page_title: Christology
section_title: Person of Christ
hierarchical_section_title: Christology / Definition and approaches / Person of Christ
caption_attribution_description: English: Christ Pantocrator - the painting in the niche of the wall of the Holy Trinity's monastery, Meteora, Greece Polski: Chrystus Pantokrator - malowidło w niszy na ścianie monastyru Świętej Trójcy w greckich Meteorach
context_page_description: In Christianity, Christology, translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions like whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of the Jewish people from foreign rulers or in the prophesied Kingdom of God, and in the salvation from what would otherwise be the consequences of sin.
  The earliest Christian writings gave several titles to Jesus, such as Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah, and Kyrios, which were all derived from the Hebrew scriptures. These terms centered around two opposing themes, namely "Jesus as a preexistent figure who becomes human and then returns to God", versus adoptionism - that Jesus was human who was "adopted" by God at his baptism, crucificion, or resurrection.
  From the second to the fifth centuries, the relation of what Christians there considered to be the human and divine nature of Christ was a major focus of debates in the early church and at the first seven ecumenical councils.
context_section_description: A basic christological teaching is that the person of Jesus Christ is both human and divine. The human and divine natures of Jesus Christ apparently (prosopic) form a duality, as they coexist within one person (hypostasis). There are no direct discussions in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human, and since the early days of Christianity, theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures, at times resulting in ecumenical councils, and schisms.
  Some historical christological doctrines gained broad support. We show them here with simplified summaries; see the linked articles for details.
  Monophysitism (monophysite controversy, 3rd-8th c.) After the union of the divine and the human in the historical incarnation, Jesus Christ had only a single nature
  Miaphysitism (Oriental Orthodox churches) In the person of Jesus Christ, divine nature and human nature are united in a compound nature ("physis")
  Dyophysitism (Chalcedonian Creed) Christ maintained two natures, one divine and one human, after the Incarnation
  Monarchianism (Adoptionism (2nd c. onwards) and Modalism) God as one, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity
  Influential Christologies which were broadly condemned as heretical are:
  Docetism (3rd-4th c.) claimed the human form of Jesus was mere semblance without any true reality
  Arianism (4th c.) viewed Jesus as primarily an ordinary mortal, albeit in contact with or infused by the Divine
  Nestorianism (5th c.) considered the two natures (human and divine) of Jesus Christ almost entirely distinct
  Various church councils, mainly in the 4th and 5th centuries, resolved most of these controversies, making the doctrine of the Trinity orthodox in nearly all branches of Christianity. Among them, only the Dyophysite doctrine was recognized as true and not heretical, belonging to the Christian orthodoxy and deposit of faith.
caption: Christ Pantocrator, Holy Trinity's monastery, Meteora, Greece
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