Foundations - Class 3 “Councils of the Christian Faith And Heresies Addressed by Creed” 10/10/2022)
Bible Basics/Christian Foundations Course
Bible Basics/Christian Foundations Course
Cocolalla Cowboy Church
Associate Pastor David Williams
Email: David.w.jr@protonmail.com
Website: thewrypastor.substack.com
Purpose of this course: to introduce you to the reasons for the various Church Councils that helped to shape the Christian Faith from the time of Christ’s ascension to the mid-16th century. You will also learn about the various heresies and church conflicts that were addressed in these councils which, in many respects, assisted in building the Christian faith into what it is today.
This course will require you to do your own research and study to become versed in the councils, periods of time and information herein:
What is a Church Council and what were their purposes?
- Church Councils were meetings that took place between noted leaders of the church in that period of time where doctrinal (teaching/emphasis) issues were discussed, argued and then resolved
- The Councils had the final say and helped shape Church doctrine to remove heretical or unbiblical or unscripturallysound teachings and reaffirm or better detail those teachings/beliefs that were orthodox/accepted
Important and noted Christian Councils:
Council of Jerusalem (49 AD)
- Address Judaizers
- Gentile Christian converts they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood
Council of Nicea (325 AD)
- Addresses Modalism
- Addresses Arianism
- Addresses Apollinarianism
- Addresses Docetism
- Nicene Creed (1st Rendering)
1st Council of Constantinople (381 AD)
- Addressed Arianism
- Addressed Apollinarianism
- Nicene Creed (2nd Rendering)
Council of Carthage (397 AD)
- Biblical Canon resolved
Council of Ephesus (431 AD)
- Addressed Nestorianism
- Reaffirmed Nicene Creed
Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)
- Addressed Nestorianism (again)
- Split between Greek Orthodox Church and Catholic Church
- Affirmed the Hypostatic Union (again)
- Jesus has 2 natures one body, inseparable
- Homoousios vs Homoiousios
2nd Council of Constantinople (553 AD)
- Addresses Nestorianism
- Addresses Monophysitism
- Reaffirms the Hypostatic Union
2nd Council of Nicea (787 AD)
- Use of images in worship
- Council approved this use; paralleled the Angel of the Lord with a lesser worship of images to represent the actual individual being venerated
- Reformation thoroughly rejected the 2nd Council of Nicealater in church history
Protestant Reformation (1519 AD)
- At issue: infallibility of the pope, indulgences, veneration of images, Catholic tradition equal to bible scripture
- Precursors: Wycliffe, Hus, and Savonaro
- Reformers: Zwingli, Luther, Calvin
- 5 Solas: Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Gratia (Grace Alone), Fide (Faith Alone), Christus (Christ Alone), Deo Gloria(Glory of God Alone)
Heresy or Church Issue addressed:
Docetism
- Jesus “seemed” to have a human body
- Jesus “appeared” to be human
- Removed the reality of Jesus actually shedding His blood on the cross
- Negates the atonement
- Fully human sacrifice can atone for full humans only (correct)
- Christian Science/Mormonism
Monophysitism
- Jesus had only one nature
- Jesus nature was only divine
- Jesus nature was not fully human
- Negates the hypostatic union; one God 2 natures, 100% God and 100% human
Apollinarianism
- Jesus not fully human nor was he the perfect man
- Jesus could not have been a real person
- Couched the idea of raising the God nature so high that it could not be human
- Negates the hypostatic union
- Christian Science
Gnosticism
- Physical matter is inherently evil
- Anything with a physical nature was viewed as having intrinsic properties of evil
- All things spiritual were good
- Jesus must have been a ghost or spirit being
- Secret knowledge of the world and the spirit world
- Negates the hypostatic union
- Christian Science
Judaizers
- Christians must convert to Judaism first and then obey the Jewish laws including circumcision
- Sharp arguments from religious Jews
- Negates redemption by faith
Arianism
- Jesus was created
- Jesus was not God in the flesh
- Jesus was not God in the flesh fully (may sound redundant, but this was how intricate the issue was, debate on percentages of divinity)
- Negates the hypostatic union
- Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses
Nestorianism
- There was no full unity between Jesus human nature and divine nature
- Eastern Church issue, less in Western Church issue
- Negates the Hypostatic Union/Atonement
Modalism and Monarchianism
- God is one and changes modes between the Godhead
- God the Father is God the Son is God the Holy Spirit
- Oneness Doctrine (TD Jakes)
- Negates the Trinity