Apollinarianism: The Denial of Christ's Human Spirit - Essay Example

Apollinarianism: The Denial of Christ's Human Spirit Apollinarius is one of the most celebrated and controversial scholar and bishop of mid fourth century. He was the bishop of Laodicea in Syria where he preached for a long time before his death. He is believed to have been born sometime between 300 and 315 before passing on at around 392. He is famously remember for his close ties with the Scriptures, which he used to influence masses thereby commanding huge following just his teachings started drawing a lot of controversies from Christians. Moreover, he is described as being an exceptionally intelligent man, who was a great advocator for the orthodox faith. In fact, he is regarded as one of the few Hebrew scalars of the time1. Despite the remarkable contribution during this time, his works drew a lot of controversies from the orthodox and Christians who reacted angrily at his controversial and famous book Panarion (medicine chest against all heresiesc.375)2. He is claimed to have written certain doctrines that went against the Christian and orthodox faith thereby creating a lot of controversies, which later led to his expulsion from the church as well as deposed of his bishopric3. Nevertheless, he still continued to enjoy considerable support from his supporters even after the expulsion where he continued preaching his doctrine to the people. This paper will start by proving a brief account of Christology as it had developed by the mid fourth century. It will also explore the principle features of Apollinarius’ teachings. The essay will then examine how people from the east and the West reacted to the doctrine. Finally, the paper will the legacy left by Apollinarius teaching in light of Alexandrian Christology. Christology Apollinarianism as Christological theory holds that Christ had only the human body and soul, and without a rational mind and that, the Divine Logos occur in the last. His teachings mainly flourished in mid fourth century, which saw him command a lot of respect from other great men of the age such as St. Basil, St. Athanasius and St. Jerome for his Biblical learning, classical culture and defense of Christianity as well as his advocacy for the orthodox and Nicene faith. He is reported to have played a major role in reconstructing classical Scripture by assisting his father during the reconstruction. The main aim of reconstructing the scripture on a classical type was a way of compensating Christians who had been deprived of the Greek literature by Julian. He also participated in writing a number of Scriptures some of which relates to apologies of Christianity4. The controversy surrounding his Christology theory began at around 361 A.D. when Athanasius theory was upheld by the First Council of Constantinople. The scholars, Appollinarius and Athanasium, differed mainly with regard to place of the human soul in Christ. For instance, whereas Athanasius believed on the existence of the human soul in Jesus, Apollinarius believed that Jesus had none, therefore, should be omitted when referring to Jesus. In his opinion, he believed that the Word replaced the human soul by the time the Word took the lifeless flesh which merely manifested to be man5. Therefore, the main feature of Apollinarius is that he was a bishop who rejected the argument of the human soul or mind of Christ. His position regarding the rejection of the human soul or mind in Jesus created a lot of interest as many scholars began tracing the genesis of Arianism. The findings revealed that he had at one time worked as a reader under Theolotus, a onetime Arian bishop of Laodicea. As a result, it was thought that his ideas must have been influenced by Arian. As earlier stated, the Alexandrian rejection of the human soul or mind in Christ was a permanent characteristic of the Alexandrian beliefs and tradition. This is because Apollinarius is reported to have asserted that his teachings are based on the positions held by his fathers who rejected Paul of Samosata in 268 A.D6. Despite Apollinarius teaching of his doctrine dating backing to 352, it took it long to get to the public limelight and an issue at around 362, this is almost a decade. In addition, even after becoming an issue during this time, it also took another decade for the issue to become controversial. All along, he preached against any teachings that supported the position held by Paul of Samosata by countering the teachings of people like Flavian, Eustathiius, Diodore of Tarsus and the Paulinians whose teachings he thought promoted Paul’s ideas7. In this regard, he wrote: I am astonished to find people confessing the Lord as God incarnate, and yet falling into the separation (te diairesei) wickedly introduced by the Paul-imitators. For they slavishly follow Paul of Samosata, differentiating between Him from heaven, Whom they declare to be God, and the man derived from the earth (Apollinarius 16). In this regard, Apollinarius protested strongly against those who confess on man conjoined with God and not God alive. Therefore, he wanted people to make a clear distinction between the son of Mary and the son of God. This implies that he was of the notion that there were two Christ, with one being the son of God and the other the son of