I recently heard a saying that sums up why I like writing about Christian heresies: “Modern-day heresies are nothing recent. They are old ones which have resurfaced.” In many cases and plenty of churches, old heresies are still alive today.
Of all of the well-known heresies, what’s Monophysitism? Where does it come from? Why does it sound funny to say? Today, we’ll go into the history of Monophysitism and the theology that debunks it.
What Does Monophysitism Say about Jesus’ Nature?
As most of us know (or should know), Christ was fully divine and fully human. If you could have questions on this, please see your local church leader. The church has held since its inception that Christ was fully divine and fully human. Yet some heresies claimed otherwise. One of those was Monophysitism, also generally known as Eutychianism.
Like Nestorianism and Apollinarianism, Monophysitism went too far in placing Christ’s divinity over his humanity. As J. Warner Wallace puts it:
“[Monophysitism] taught Jesus’ humanity was absorbed by His divinity. The heresy . . . [is] derived from the Greek word ‘mono’ (‘one’) and ‘physis’ (‘nature’). In essence, this heresy claimed Jesus only had one nature (something recent and different than the Divine or human nature that God and humans have, respectively). Instead, this heresy taught a 3rd unique nature was possessed by Jesus; a mix or mixture of human and the Divine.”
To understand Monophysitism in full, we must understand its origin.
Where Did Monophysitism Come From?
After Emperor Constantine the Great legalized Christianity in 313 AD, Christianity spread across Western Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. While this brought relief to many congregants and believers who had experienced persecution, it soon created recent difficulties for the early church fathers. Now that Christianity was a socially accepted religion—in truth, Rome’s official religion —it became easier to spread false ideas and to accomplish that for advantages like power and social position.
One of essentially the most notable heresies in these early days was Arianism, the assumption that Christ was not begotten of God the Father but more like a demigod. Later, heresies also described Jesus in some strange ways, normally attempting to pit his divinity against his humanity. Heresies like Apollinarianism placed Christ’s divinity over his humanity. Monophysitism tried to resolve the issue by changing the query: what if Jesus didn’t have a human or divine nature?
A monk named Eutyches developed this view. Like Apollinaris of Laodicea, who developed Apollinarianism, he wasn’t all the time a heretic. Not only was he a monk, but he was influenced by St. Cyril—a church leader highly regarded by Catholic, Orthodox, and high-church Protestant believers. Eutyches debated the Nestorians, a gaggle of heretics that claimed the Virgin Mary only gave birth to Christ’s humanity, thus separating his divinity. However, Eutyches went too far to the opposite extreme to fight this heresy. While he opposed the Nestorian heresy that separated Christ’s divinity and humanity, his teaching claimed that Christ had one nature wherein his divinity outdid his humanity.
His ideas began causing problems together with his peers, including Bishop Eusebius of Dorylaeum in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). The Patriarch of Constantinople, Flavian, summoned Eutyches in 448 AD. At this trial, Eutyches doubled right down to claim that his belief in Monophysitism was the religion that the church fathers declared on the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. He lost his position and was excommunicated from the church.
Why Is Monophysitism Considered a Heresy?
Eutyches is thought for having stated at his trial, “Two natures before, one after the incarnation.” This means Christ had two natures before his coming to earth and one when he got here to earth.
By saying that Christ had one nature after he was incarnated, Eutyches implied something else about Jesus’ nature on earth. He said Jesus’ incarnate nature was a mix of human and divine, however the divine side was greater. As many Monophysites put it, they believed Christ’s human nature was absorbed like a drop of honey into the ocean. There was a tiny drop of humanity, and plenty of surrounding divinity.
While Christ was greater than any man resulting from sinlessness, he was still fully man and fully divine. This was not only true for his body but additionally for his mind and his natures. To say his human side was dissolved into his divinity goes against this picture. Claiming Christ’s divinity in any sense is bigger than his humanity is to contradict the Nicene and Athanasius Creed of the Church, let alone Scripture itself. As Hope Bolinger explains:
“If we remove Jesus’ humanity, we cheapen his sacrifice on the cross. If Jesus doesn’t have an actual body, or if Jesus didn’t experience temptation in a human sense, then why should we care about his death and resurrection?”
How does this contradict Scripture, though? Where can we see Scripture and the Creeds claiming Christ has two balanced natures?
Why Is It Important that Jesus Had Two Natures?
Scripture doesn’t say that Christ had one nature after his incarnation. For those that are unfamiliar with the word incarnation in Christianity, G. Connor Salter says it well:
“The incarnation signifies that Jesus, who was God already as a part of the Trinity, became human and stepped into the world we all know…we would say that the Incarnation shouldn’t be just God appearing on earth as a human, it’s when God specifically got here to Earth as Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem. When that happened, something strange and wonderful occurred. God, all-knowing and infinite, appeared within the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) as a finite human being.”
Scripture affirms that Christ was fully divine and fully human from the primary time it mentions him—Gabriel chatting with Mary in Luke 1:26-45.
If we’re tempted to doubt how the Gospels portray Jesus, we want to keep in mind that these are greater than mere books. The gospels are historical accounts based on multiple interviews over time. We usually are not just quoting a book once we quote Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John; we’re quoting the witnesses of Christ. So, when Scripture emphasizes that Christ was fully God and fully Man, that features his body, mind, soul, and nature. The church has taught and upheld this since its inception at Pentecost.
How Can We Avoid Monophysitism Today?
First, we will consider that heresy begins once we attempt to fit our idea into the church as a substitute of starting by asking what Scripture, tradition, and reason say about Jesus. As Fr. John Crews of St. Matthew’s Church says:
“ . . . the orthodox position is to take what we all know, through the Church’s experience with and in Jesus and extrapolates from there to the Trinity. The heretical mistake is to take what we take into consideration God and take a look at to slot in what we learn about Jesus (or whatever a part of Scripture is in contention) in an effort to make it fit into our thoughts about God.”
Researching early church history and the early church fathers will help us avoid heresies. Knowing the definitions of heresies, though helpful, shouldn’t be enough. We must also understand what they mean and what the orthodox (i.e., historic and scriptural) Christian view is. The early church fathers settled heresy through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so we must pray for guidance when confronted with heresies.
Another is to analyze a denomination’s beliefs. Read their beliefs slowly and punctiliously and throughout the positive print. You could also be surprised what your eyes skip over while you’re not careful.
Lastly, keep in mind that when confronting heresies from others (whether or not they are within the church or offshoot groups like Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses), it’s best to have one foot planted in love and the opposite planted in fact. Love them and talk with those claiming heresy, but know your limits, and that truth should be stood for.
Photo Credit:©GettyImages/angel_nt
Trey Soto holds an M.A. in Communication Management from the University of Denver and B.A. in Communication Studies from Biola University. He is a author, communications expert, and social media managing wizard. You can see more of his work and get in touch with info on his Wix portfolio.
This article is an element of our Christian Terms catalog, exploring words and phrases of Christian theology and history. Here are a few of our hottest articles covering Christian terms to assist your journey of data and faith:
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