High Christology: Biblical Evidence, Theological Implications and Historical
Development
Introduction
High Christology is a concept in Christianity that explains the belief that Jesus was a
god or a deity. Low Christology focuses on the humanity of Jesus while high Christology
affirms that Jesus is divine, equal to God the father in every way and eternally. As for me, I
think that High Christology does have deep significance with reference to some central truths
of Christianity like the doctrine of the Trinity, incarnation and redemption. The doctrine
stated here is that Jesus is a man and Mary his mother, but he is also divine in nature and pre-
existent, participating in creation.
The study of the higher nature of Christ or high Christology has been an essential part
of Christian faith from early history of the church and has impacted the development and
discourses of the Christian doctrines and theology the world over. Thus, the divinity of Christ
is not just a doctrine or dogmatic formulation which the church upholds and believes in but
also an ingredient of worship and prayer. Thus, objecting and acknowledging that Jesus, the
Christ has become incarnate and is the Savior of the world emphasise the reality of the
mystery undertaken by the Lord and the work of salvation accomplished through the person
of Jesus.
Based on the Counter-point evidence, biblical support, development in historical
context, and theological framework, one could effectively respond to some of the objections
typically raised against High Christology. To this end, this paper will discuss these aspects
vis-a-vis high Christology to show the viability of the doctrine as a key tenet of the Christian
faith.
Historical Context of Christology
This work focuses on the challenges in the development of Christological thought in
the council of Chalcedon and many other earlier controversies and theological explanations
throughout Christianity. Common topics discussed in these councils we’re the nature and
identity of Jesus Christ as well as responding to various heresies that threatened the
established Christian tradition. One regularly notes that at the beginning of the formulation of
orthodox Christology in the early church it was exposed to a range of issues which set the
direction of its development.
Perhaps the most famous and heretical crisis was Arianism, which thrived in the
notion that Christ was not fully divine. Called Arius, a priest of Alexandria, his perspective
was that Jesus was a creature of God and less in divinity than the Father. Arius asserted that
the son did not exist before the era of his creation which meant that the son was not
everlasting and thus did not have divine attributes of divinity. This view was quite
troublesome to the traditional Lutheran beliefs about Christ and it fuelled a lot of controversy
within the church. Athanasius the bishop of Alexandria was the staunchest opponent of Arius
and Arian beliefs and believed in the co-equal and co-eternal nature of the Son and the Father.
To Nazarius, Athanasius employed the technique known as salvation: as only God could save
humanity, Christ had to be fully divine.
Another important event that was related to the development of the creed was the
Arian controversy that led to the summoning of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. It was
meant to be an ecumenical council that was aimed at giving solutions to theological issues
that have arisen from Arianism. The council was responsible for the creation of the Nicene
Creed through which it defined the divinity of Jesus. The creed professed that Jesus Christ
was “begotten, not made, of the same substance (homoousios) with the Father. “This
confession was pivotal in finally coming to urge that the Son was exactly similar to the
Father, hence disregarding the Arian teaching which stated that Christ was a creation of God.
Other important theological discussions were those that centred on the nature of
Christ with references to Nestorius and Eutyches respectively. This included Nestorianism,
which was supported by Nestorius, the Patriarch of the capital city of the Byzantine Empire,
Constantinople, aimed at emphasizing the duality of the nature of Christ, which included
being both human and divine. Nestorius insisted on the unity of the two natures but at the
same time insisted that these were two separate entities existing in one person and thus, the
doctrine led to a division within the person of Christ. However, there was an opposing
opinion regarding this issue, one provided by Cyril of Alexandria, who upheld the concept of
the synthesis of the hypostases. Another heresy was known as Eutychianism, which was
supported by Eutyches, an Egyptian monk who also supported the belief that Christ only had
a single composite nature – both the divine and human. Eutychianism and Nestorianism were
considered as heresies because they did not uphold the proper dignity of Union that of
Christ’s humanity and divinity.
