In the early
centuries of the Church, several heresies arose concerning the nature of
God. All of them involved Jesus in
relation to God. There were the heresies
of Gnosticism, Montanism, Sebellianism,
Arianism and Pelagianism, to name a few. All of them dealt with the misunderstanding
of the nature of God, especially in relation to the Son.
In the 5th
century, the Nestorian Heresy arose
when the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius,
began to teach that Jesus was not fully God.
Rather, he taught that God dwelt within the man Jesus, as in a
temple. Nestorius taught that the human
and divine natures of Jesus are separate.
His chief opponent
on the matter was St. Cyril of Alexandria, who held to the orthodox teaching
that Jesus was God. This led to the Council of Ephesus in 431, which condemned the Nestorian Heresy. At this Council, two major Doctrines were
declared. This first was the Hypostatic Union. This doctrine confirms the fact that Jesus is
truly man and truly God - and that these two natures are indivisible. Any attempt to separate these two natures is
an act of heresy.
The second doctrine
that was declared at the Council of Ephesus was that Mary was not simply the
mother of Jesus’ flesh but that she was Theotokos
– the
God-Bearer. Mary is the fulfillment of the Old Testament type that was the Ark of the Covenant, which carried symbols of Gods power within it
such as the staff of Moses and the tablets containing the Commandments of
God. Since she is the Ark
of the New Covenant, she carried not only Jesus in the flesh but she
actually carried God Himself in her womb.
Today, there are
many sects that claim to be Christian yet they deny the deity of Jesus. In fact they deny the Blessed Trinity
altogether. Groups such as Oneness Pentecostals, Unitarians, Christadelphians,
Christian Scientists and even the Jehovah’s
Witness and the Mormons all deny
that Jesus is God. Unfortunately, some
of these groups consider themselves to be Christian – even though they reject
the most basic of Christian tenets – the Trinity.
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