Mary, whereas the Bible says that He is one that is mia phusis and hen. According to this argument, it becomes apparent that Apollinarius was highly influenced by the motives of soteriology. As such, he was convicted that in case the divine is parted from the human in Savior, then human redemption is jeopardized. As a result, he concluded that Jesus neither had the power to save humankind from sins, nor raise man from dead as claimed in the scripture. He also took issues with people who claim to worship Jesus by claiming that there is no apparent reason for worshiping or getting baptized into his death since according to Apollinarius, Christ was just an ordinary person who indwelt by the Godhead. Therefore, Christ must have been imperfect and a victim just like any other person on earth, who cannot claim to be able to save humankind since He was not able to save Himself during temptation, and subsequent crucification and death8. Apollinarius was also opposed to dualism, which according to him was dangerous to humankind. As a result, he introduced the Word-flesh Christology, in which he commented of Jesus as God the incarnate, God Born of woman, and the flesh-bearing God. In his observation, he perceived the flesh not only as an outward covering, but also as a complete oneness of being with God-head, which begins right at the time of conception9. Apollinarius wrote: The Incarnate is "a compound unity in human form" [sunthesis anthropoeides], and there is "one nature [mian . . . phusin] composed of impassible divinity and passible flesh" (Apollinarius 23). Logos was also another issue of concern to Apollinarius, which he wanted people to understand. For instance, Apollinarianism believed that Logos was a passive manifestation that only assumed humanity in itself. In this regard, this school of thought looked at God as a personal nature, which manifests itself in Christ as the Logos take on the humanity. In addition, Apollinariua believed that the Logos can suffer and die an argument that was deputed by other Christology such as Diodore, who argued that the Logos cannot suffer and die10. Principal features of Apollinarius’ teaching Apolinarianism school of thought holds that since Jesus was fully human, there could be no possibility of him being sinless since he was like any other human bound to fall into temptation. This school of thought also denounced the possibility of a fully human being like Christ was becoming a savior for other humankind since man has no ability of saving himself. In this regard, Apollinarius believed that humanity is made of three components namely the body, mind and soul and therefore taught that Jesus was merely a divine nature and not fully, human as others like Arius held. As such, he argued that Jesus had only the human body and mind but not human spirit11. From the Christology, it can also be deduced that Apollinarius teachings were based on the perception that Jesus was an ordinary man like any other person and as such had no power to save humankind from their sins. In addition, he taught that Christ the Christ being an ordinary person had no power to raise people from the dead as claimed in the scripture12. Reactions Apollinarius teachings received both support and condemnation from Orthodox and priests from both the East and West. It is reported as a result of his the doctrine Apollarius was condemned for such teachings that go against some of the Biblical teachings as early as 375 A.D. As the controversy continued, the church leadership decided to topple him from Bishopric position after which he was ordered out of communion together with his followers. Despite his condemnation, he continued with teaching his doctrine to his followers un till his death13. Many people from East and West reacted angrily at the doctrine citing it as a falsehood aimed at poisoning the minds of Christians. In this regard, they refuted Apollinarius’ argument that man is only made of the human body and mind and not spirit asserting that man is made of the body, soul and spirit. As such, they argued that anyone who attempts to denounce the fact that Jesus lacked the three parts by only having two is deceived. To make their point clear by counterclaiming Apollinarius’ teaching, they cite the Bible, which according to them; confess of the existence of the human spirit in Jesus14. The Scriptures cited as talking about the Christ spirit include Mark 2:8, which talks of how Christ perceived His spirit; Mark 8:12 talking of when Christ is deeply in spirit; John 11:33 speaking of how He groaned in spirit; John 13:21 which is about how Jesus was troubled in Spirit just to name but a few15. In this regard, opponents of Apollinarius doctrines argue that from the Scriptures according to Mark and John, one can clearly see how these Scriptures demonstrate the spiritual life of Jesus Christ. They note that these Scriptures, show through sinless, the human, spiritual problems that Jesus faced. For instance, they note from John (13:21), which speaks of the spiritual problems Jesus had to undergo because of Judas after the betrayal. This includes how Jesus suffered in Calvary at the hands of Judas and his colleagues16. Christians have from time memorial believed that Jesus is a savior for human kind and that he was sent from heaven to come and save people