4.1 Christology

Are humans supposed to understand God?

• Yes
• No
• Mystery – can be contemplated but always remains beyond human comprehension

Origin Story

• What was Jesus before Jesus was born as a human being?
• Synoptic Gospels don’t imply much before a miraculous birth and Davidic descent
• Premodern Christian interpreters look for cryptic clues about Jesus in the Old Testament

Genesis

• When God began to create heaven and earth the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the deep. Then God’s breath/spirit blew over the water. (1:1)
• Then God said, “Let there be light.” Then there was light. (1:2)
• Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness…” God created human in God’s image; in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them. (1:26-27)
• God formed the human out of the dust of the ground and blew into its nostrils the breath/spirit of life, and the human became a living being. (2:7)

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

Arius

• Christ was God long before incarnate as Jesus
• Begotten by God before creation
• Son of Father implies younger than the Father, subordinate to the Father

Nicaea

• “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
• “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father… begotten, not made, of one Being (consubstantial) with the Father.
  • What would it mean for a son to be eternally begotten of a father and how does that disagree with Arius?
• “… through whom all things were made.”
• “He was incarnate … and became truly human.”
• “the giver of life who proceeds from the father and the son”

Trinity

• Three persons in one God
• Father, Son, Holy Spirit
• Monotheism

Christology

• Incarnate as Jesus
• Fully God and fully human
• Is sin intrinsic to humanity?