Nature of Jesus Christ

Arianism () is a Christological doctrine that rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity, teaching that Jesus was created by God and is therefore distinct from God. It is named after its proponent Arius (250 or 256 – 336 AD) and is regarded as heretical by most modern mainstream branches of Christianity. Arianism is held by a minority of modern denominations, although some of these groups espouse related doctrines such as Socinianism, and others avoid the term "Arian" because of its historically negative connotations. Modern denominations sometimes associated with the teaching include Jehov

Pope of Alexandria from 328 to 373 (296–373)

council of Christian bishops in Nicaea, 325

Arius (; ; 250 or 256 – 336) was a Cyrenaic presbyter and ascetic. He has been regarded as the founder of Arianism, which holds that Jesus Christ was not coeternal with God the Father, but was rather created directly by God the Father before anything else, as the true Firstborn. Arian theology and its doctrine regarding the nature of the Godhead showed a belief in radical subordinationism, a view notably disputed by 4th century figures such as Athanasius of Alexandria.

statement of belief adopted at the First Ecumenical Council in 325

Nestorius of Constantinople (; ; ) was an early Christian prelate who served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 11 July 431. He was a Christian theologian from the Catechetical School of Antioch, and several of his teachings in the fields of Christology and Mariology were seen as controversial and heretical, causing major disputes. In 431, he was condemned and deposed from his see by the Council of Ephesus, presided over by his archrival Cyril of Alexandria, but the counter-council led by John I of Antioch vindicated him and deposed Cyril in return. Nestorius refrained from

synod

thumb|'Spectrum' of Christology, with monophysitism at far right. Monophysitism ( ) or monophysism ( ; from Greek , "solitary" and , "nature") is a Christological doctrine that states that there was only one nature—the divine—in the person of Jesus Christ, who was the incarnated Word. It is rejected as heretical by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Reformed Christianity (Calvinist), and all mainstream Protestant denominations, which hold to the dyophysitism of the 451 Council of Chalcedon—as well by Oriental Orthodoxy, which holds to miaphysitism.

ecumenical council in Ephesus in June–July 431, convened by Emperor Theodosius II

Monothelitism, or monotheletism, is a theological doctrine in Christianity that was proposed in the 7th century, but was ultimately rejected by the sixth ecumenical council. It held Christ as having only one will and was thus contrary to dyothelitism, the Christological doctrine accepted by most Christian denominations, which holds Christ as having two wills (divine and human). Historically, monothelitism was closely related to monoenergism, a theological doctrine that holds Jesus Christ as having only one energy. Both doctrines were at the center of Christological disputes during the 7th cent

thumb | right | alt=Lamentation of Christ  | Lamentation of Christ  In the history of Christianity, docetism (from the dokeĩn "to seem", dókēsis "apparition, phantom") was the doctrine that the phenomenon of Jesus, his historical and bodily existence, and above all the human form of Jesus, was mere semblance without any true reality. Broadly, it is taken as the belief that Jesus only seemed to be human, and that his human form was an illusion.

Council of the Christian church held from held from 5 May to 2 June 553

Ebionites (Ancient Greek: Ἐβιωναῖοι, romanized: Ebiōnaîoi, derived from the Hebrew word , , meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') were an adoptionist Mosaic Law-observant Jewish-Christian movement that existed in and around Transjordan during the early centuries of the Common Era. Since original writings by Ebionites are scarce, fragmentary and contested, much of what is known or conjectured about them derives from the polemical reports by their proto-orthodox and later orthodox Christian opponents, the Church Fathers (Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius, and Epiphanius of Salamis), who generally portraye

in Christianity, the second person of the Trinity, begotten by God the Father, incarnated as Jesus Christ

Christian statement of belief focused on Trinitarian doctrine and Christology

thumb|upright=1.2|Francesco Albani's The Baptism of Christ, when Jesus became one with God according to adoptionism

Marcionism was an early Christian dualistic belief system originating with the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around 144. Marcion was an early Christian theologian, evangelist, and an important figure in early Christianity. He was the son of a bishop of Sinope in Pontus. About the middle of the 2nd century (140–155) he traveled to Rome, where he joined the Syrian gnostic Cerdo.

Arian bishop who baptized Constantine

Christian literary work of the 1st or 2nd century

The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, pandeistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the mundane. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world.

