1. What is Gnosticism?
Gnosticism refers to the collection of religious ideas and systems that originated from Jewish and early Christian movements.
1. What did Arius believe about Jesus?
Arius believed that Jesus Christ was divine, and that he was sent to earth on a divine mission to save mankind. Arius further believed that Jesus Christ, although the son of God did not hold the same rank with God the Father, and that God the Father and the Son of God were different and unequal to the Holy Spirit.
2. What was wrong with this idea?
Arius belief was considered wrong as it was contrary to the church’s doctrine that God existed in threefold known as Trinity whereby the trinity is considered equal entities. The three entities make one fully divine being. Arius held that God is the supreme and the almighty while Jesus Christ as the son of God is secondary to God or less than the Father. Arius belief of Jesus being the subordinate may be derived from mark 13: 32 where Jesus said concerning the end times. “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” Arius believed that God alone is almighty whose glory compares to none. According to Arius, the son was a created being who was neither eternal nor equal to the divine.
3. How does the Council of Nicaea refute Arius?
Arius belief spread and he had many followers, which led the church to form the council of Nicaea to define the true doctrine concerning the Son and his relation to the Father. The council made the Nicene Creed to proclaim that Jesus Christ is "God from God, light from light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, of the same substance as the Father, by whom all things were made (O’Collins, nd)."
4. What did Nestorius believe about Jesus?
Nestorius believes in both the humanity and the divinity about Jesus. To safeguard the divinity of Jesus, Nestorius says that Jesus has a radical duality; human Jesus and Divine Jesus. The human Jesus was born from the Virgin Mary. The human nature of Jesus is seen in john 11:35 when “Jesus wept” in the story of Lazarus where Jesus grieved the death of Lazarus. Nestorius believes that God is the father of Divine Jesus while Mary is the mother of human Jesus. The result is the unification of the human and the divine Jesus (Theol 312, Nd).
Council of Chalcedon
5. What does Eutchyes believe?
While Nestorius believes in radical duality, Eutchyes is a radical monophysite who devalued the human nature of Jesus and looks at the divine nature. He compares the human origin of Jesus as dropping a bit of honey in the ocean and the ocean. Eutchyes believes the ocean to be equal to the divine ocean and the drop of honey to be equal to the human (O’Collins, ND).
6. What are the four divinity-humanity parallels? (Hint: they use the words divine and human or something similar)
The four divinity parallels maybe found in creedal clarifications between Nicaea and Chalcedon. While Nicaea says that Jesus Christ was perfect in divinity, Chalcedon observes that Jesus was perfect in humanity. Nicaea observes that Jesus Christ was truly divine whereas Chalcedon notes that Jesus was a truly human being. While Nicaea says that Jesus is one being with the Father, the Chalcedon considers Jesus as one in being with humans. Nicaea considers Jesus Christ to be the only created son of God the Father while Chalcedon notes that Jesus was born by Mary the Virgin (Theol 312, Nd).
7. Why does O’Collins divide the definition in half?
Collins distributes the definition into two to make the first half a definition whereas the second half is used for emphasis of the definition. The second half serves to reinforce and provide justifications as to why the duality of Jesus Christ exists.
8. What is missing in the first half, according to O’Collins?
The first half is lacking in terms of scripture justification since the text is a portion of lessons, and does not even qualify to be a creed used for Christian worship.
9. What do the last three lines refer to? The last three sentences delineate the teaching church of the past, and not the praying church.
Gnosticism refers to the collection of religious ideas and systems that originated from Jewish and early Christian movements.
1. What did Arius believe about Jesus?
Arius believed that Jesus Christ was divine, and that he was sent to earth on a divine mission to save mankind. Arius further believed that Jesus Christ, although the son of God did not hold the same rank with God the Father, and that God the Father and the Son of God were different and unequal to the Holy Spirit.
2. What was wrong with this idea?
Arius belief was considered wrong as it was contrary to the church’s doctrine that God existed in threefold known as Trinity whereby the trinity is considered equal entities. The three entities make one fully divine being. Arius held that God is the supreme and the almighty while Jesus Christ as the son of God is secondary to God or less than the Father. Arius belief of Jesus being the subordinate may be derived from mark 13: 32 where Jesus said concerning the end times. “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” Arius believed that God alone is almighty whose glory compares to none. According to Arius, the son was a created being who was neither eternal nor equal to the divine.
3. How does the Council of Nicaea refute Arius?
Arius belief spread and he had many followers, which led the church to form the council of Nicaea to define the true doctrine concerning the Son and his relation to the Father. The council made the Nicene Creed to proclaim that Jesus Christ is "God from God, light from light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, of the same substance as the Father, by whom all things were made (O’Collins, nd)."
4. What did Nestorius believe about Jesus?
Nestorius believes in both the humanity and the divinity about Jesus. To safeguard the divinity of Jesus, Nestorius says that Jesus has a radical duality; human Jesus and Divine Jesus. The human Jesus was born from the Virgin Mary. The human nature of Jesus is seen in john 11:35 when “Jesus wept” in the story of Lazarus where Jesus grieved the death of Lazarus. Nestorius believes that God is the father of Divine Jesus while Mary is the mother of human Jesus. The result is the unification of the human and the divine Jesus (Theol 312, Nd).
Council of Chalcedon
5. What does Eutchyes believe?
While Nestorius believes in radical duality, Eutchyes is a radical monophysite who devalued the human nature of Jesus and looks at the divine nature. He compares the human origin of Jesus as dropping a bit of honey in the ocean and the ocean. Eutchyes believes the ocean to be equal to the divine ocean and the drop of honey to be equal to the human (O’Collins, ND).
6. What are the four divinity-humanity parallels? (Hint: they use the words divine and human or something similar)
The four divinity parallels maybe found in creedal clarifications between Nicaea and Chalcedon. While Nicaea says that Jesus Christ was perfect in divinity, Chalcedon observes that Jesus was perfect in humanity. Nicaea observes that Jesus Christ was truly divine whereas Chalcedon notes that Jesus was a truly human being. While Nicaea says that Jesus is one being with the Father, the Chalcedon considers Jesus as one in being with humans. Nicaea considers Jesus Christ to be the only created son of God the Father while Chalcedon notes that Jesus was born by Mary the Virgin (Theol 312, Nd).
7. Why does O’Collins divide the definition in half?
Collins distributes the definition into two to make the first half a definition whereas the second half is used for emphasis of the definition. The second half serves to reinforce and provide justifications as to why the duality of Jesus Christ exists.
8. What is missing in the first half, according to O’Collins?
The first half is lacking in terms of scripture justification since the text is a portion of lessons, and does not even qualify to be a creed used for Christian worship.
9. What do the last three lines refer to? The last three sentences delineate the teaching church of the past, and not the praying church.
