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Who is Jesus Christ? This is the central question of Christian theology. The New Testament presents Jesus as teacher, miracle worker, prophet, and saviour — but also as the eternal Son of God who became human. How these two natures (divine and human) relate to each other has been debated for two thousand years. This lesson examines key Christological positions, the Council of Chalcedon, and the major theories of the atonement.
Key Definition: Christology is the branch of theology concerned with the person and nature of Jesus Christ. Christology from above begins with Jesus' divinity and asks how God became human. Christology from below begins with the historical, human Jesus and asks how he came to be recognised as divine.
| Approach | Starting Point | Key Theologian | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| From above | The pre-existent Logos (John 1:1) who descends from heaven | Karl Barth (1886–1968) | Begins with God's self-revelation; the incarnation is God's initiative |
| From below | The historical Jesus of Nazareth as known through critical scholarship | Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928–2014) | Begins with what can be known historically about Jesus; the resurrection vindicates his divine claims |
Barth argued that Christology must begin with God's free decision to reveal himself in Jesus Christ. Human reason and historical research cannot discover who Jesus is; only God can make himself known. The incarnation is the supreme act of divine grace — God crossing the infinite distance between Creator and creature.
Pannenberg, by contrast, argued in Jesus — God and Man (1964) that Christology must be grounded in historical evidence. The resurrection is the key event: if Jesus was truly raised from the dead (which Pannenberg regarded as a historically defensible claim), then this retroactively confirms his divine identity. Pannenberg rejected Barth's approach as fideistic — a leap of faith unsupported by evidence.
Jesus' teaching was radical and challenging. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) contains some of the most demanding ethical teaching in any tradition:
The Gospels record numerous miracles: healings, exorcisms, nature miracles (walking on water, feeding the five thousand), and raisings from the dead (Lazarus, Jairus' daughter). The interpretation of these miracles depends on one's Christological approach.
| Interpretation | View of Miracles |
|---|---|
| Traditional/orthodox | Miracles are literal, historical events demonstrating Jesus' divine power |
| Liberal (Bultmann) | Miracles are mythological — they express theological truths (e.g., Jesus' authority over chaos and death) but did not happen as described |
| Moderate | Some miracles may have a historical core (e.g., healings) while others are symbolic/theological narratives |
The title Saviour (Soter) points to the central Christian claim: that through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, humanity is reconciled to God. How this works is the subject of the atonement theories examined below.
The Council of Chalcedon was the fourth ecumenical council and produced the most authoritative statement on the person of Christ in the history of the Church.
By the fifth century, the Church had affirmed that Jesus is fully God (Nicaea, 325 CE) and fully human. But how do the divine and human natures relate within the one person?
| Heresy | Claim | Problem |
|---|---|---|
| Apollinarianism | Jesus had a human body but a divine mind/soul — the Logos replaced the human rational soul | If Jesus lacked a fully human mind, he was not truly human, and humanity is not fully redeemed |
| Nestorianism | Jesus had two natures so separate that he was effectively two persons — a divine person and a human person loosely conjoined | Divides the unity of Christ; makes salvation uncertain |
| Eutychianism (Monophysitism) | Jesus' human nature was absorbed into the divine nature, like a drop of wine in the ocean | Denies true humanity; if Jesus was not truly human, he cannot represent humanity |
The council declared that Jesus Christ is:
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