Apollinarism or Apollinarianism is a Christological position proposed by Apollinaris of Laodicea that argues that Jesus had not a human body and sensitive soul, but a divine mind and body, the Divine Logos taking the place of the latter. It was deemed heretical by the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and virtually died out within the following decades.

Monarchianism is a Christian doctrine that emphasizes God as one indivisible being, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism, which defines the Godhead as three co-eternal, consubstantial, co-immanent, and equally divine hypostases.

Dyophysitism (; from Greek δύο dyo, "two" and φύσις physis, "nature") is the Christological position that Jesus Christ is in two distinct, inseparable natures: divine and human. It is accepted by the majority of Christian denominations, including the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Church of the East, Anglicanism, Methodism, Reformed Christianity and Lutheranism. It is rejected by the Oriental Orthodox churches, who hold to Miaphysitism—that Jesus Christ is of two natures united into one composite nature—while rejecting Monophysitism as heresy along with other extant denominations.

shared existence of spiritual or corporal entities

Miaphysitism () is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one nature or physis (). It is the position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It differs from the dyophysitism of the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of the East and major Protestant denominations, which holds that Jesus is one person with two natures (divine and human) as defined by the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

thumb|right|230px|Fausto Sozzini (1539–1604), the theologian namesake of Socinianism

Homoousion ( ; , from , , "same" and , , "being" or "essence") is a Christian theological term, most notably used in the Nicene Creed for describing Jesus (God the Son) as "same in being" or "same in essence" with God the Father (). The same term is also applied to the Holy Spirit in order to designate him as being "same in essence" with the Father and the Son. Those notions became cornerstones of theology in Nicene Christianity, and also represent one of the most important theological concepts within the Trinitarian doctrinal understanding of God.

Patriarch of Antioch

In Christian theology, Sabellianism is the belief that there is only one Person ('hypostasis' in the Greek language of the fourth century Arian Controversy) in the Godhead. For example, Hanson defines Sabellianism as the "refusal to acknowledge the distinct existence of the Persons" and "Eustathius was condemned for Sabellianism. His insistence that there is only one distinct reality (hypostasis) in the Godhead, and his confusion about distinguishing Father, Son and Holy Spirit laid him open to such a charge." Condemned as heresy, Sabellianism has been rejected by the majority of Christian chu

in Christianity, the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis

Christian demoninations that accept the Fourth Ecumenical Council

Christian statement of faith, dividing some dissenting Eastern churches (Oriental Orthodoxy) from Roman Catholicism (and Protestantism) and Eastern Orthodoxy

thumb|The "Heavenly Trinity" joined to the "Holy Family|Earthly Trinity" through the Incarnation of the Son – [[The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities by Murillo ()]] Subordinationism is a Trinitarian doctrine wherein the Son (and sometimes also the Holy Spirit) is subordinate to the Father, not only in submission and role, but with actual ontological subordination to varying degrees. It posits a hierarchical ranking of the persons of the Social Trinity, implying ontological subordination of the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was condemned as heretical in the Second Council of Constant

In 4th-century Christianity, the Anomoeans , also known as Heterousians , Aetians , or Eunomians , were a sect that held to an extreme form of Arianism, claiming that Jesus was neither of the same nature (homoousian) as God the Father nor even a similar nature to God the Father (homoiousian)—the latter being maintained by the semi-Arians.

In Christian theology, kenosis () is the "self-emptying" of Jesus. The word () is used in the Epistle to the Philippians: " made himself nothing" (NIV), or "[he] emptied himself" (NRSV) (Philippians 2:7), using the verb form (), meaning "to empty".

founder of an Arian Christian movement

existence of Christ before his incarnation as Jesus

category of denominations and believers within Pentecostalism which adhere to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness

4th-century bishop of Cagliari, Sardinia

The belief in One Divine Being manifesting in Three Forms.

Novatianism or Novationism was an early Christian sect devoted to the theologian Novatian () that held a strict view that refused readmission to communion of lapsi (those baptized Christians who had denied their faith or performed the formalities of a ritual sacrifice to the pagan gods under the pressures of the persecution sanctioned by Emperor Decius in AD 250). The Church of Rome declared the Novatianists heretical following the letters of Saint Cyprian of Carthage and Ambrose wrote against them. Novatianism survived until the 8th century.

