Monday April 14: Then There was Conflict

As Christianity spread through the Greco-Roman world and moved into the second generation, people began to reflect on its basic message about Jesus’ person, and to raise questions: How could Divinity and humanity cohabit the same body? How could Deity become mortal? What is Jesus’ relationship to the Father? And so forth . . . Beginning in the first century, two conflicting emphases emerged. One would stress Christ’s humanity at the expense of His divinity; the other would do just the opposite. Among those denying Christ’s deity were the Ebionites, early Jewish Christians who taught that Jesus became the Son of God only at His baptism, at which time He became united with the eternal Christ, a nondivine being who could not save humanity but came, instead, to call humanity to obedience. The Arians later would take up the struggle against Christ’s divinity, beginning around the late third century, a position strongly condemned by the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. The heavyweights on the other side of the spectrum were the Gnostics, who taught that spirit was good and matter evil, particularly the matter that forms our body. Therefore, the human body could not serve as a vehicle for the revelation of the Supreme Being. Study 1 John 4:1–3. In what way does John’s concern relate to the Gnostic emphasis just described? The controversy over who Jesus was raged for five solid centuries, from the second century all the way down to the sixth. At first it was over His deity. Was He God? And if so, how was He related to God the Father? The questions then shifted to His humanity, and to how Divinity and humanity were combined in a single person. There were statements and counterstatements, pronouncements and counterpronouncements, accusations and condemnations and excommunications, with one “ism” after another claiming the day. Incredibly, amid all the turmoil and controversy, biblical orthodoxy in respect to Jesus’ essential nature and person ultimately prevailed. (See the quotation from the Creed of Chalcedon in Friday’s lesson.) What are some of the questions in the church today about the human nature of Christ? Why must we be careful not to let these questions divide us, as they often did the early church?

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Monday April 14: Then There was Conflict is an episode from Sabbath School Lesson podcast.

This episode is 3:24 long.

This episode was published on Apr 14, 2008.

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