Testament
• Psalm 26-12, You are my son
• Psalm 456-7, Your throne, O God
• Psalm 1101ff, The LORD says to my Lord
• Isaiah 96, The Mighty God
• Jeremiah 236, The LORD our Righteousness
• Micah 52, from everlasting
• Malachi 31, the Lord will come to his temple

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CHRIST IS GOD

• New Testament Matthew
• Matthew 96, forgives sins
• Matthew 117, complete knowledge of the Father
• Matthew 1433, receives worship
• Matthew 1616, Son of God
• Matthew 2818, All authority
• Matthew 2819, baptismal formula
• Matthew 721, 1032-3, 1125-7, My Father

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CHRIST IS GOD

• New Testament John
• John 11, Word was God
• John 224 knew what was in man
• John 518 making himself equal with God
• John 111-14, Raising Lazarus from the dead
• John 2028, My Lord and My God
• I John 13 223 414-5 55, 10-13, 20

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CHRIST IS GOD

• New Testament Other Texts
• Romans 95, God, over all, blessed
• Philippians 26, existed in the form of God
• Colossians 29, in him all fullness dwells
• Titus 213, the great God and our Savior
• Hebrews 13, exact representation of his nature
• Hebrews 18, Your throne, O God
• Revelation 1916, King of Kings, Lord of Lords

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CHRIST IS HUMAN

• Genesis 315, Seed of the Woman
• Genesis 498-10, Tribe of Judah
• II Samuel 7, Psalm 89, Family of David
• Isaiah 714, born of a virgin
• Isaiah 53, to suffer and die

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CHRIST IS HUMAN

• Matthew 1, Luke 2, Galatians 44, born
• Luke 252, grew in wisdom and stature
• Hebrews 214, had flesh and blood
• Luke 2439, had flesh and bone
• Matthew 2436, ignorant of the day of judgment

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DEFINITION OF CHALCEDON
TWO NATURES/ONE CHRIST
Deity
Humanity
Inseparably
Inconfusedly
Unchangeably
Indivisibly
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KEY TERMS
Father-Hypostasis, Persona
Son- Hypostasis, Persona
One Divine Substance (Ousia)
Holy Spirit- Hypostasis, Persona
Divine Ousia, Nature
Human Ousia, Nature
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HUMILIATION AND EXALTATION
The Creedal Cycle
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HUMILIATION

• He humbled himself, see Phil. 27, 8 Kenosis
  He laid aside the divine majesty, the majesty of
  the sovereign Ruler of the universe, and assumed
  human nature in the form of a servant. Berkhof,
  ST, 332.

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HUMILIATION

• Incarnation (Gal. 44, Isa. 96, Heb/ 214, Phil.
  27)
• Made under the Law (Gal. 44, John 638, Heb.
  58, Phil. 28)
• Sufferings and Death (Isa. 53)
• Wrath of God (II Cor. 521, Isa. 5312, Ps.
  4012, Matt. 2746)
• Death and Burial
• The descent into hell 

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EXALTATION

• Resurrection John 219-211018, 1125 Acts
  224, 32 326, 530 Rom.64 I Cor. 1520 Col.
  118 Rev. 15
• Ascension Mark 1619 Luke 2450-53 John 662
  142,12 165, 10, 17, 28 175 2017 Acts
  16-11 Eph. 120 48-10 I Tim. 316 Heb. 14
  414 924
• Session at the Right Hand of God Matt. 2664
  Acts 233-36 531 Eph.120-22 Heb. 1012 I
  Peter 322 Rev. 321 221 Rom. 149 I Cor.
  1524-28 Heb. 27,8 I John 21
• Judging the World at the Last Day John 522,27
  Acts 1042,1731 Matt. 1928 2531-34 Luke
  317 Rom. 216 149 I Cor. 313-15 II Cor.
  510 II Tim. 41 James 59

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CHRISTOLOGICAL ERRORS
Arianism
NOT TRULY GOD
Apollinarianism
NO HUMAN SPIRIT
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CHRISTOLOGICAL ERRORS
Apollinarianism
NO HUMAN SPIRIT
Nestorianism
TWO PERSONS
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CHRISTOLOGICAL ERRORS
Nestorianism
Eutychianism
TWO PERSONS
ONE NATURE
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COUNCILS

• Nicea, A.D. 325, condemned Arianism as heresy
  (homoousios)
• Constantinople, A.D. 381, condemned
  Apollinarianism as heresy
• Ephesus, A.D. 431, condemned Nestorianism as
  heresy
• Chalcedon, A.D. 451, condemned Eutychianism as
  heresy

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DEFINITION OF CHALCEDON
We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with
one consent, teach men to confess one and the
same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect
in Godhead and also perfect in manhood truly God
and truly man, or a reasonable soul and body
consubstantial with the Father according to the
Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to
the Manhood in all things like unto us, without
sin begotten before all ages of the Father
according to the Godhead, and in these latter
days, for us and for our salvation, born of the
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the
Manhood one and the same Christ, Son, Lord,
Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures
inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly,
inseparably the distinction of natures being by
no means taken away by the union, but rather the
property of each nature being preserved, and
concurring in one Person and one Subsistence not
parted or divided into two persons, but one and
the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the
beginning have declared concerning him, and the
Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the
Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.
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IMPECCABILTY

• Some argue if Christ were not able to sin, his
  temptations would not have been real. However
• The Personality of Christ was that of God, the
  Logos
• God cannot be tempted, James 113
• The Scriptures say he was tempted, Heb 218, 415

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IMPECCABILTY

• Further
• In his human nature, he did not know the outcome
  of his temptation, Heb. 57-10, Matt. 2436
• A person with a human nature in its true
  integrity would be all the more grievously
  challenged by temptation than one with a sinful
  nature such as we have.

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CHRISTOLOGY