Loving Jesus the Wrong Way:
Christological Heresies and How They Hurt Us

(thanks to Kristina Doernte, fall 2003 student, for the illustrations)

I. "Heresies" (cf. 1 Cor 11:19, 2 Pet 2:1) as Compromises
God sent his Word to 'tabernacle' among us (John 1:14) to spread grace and truth (1:16-17) for fellowship, discipleship, restoration, and reconciliation across tribes, tongues, and nations (1:11-12, 20:31), starting with Israel.
The Council of Chalcedon, 451, affirms the incarnation's hypostatic union:

Christ is one person in two natures "without confusion, change, division, or separation."

So incarnation means a set of new relationships between Creator and creation

that leaves the old relationships intact, but no longer decisive.

There's "room" in Jesus' person for God and humanity to be at perfect peace.

Jesus' work of costly grace makes room for sinners in his peace.

Christological heresies, even if well-intentioned explanations, fail to honor that "grace upon grace" (John 1:16)

and reject our new and/or prior relationships with God through Jesus Christ,
usually by subordinating the good news to cultural and philosophical assumptions.

(A heresy is a teaching that amounts to "another gospel" [Gal 1:6-9],

whereas a heretic is one who refuses the church's correction.)

These heresies all construe divine nature and human nature as competing or dominating,

rather than so different so as to be fully compatible—like a book's ideas and its paper.

Ancient Christological heresies can be arranged into two regional/philosophical/cultural types (Adolf von Harnack)

that resemble James B. Torrance's defective 'unitarian' and 'existentialist' worship:

II-IV: Antiochian 'adoptionism'

makes Christ an example of human righteousness that leads to God's acceptance:

II. Jesus as Exemplar: Ebionism (an awesome human points us toward God) Jesus is a man chosen for special divine sonship (like David). Jesus is created, not begotten; not God made human, but an inspired prophet. Contemporary schools: Islam, early Unitarianism. A church merely stressing Jesus as teacher or example is functionally Ebionite.

III. Jesus as Overachiever: Adoptionism (a human so awesome he earns divine status) Jesus becomes divine during his life (at his baptism?). Jesus is chosen for his prior human virtue. Sonship is reduced to obedience; Jesus' relationship with God is just moral. Jesus' righteous example shows the way to our salvation (cf. Roger Bannister). Contemporary school: some Latter-day Saints. A legalistic church is functionally adoptionist.

IV. Jesus as Alter Ego: Nestorianism (an awesome human aligned with an awesome God) Nestorius objected to the Alexandrian use of theotokos for Mary. Mary mothered only Jesus' human nature, not the person of God the Son. Christ's two persons are united morally, with adoptionistic consequences (Smeagol/Gollum, or Quirrell+Valdemort). Contemporary school: Churches of the East. A Jesus struggling between divine and human is functionally Nestorian.

V-VIII: Alexandrian 'docetism'

minimizes Christ's humanity as unfitting or incompatible with God's transcendence:

V. Jesus as Poseur: Docetism (cf. 1 John 4:1-3a) (an awesome God just appears as a human) Some Gnostics: the body of Christ wasn't real, but a mere appearance. Respect for God's transcendence and Christ's divinity excludes his commonality with us. Jesus is like Clark Kent, or Jake Sully in Avatar. Contemporary school: Hindus, some New Age Gnostics. Christians who concentrate on Jesus' divinity are functionally Docetic.

VI. Jesus as Merger: Monophysitism (an awesome God absorbs humanity and ends it) Eutyches (not Acts 20:9!): "Two natures before, one after, the union." The Borg, or a business acquisition, or an alloy (versus patristic 'hot iron'). Infinity plus finity: Unity comes at the cost of humanity (and perhaps divinity). Contemporary schools: Sufism; some Buddhisms? Spiritualistic or transcendentalist Christian attitudes are often monophysite.

VII. Jesus as the Terminator: Apollinarianism (an awesome God occupies a mere human body) Apollinarianius: The logos was a divine mind or soul in Jesus' human body. Jesus' humanity is partial; is he tempted? did he suffer? has Jesus really redeemed humanity? Churches where Jesus' mind or intelligence is not human are Apollinarian. Contemporary school: some evangelicals?

VIII. Jesus as Middle Manager: Arianism (a god comes between humans and their awesome God) Arius the Presbyter: Only God (the Father) is uncreated. God the Son was made first, then adopted. Jesus mediates as an archangelic "third party" between God and us, not one of both parties. This appeals to cultures used to mediating demigods (or bureaucrats). Contemporary school: Jehovah's Witnesses. A Jesus 'buffering' between us and the distant or strange Father is functionally Arian.

IX. How Do We Avoid These Mistakes?

Historic aids guide disciples in thinking and acting incarnationally: 1. Christmas celebrates "Emmanuel" (Isa 7:14 and 8:8-10, Matt 1:23), affirming all three affirmations. Heretical traditions often resist observing Christmas. Christmas' history: Not a pagan accretion, but comes nine months after Easter/Annunciation. Christmas was popular and useful when Arianism was the biggest threat. 2. Respect for Mary honors her role in Jesus' incarnation. Jesus is divine, human, one from his conception; Mary is "mother of God." Scripture asks for respect for Mary (Luke 1:48). Mary is the source of Jesus' humanity (and, in that way, our salvation). Easy to misunderstand (as in Islam, medieval Catholicism, evangelicalism). Yet adoptionism is a problem in liberal Protestantism where respect for Mary is weakest. 3. Discovery follows along as God reveals himself in scripture and real life. We bring our old assumptions into our relationships with Jesus. Jesus challenges these, and we challenge back, colliding on the cross. Disciples humble our imaginations sooner or later and are opened to his remaking discipline, while heretics finally refuse it.