The Aphthartodocetae (Greek , from ἄφθαρτος, aphthartos, "incorruptible" and δοκεῖν, dokein, "to seem"), also called Julianists or Phantasiasts by their opponents, were members of a 6th-century Non-Chalcedonian sect. Their leader, Julian of Halicarnassus, taught that Christ's body was always incorruptible and only appeared to corrupt and exhibit blameless passions. This was in disagreement with another Non-Chalcedonian leader, Severus of Antioch, who insisted that Christ's body was passible, truly manifested blameless passions, was corruptible, and only became incorruptible following the resur

The Acacians (), or perhaps better described as the Homoians (from gr. hómoios) or Homoeans (), were a non-Nicene branch of Christianity that dominated the church during much of the fourth-century Arian Controversy. They declared that the Son was similar to God the Father, without reference to substance (essence). Homoians played a major role in the Christianization of the Goths in the Danubian provinces of the Roman Empire.

thumbnail|Gothic triskele window element In Christian theology, perichoresis (from ) is the relationship of the three persons of the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to one another. The term was first used theologically by the Church Fathers. As a noun, the word first appears in the writings of Maximus Confessor (d. 662), but the related verb perichoreo is found earlier in the work of Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 389/90). Gregory used the word to describe the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ, as did John of Damascus (d. 749), who also extended it to the "interpe

Ousia (; ) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle, as a primary designation for philosophical concepts of essence or substance. It is analogous to concepts of being and the ontological in contemporary philosophy. In Christian theology, the concept of (divine essence) is one of the most important doctrinal concepts, central to the development of trinitarian doctrine.

group of ancient Churches within Eastern Christianity, recognizing decrees and professing the dogmas of only either the first two, or the first three Ecumenical Councils

In Christian theology, patripassianism (as it is referred to in the Western church) is a version of Sabellianism in the Eastern church and a form of modalism (modalistic monarchianism or modal monarchism). Modalism is the belief that God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three modes or emanations of one monadic God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons within the Godhead; it holds that there are no real or substantial differences among the three, so the identity of the Spirit or the Son is that of the Father.

Monoenergism () was a notion in early medieval Christian theology, representing the belief that Christ had only one "energy" (energeia). The teaching of one energy was propagated during the first half of the seventh century by Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople. Opposition to dyoenergism, its counterpart, would persist until Dyoenergism was espoused as Orthodoxy at the Sixth Ecumenical Council and monoenergism was rejected as heresy.

medieval triangular diagram of the Christian Trinity; summarizes the first half of the Athanasian Creed

Dyothelitism or dithelitism (from Greek δυοθελητισμός "doctrine of two wills") is the Christological doctrine that teaches the existence of two wills (divine and human) in the person of Jesus Christ. Specifically, dyothelitism correlates the distinctiveness of two wills with the existence of two specific natures (divine and human) in the person of Jesus Christ, in a dyophysite context.

members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland

Consubstantiality, a term derived from , denotes identity of substance or essence in spite of difference in aspect.

Theopaschism is the belief that a god can suffer. Owing to controversies about the passion of Jesus and his divinity, this doctrine was a subject of ecumenical councils which affirmed the theopaschite formula.

In church history, the term '''' (from , , singular from , , and , ) has been applied to several sects that supposedly had no leader. E. Cobham Brewer wrote, in Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, that acephalites, "properly means men without a head." Jean Cooper wrote, in Dictionary of Christianity'', that it characterizes "various schismatical Christian bodies". Among them were Nestorians who rejected the Council of Ephesus’ condemnation of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, which deposed Nestorius and declared him a heretic.

nontrinitarian statement of Christian faith from the 16th century

islamic view of the Trinity

Semi-Arianism was a position regarding the relationship between God the Father and the Son of God, adopted by some 4th-century Christians. Though the doctrine modified the teachings of Arianism, it still rejected the doctrine that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are coeternal and of the same substance, or consubstantial, and was therefore considered heretical by many contemporary Christians.

right|thumb|The Eutychianist view of Christ's nature

Prosopon is a theological term used in Christian theology as designation for the concept of a divine person. The term has a particular significance in Christian triadology (study of the Trinity), and also in Christology.