from their sins. As such, his suffering, and death had a lot of significance as far as Christianity is concerned. As such, they felt that it was provocative of Christian faith for Apollinarius to argue that Jesus was not fully human. According to Christians, Jesus suffered the pain that any other human being could experience. This was evident when he cried just like any other human being during his agony in Calvary. However, He was able to rise from the dead in spirit and went to God in heaven as demonstrated in the Bible. Therefore, it is not in order for Apollinarius to claim that Jesus had no spirit17. Christians also believe that Christ underwent temptation from Saturn a number of times the same way human is tempted. For instance, the Scripture states clearly how Jesus was tempted by Saturn to turn stones into bread when He was hungry, and the other when He was told by Saturn to drop Himself if He believed that He would be saved by God. This is the truth according to Christian. As such, opponents of Apollinarius doctrine argue that it was not in order for Apollinarius to claim that Christ was not tempted to sin and that He was only Tempted because he wanted because if he could have been fully a human being, then he could have fallen into temptation18. The other major controversy that was objected from Apollinarius teachings was on his divination of the flesh of Christ, which according to Apollinarius was deceitful. This meant that Jesus was not a real man, but only manifested in the form of a man. In this regard, he believed that Christ brought His flesh from heaven. This argument was so offensive to Christians in that the Bible states very clearly that Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary according to the gospel according to the gospel according to St. John, Mathew, Mark and Like. These scriptures’ gives a clear account of how Jesus was conceived and born to show that He was a real man. For instance, The scripture show that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary in the garden of Eden. A real man, He also worked as carpenters alongside his father Joseph. In addition, He also went through temptations just like any other human being on earth. As such, Christians found it not in order for Apollinarius to make such absurd claims19. Christians also rejected Apollinarius doctrine because it holds that Jesus was not able to save humankind because he was not able to save himself when he was being confronted by Judas and those who crucified him on the cross. This clearly goes against the Christian teaching as was seen as provocative of the Christian faith. Christians have believed since time memorial that Jesus is the savior and was send from heaven purposely to save man from sins. In this regard, Jesus is above everything on earth and everyone who wants to be saved must seek for Him. Therefore, to argue that Jesus should not be seen as a savior is misplaced and should not be allowed in Christianity to corrupt the minds of Christians in the society20. Christians from East and West also rejected Apollinarius arguments because it goes against the Biblical teaching that Jesus had the power to raise dead people back to life. This is because Apollinarius considered Christ as an ordinary person with shortfalls just like any other human being. Therefore, he argued that since Jesus is an ordinary person, he cannot raise one from the dead. This perception did anger Christian and rejected his teaching in totality because according to the Bible, Jesus did raise a couple of people from the dead, such as Lazarus and Jirus daughter. Therefore, to claim that Jesus had no such powers were against their Christian beliefs leading to the rejection of his teachings and subsequent condemnation21. Legacy of his teaching for Alexandrian Christolology Apollinarius has indeed left a heat legacy as far as Alexandrian Christology is concerned. This is because it has made Christians the world over have a better understanding of what Alexandrian Christology stood for by creating a controversy that helped draw attention to the Christology. Perhaps without the controversy created, few people could have known of the doctrine that Alexandria Christology advocated for as far as how Christ was perceived22. Bibliography Christology. proposed Solutions http://fromdeathtolife.org/chistory/christ1b.html (Accessed 22 Nov. 2012). Dronsfield, W.R. Apollinarianism: The Denial of Christ's Human Spirit. 2007. http://www.biblecentre.org/topics/wrd_apollonarianism.htm (Accessed 22 Nov. 2012). Grenz, Stanley, J. Theology for the Community of God. Oxford: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 2000. Haile, Tim. Review of Ronny Milliner's Article on "Neo-Apollinarianism." 2001. http://www.biblebanner.com/ga_art/deity/neoapoll.htm (Accessed 22 Nov. 2012). Moreland, Jorter, P. & Craig, William, L. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. London: InterVarsity Press. 2003. Raven, Charles, E. Apollinarianism: An Essay on the Christology of the Early Church. New York: NY: Wipf & Stock Pub. 2004. Sollier, J. F. Apollinarianism. http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Apollinarianism (Accessed 22 Nov. 2012). Zachhuber, Johannes. What caused doctrinal controversies in the Early Church? The Case of the fourth century. Read More