Joseph: biological father of Jesus
The early Jewish Christians believed that Jesus’ biological father was Joseph and his mother was Mary. They believed that Jesus was adopted as a son at his baptism and that God chose him because he was without sin and utterly devoted to God’s will.
Jesus became a son of God at his baptism
They believed Jesus to be the Messiah, Son of God who was anointed at his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Their Gospel does not mention a miraculous virgin birth as do the Gospels of the New Testament.
The “Heresy” of Adoptionism
The doctrine of Adoptionism was rejected at the famous Council of Nicaea and declared to be heresy. The members of the council created the unscriptural dogma of the Trinity in which they see Jesus as a Son of God who is eternally begotten of God.
What is Arianism?
Arius was a Christian theologian from Alexandria (ca. AD 250–336) who contended with the council of Nicaea about the Trinity and exactly what the actual nature of the Son of God was.
Christ was created by God the Father
Arius was declared a heretic in 325 at the first Council of Nicaea, but in 335 was later exonerated. However, in 381 he was again pronounced to be a heretic at the first Council of Constantinople after his death. He believed that Christ did not always exist but was created by God, thus being inferior to God the Father. The emperors of Rome were Arians or Semi-Arians — clearly exposing the creation of the doctrine of the Trinity as political hypocrisy.
Arius’ Christology was a mixture of adoptionism and logos theology. His basic notion was that the Son came into being through the will of the Father — the Son, therefore, had a beginning. Although the Son was before all eternity, he was NOT eternal, and Father and Son were NOT of the same essence. In Jesus, who suffered pain and wept, the logos became human.
Arius mixed the early Christian belief in Adoptionism and the Greek theology of the Logos. According to him, the Son had a beginning and came into being by the will of the Father. He existed with the Father before eternity, though he was not eternal as the Father and was not of the same essence as the Father. Jesus, the logos, became human having experienced life as a human.
Adoptionism and Arius
Arianism was the main component during the 4th century and survived into the 7th century. The teachings of Arius were that God is completely unique, infinite, unchangeable and was one and not a trinity, the same as the early Jewish Christians believed.
Jesus was a flesh and blood human
The Gospels show that the life of Jesus was not compatible with the existence of God in that he experienced all the changes that all men pass such as birth, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Jesus was not infinite considering the fact that he had a specific time of birth as do all humans.
Why Jesus could not be of the same substance as God
Because of this, Arius deemed that Jesus was a mere human created by God coming into existence from nothing and was completely incompatible with the attributes of God such as unchangeableness, infinity and uniqueness. He taught that Jesus couldn’t possibly be of the same substance as God especially since God is One and there is no other God beside him.
Next: Who Was Jesus Part 2 | Adoptionism Part 2