Christological difficulties

The problem of Christology is very old one. Even when Jesus was alive the question about his identity was raised both by his followers and his foes. He asked “Who do men say I am? This query has been debated, sometimes very heatedly, from that time until our days. One can say that religion of Jesus became religion about Jesus.

The main area of concern is ultimately focused on whether and how a human nature and a divine nature can co-exist in one person. Within the early church some groups (Arianism and Ebionitis) argued that Jesus was an ordinary mortal. Other groups (including Gnosticism), held docetic views which argued that Christ was a spiritual being that only appeared to have a physical body. Tensions within the Church between Christological positions led to many divisions within the church, and church councils of the fourth and fifth-century were convened to solve the issues. They decreed that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human, making this part of orthodox Christian creed[1].

To support this statement the doctrine of Trinity was created. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the hypostases, but as one being. Saying that God exists as three persons but is one God means that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit exactly duplicate the nature or being of God the Father in every way. Whatever attributes or power God the Father has, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have as well. “Thus, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are also eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely loving, omniscient”.[2]

Such a creed has been repeatedly criticized on several grounds. It is not really biblical, as it goes for beyond the faith of New Testament (the existence of one God was central to Judaism) and distorts the kingdom-centered teaching of Jesus. It has always divided Christians rather then united them.

Moreover, that kind of theory cannot be proved logically. There is a clear paradox:

·   There is one God.

·   The Father is God, Jesus is God, The Holy Spirit is God.

·   The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are distinct from each other.

It would seem that there is no possible way for the Father, the Son, and the Spirit to be one and yet distinct from one another. If the layman were to investigate further, he would most probably be confronted with statements similar to the following “The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who would try to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind. But he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul»[3].

The mystery of Trinity is commonly considered to be beyond intellectual comprehension. It is said to belong to a revealed theology which is to be accepted by faith beyond reason. That kind of belief appears to be very weak and certainly it is not convincing for people of our age.

It is also worth looking at some weaknesses of the orthodox Christology from a different, more practical, perspective. How this dogma is suitable to our highly pluralistic world? For many centuries Christians have had a strong sense of spiritual superiority. They believed that only in Jesus of Nazareth God became fully incarnate, therefore, only through Christ salvation is possible. Revealing the problem of “towering” figure of Jesus, Prof. David Carlson asserts in his book “Sunrise on Christology: Empowering Religions to achieve World Peace”, that “occasional flashes of tolerance notwithstanding, the exclusivist viewpoint has been most conspicuous, if not dominant, trend throughout most of Christian history”[4].

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[1] Editors, Erwin Fahlbusch. The encyclopedia of Christianity. [Leiden, Netherland: Brill, 1999], pp. 463

[2] Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. [Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press., 1994.], pp. 226, 236.

[3] Harold Lindsey and Charles J. Woodbridge, A Handbook of Christian Truth. [Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1953], pp. 51-52

[4] Carlson, David A. Sunrise on Christology: Empowering Religions to achieve World Peace. 2005