Jesus: human and divine
Christology
Christology is the theological term for discussions concerning the nature and person of Jesus Christ. In Christianity, this is usually concerned with reconciling the Christian teaching of Jesus' two natures as expressed in the Creed of Chalcedon (451 CE):
'In relation to the humanity, he is one and the same Christ, the Son, the Lord, the Only Begotten, who is to be acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division and without separation'.
A distinguishing feature of what is considered to be orthodox and Biblical teaching about Jesus is the acceptance that not only was he fully human but that he was also fully divine (God Incarnate). However, this does not mean that:
he was a mixture of two natures (thus becoming a God/man of one nature), or
his divine side was more prominent than his human (so that the divine 'soul' was merely dwelling in a human body), or
his human side was more prominent than his divine (so that Jesus was merely a good man doing God's will).
Conflicting theories
Jesus was both fully God and fully human. The difficulty of trying to state exactly how this is the case has occupied theologians from the early church to the present age. Over time, a number of heresies developed as people attempted to explain how Jesus could be both human and divine. They included:
Arianism. The Arian view is that Jesus is not fully divine, but was created by God for the purpose of accomplishing the salvation of human beings.
Gnosticism. Gnostics believed that all matter was evil. Thus many Gnostics denied the Incarnation, claiming that Christ only appeared to be a man, but that his humanity was an illusion.
Docetism. The Docetist view is that Christ was never fully human, but only appeared to be human. Semi-docetism only partially denies humanity, usually by asserting that Christ was not subject to temptation nor to any of the normal human frailties of hunger, fatigue, or fear of death.
Adoptionism. The Adoptionist view is that Christ was born a man only, but became God's son by adoption when he was baptised in the Jordan.
Nestorianism. The Nestorian view is that the Son of God and the man, Jesus, shared the same body but retained two separate personhoods.