Recognising the Council of Chalcedon that was convened in 451 AD was a very
significant benchmark in the matters of Christology. To do so, this council aimed at
answering the controversies that had grown for long and give a concrete decision regarding
Christ. The Chalcedonian Definition articulated the belief in Christ as one person in two
distinct but united natures: The incarnation called for a divine and human being and thus
Jesus was fully divine and fully human. This formulation was intended to maintain the
positives concerning the divinity and humanity of Christ while avoiding any mingling or the
splitting of the two. The Chalcedonian Definition stipulated that Jesus Christ is ‘to be
confessed in two natures, human and divine, concurring, unaltered, incommunicable, and
inseparable. ‘This has remained hallmark in defining the orthodox Christology to this effect.
Before proceeding with analysis, the key terms and concepts that were crucial for
forming the orthodox Christian understanding are discussed. One out of many such concepts
is the concept of Hypostatic Union which explains how Christ is both divine and has human
nature in one individual known as hypostasis. This doctrine posits into presumption that these
two natures co-exist without fusion, transformation or fractionation; thus, making Jesus
Christ God-incarnate and Man at the same time. Hypostatic Union is therefore important
because it preserves the Chalcedonian synthesis in our Lord Jesus Christ to be able to assist
as the mediator between God and people.
Central to the Orthodox understanding is the doctrine of Incarnation stating that the
second person from the Holy Trinity, the Son, became incarnated in Jesus Christ. First, it is
impossible to overlook the concept of the Incarnation as the basis of Christian theology, in
which God became man to perform the act of salvation. This doctrine commends the concept
of the assumption of man by God in the context of the highest manifestation of divine love as
the manner in which humans are redeemed.
Theotokos are the words used to refer to Mary the mother of Jesus and literally
translate to “the one who gives birth to God” or “Mother of God.” This term emphasizes a
belief that Jesus was fully divine from His birth and that He had a divine human nature from
His conception as affirmed in the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD to refute Nestorians who
labelled Mary as the mother of his human side only. Through recognizing Mary as
Theotokos, the church guaranteed that the born child presented both the divineness and
humaneness, supporting the tenants of the Hypostatic Union.
Before the analysis, the major terms and ideas that defined the formation of the
orthodox Christian definition of the main concepts are outlined. One of the many concepts
that attempt such explanations is the concept of Hypostatic Union which out lines how Christ
is God and at the same time possesses human nature in one being which is called hypostasis.
From this doctrine one derives the presumption that there were two natures of Christ; but not
fused, transformed or fractionated in any way; thus, Christ was both Divine and human. It is
beneficial for the same reason that, through Hypostatic Union, Chalcedonian synthesis is
saved in our Lord Jesus Christ to aid as the go-between for God and people.
In addition, founded on the Orthodox point of view, is the dogma of the Incarnation
which states that the Holy Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, became incarnate in Jesus
Christ. First, one cannot ignore the role played by the Dogma of Incarnation, which has
guided Christian soteriology by proposing that God took on the flesh of man with the purpose
of redeeming mankind. This doctrine supports the idea of ‘divine assumption’ in the sense of
how human beings are saved within the scope of the highest idea of love as the act of God.
Theotokos is an Orthodox title for Mary, the mother of Jesus and means Birth-Giver
of God in English, which highlights the Orthodox Christology that Jesus is fully divine from
His birth and He has a divine human nature from conception as declared in the Council of
Ephesus in 431 AD to refute Nestorian heretics who called Mary only the Mother of Jesus
‘_lower part_. By collectively declaring Mary as the Theotokos, the church was assured that
the born child exhibited both the divinity and humanity aspects as adhered to by the
Hypostatic Union.
If one wishes to study further the Christological formula in the context of the
development of Early Christian theology, Henry Bettenson’s “The Early Church Fathers” is a
useful source for readers as a text presenting the major early theologians on this subject.
These primary sources are highly useful in understanding the development of early
Christianity in as much as the Christian perspective on the divinity and humanity of Christ by
providing some of the credentials out of which later Christological definitions were fashioned
from.
