Christological heresies
Outside historic orthodoxy
Teachings about Christ that deny his full deity, his full humanity, or the union of the two in one person.
Also called: Nestorianism, Nestorian, Eutychianism, monophysitism, Apollinarianism, Apollinarian
What it means
The early church faced a series of errors about who Jesus is, and its councils answered them one by one. Each one lost hold of something Scripture says. Arianism and adoptionism denied that Christ is fully God. Docetism denied that he truly had a human body. Apollinarianism taught that the divine Word took the place of a human mind in Jesus, so he was not fully human. Nestorianism, as the church understood it, divided Christ into two persons, a divine Son and a human Jesus, joined only by cooperation. Eutychianism, or monophysitism, blended the two natures into one, so that his humanity was absorbed into his deity.
The Council of Chalcedon in 451 drew these lessons together. Christ is truly God and truly man, one person, his natures "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation." Each heresy breaks one of those boundaries.
The site groups these together because a church today rarely uses the ancient names. The same errors appear in simpler forms: a Jesus who was only a great teacher, a Jesus whose humanity was a costume, or a Jesus who was a man adopted by God.
What Scripture says
The Word who was God truly became flesh, one person.
He had to be made like his brothers in every way to make atonement for the sins of the people.
Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; denial marks antichrist.
All the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ.
The rulers crucified the Lord of glory: what the man suffered, the divine person suffered.
What is wrong with it
Scripture speaks of Jesus as fully God and fully man, and as one person throughout. It says "the Word became flesh," not that the Word joined a man. It says he grew, hungered, and was tempted, so his humanity was real and complete. And it says the Lord of glory was crucified, so the one who died was the divine Son himself. Each heresy has to deny or explain away one of these lines.
How it undermines the truth
They undermine the Mediator. Christ saves because he is both God and man in one person. Deny his deity, and his death cannot cover the sins of many. Deny his full humanity, and he did not truly take our place, for what he did not assume he could not heal. Divide him into two persons, and God did not truly come to us. Blend his natures, and he is neither truly God nor truly one of us.
How it can harm a church
A church that loses the biblical Christ loses the gospel at its center. Members are left with a Savior who either cannot save or cannot sympathize. They lose the assurance that the one praying for them in heaven is both truly God, able to save completely, and truly man, who knows their weakness from the inside.
This page describes a teaching, not the faith of any person who holds it.
Where it comes up
Confessions: Chalcedonian Definition; WCF 8.2; LBCF 1689 8.2
On this site: Person of Christ
Related terms
Chalcedonian DefinitionHistoric orthodoxy
The statement of the Council of Chalcedon (451) that Christ is one person in two natures, truly God and truly man, without confusion, change, division, or separation.
Hypostatic unionHistoric orthodoxy
In Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God took a full human nature, so that he is one person who is truly God and truly man.
DocetismOutside historic orthodoxy
The ancient teaching that Christ only seemed to have a human body and only appeared to suffer and die.
AdoptionismOutside historic orthodoxy
The teaching that Jesus was an ordinary man whom God adopted as his Son, usually at his baptism or resurrection, rather than the eternal Son who became man.
ArianismOutside historic orthodoxy
The ancient teaching that the Son of God is the first and greatest created being, not eternal and not fully God.