…. AND IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR

LORD

JESUS

Meaning :

“GOD

SAVES”

"for he will save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21)

"there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

CHRIST

Meaning :

“Anointed One”

“Messiah”

(Hbr)

Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of

priest, prophet and

kingThe one who anointed is the

Father, the one who was anointed is the Son, and he was anointed with the Spirit who is the anointing.

Jesus is the Christ, for "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38)

THE MESSIAH

SON OF

GOD

The title "Son of God" signifies the unique and eternal relationship of Jesus Christ to God his Father: he is the only Son of the Father (Jn 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18); he is God himself (Jn 1:1)

The Baptism and the Transfiguration of Christ, the voice of the Father designates Jesus as his "beloved Son“

“Truly this man was the Son of God” Centurion

LORD

Kyrios (Grk)

Adonai (Hebr)

= YHWH

Indicates divine sovereignty. "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit'" (1 Cor 12:3)

By attributing to Jesus the divine title "Lord", we believe that from

the beginning that the power,

honor and glory due to God the Father are due also to Jesus, because "he was in the form of God“ (Phil 2:2)

“My Lord and my God” Thomas

1. WHY DID THE WORD

BECOME BLESH?

2. TRUE GOD AND

TRUE MAN

THE SON OF GOD BECAME MAN

WHY DID THE WORD BECOME FLESH?

1. In order to save us by reconciling us with God

"loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins”

2. That we might know God’s love

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

3. Our model of holiness

"Love one another as I have loved you.”

4. Partakers of the divine nature

"For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."

CHRISTOLOGICAL HERESIES

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE EARLY ECUMENICAL COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH THAT UPHELD THE

ORTHODOXY OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH

ADOPTIONISM

Belief that Jesus was born merely human and that he became divine later in his life.

Paul of Samosata professed that Jesus was Son of God by adoption.

ADOPTIONISM

First Council of Nicaea, 325 A.D

Church professed that Jesus is Son of God by nature and not by adoption.

ARIANISM

Arius of Alexandria Christ had been given every honor but divinity.

Belief that Jesus was “from another (or like) substance” than that of the Father.

ARIANISM

First Council of Nicaea, 325 A.D

Church professed the doctrine of the hypostatic union.

Christ's nature was wholly divine and wholly human.

APOLLINARIANISM

Belief that Jesus had a human body and lower soul but a divine mind.

Apollinaris further taught that the souls of men were propagated by other souls, as well as their bodies.

APOLLINARIANISM

First Council of Constantinople, 381 A.D

Church professed that the eternal Son also assumed a rational, human soul which is endowed with true human knowledge.

Scripture says He “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man”.

MACEDONIANS

Belief that Holy Spirit was a creation of the Son, and a servant of the Father and Son.

MACEDONIANS

First Council of Constantinople, 381 A.D

Church professed “The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is equally worshipped and glorified, Who has spoken through the Prophets.”

NESTORIANISM

Belief that Christ exists as two persons, the man Jesus and the divine Son of God, rather than as two natures of one divine person.

Nestorius professed that Mary was not “Theotokos” but only “Christotokos”.

NESTORIANISM

Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D

“The Word, uniting to himself in his person the flesh animated by a rational soul, became man.” – St. Cyril of Alexandria

Mary is “Theotokos” meaning “God-bearer.”

DOCETISM

Belief that Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die.

But in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die.

DOCETISM

“There is only one physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and unborn, both from Mary and from God, true life in death, first able to suffer and then unable to – Jesus Christ our Lord”.

– St. Ignatius of Antioch

MONOPHYSITISM

Belief that Christ has only one nature (divine) and that the human nature ceased to exist when Christ became man.

MONOPHYSITISM

First Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D

Church holds that Christ has two natures, one divine and one human.