Nonetheless the high Christology has not spared the articulation of scholars with a
common agreement on how it came to be developed. In his book, Christology in the Making,
James Dunn offers a view different from this theory that questions the conventional
development of Christology. By assessing Dunn’s argument, it is possible to identify the
development of the first kind of Christology, which was low Christology since Jesus was
initially regarded simply as a human being; therefore, the growth of high Christology is
considered as well. This approach does not ignore the issue of Christological controversies
and the pluralism of early Christian ideas.
The study “How Jesus Became God” by Bart Ehrman can also be viewed as the
material that presents critical insights in the topic of Christology. These texts indicate that the
divinity of Christ was not an emphasis right from the beginning, but they developed over the
years in line with Greco-Roman influence and philosophy, as Ehrman points out. This
understanding counterposes the customary account of the Christological evolution and
demands a critical approach to the historical process through which initial Christian faiths
have been formed.
In general, the literature concerning high Christology provides a variety of
approaches, debates, and insights that is wealth in expressing varied ideological views for
scholars today to enhance their comprehension of high Christology as an essential doctrine of
Christianity.
Biblical Evidence
In the New Testament there are many verses that we could gather which express high
Christology and support the claim that Jesus is fully God and fully man. The theories located
in these passages form core dogma of Christianity and address Jesus as the Divine being and
state his purpose on earth.
John 1:1-14 describes the Logos, which is translated as the Word, and he was with
God and was God and existed before all things. In this passage, the apologetic notes the
existence of Christ before all things, and refers to him as the Creator, the Son, whose
substance is from the Father. The statement of “He was in the world; the world was created
through him; but the world did not know him” is also a declaration pointing at the incarnation
of Christ and his full compliance with his divinity while being human.
In Colossians 1:15-20, read: ‘For in Him, the entire fullness of the Deity dwells
bodily, and you have been reconciled with God through this, and you became rightful heirs,
having been declared innocent through His death and being raised from the dead.’ Colossians
1:15: Christ is declared to be ‘the firstborn over all creation’ This passage emphasizes on the
supremacy and role of Christ in the creation process since This statement that ‘God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ means that he possessed divine nature and
authority over every creation.
Philippians 2:6-11 are the words of the Christ hymn, which is a confession as to who
Jesus is and what He has done – the divine son of God who humbled himself to become a
man and was subsequently exalted by God. The kenosis or the expressions of self-emergence
is key in this passage and explains how Jesus was willing to relinquish his divine rights to
instead take on the form of a man. Salvation of mankind by Jesus Christ, an obedient death
on the cross, and his exaltation to the highest place show the authority and lordship of Jesus.
In Hebrews 1:1-4 is Jesus is depicted as the fullest revelation of God, which puts him
above the prophets, angels and even Moses. He is called “the light of the world, the true light,
the light that is near, the light that is everlasting, and the light that is the mirror image of the
Father;” this shows that Jesus was considered divine with God and equal to Him. The passage
under analysis plays a crucial part in emphasizing the intermediary role of Jesus as well as
calling for obedience due to his divine power.
Additional passages such as Matthew 28:18-020 and Revelation 1:17-18 appendix to
the concept of high Christology, because of the stress on Jesus’ authority and his pre-
existence. The promise of the authority to forgive sins and retain the power of the keys is
bestowed to Peter and the apostles, including the following statement: “All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me,” which shows Jesus’ sovereignty. It can be seen
clearly in Revelation where Jesus is described as the Alpha and Omega, the living one who
reclines on the throne, the one who possesses the keys of death and Hades, which again refer
to the divine aspect of Jesus and his authority over life and death.
As a sum of these passages, it can be suggested that all of them demand high
Christology and prove Jesus’ divinity, eternity before the creation of the world and his pivotal
importance in the plan of salvation. Collectively, these biblical supports present Christ as
divine for the New Testament, which established his divinity, showing him to be God’s son
and the saviour of the world.
Historical Development
It is done because the early Church Fathers addressed the Christological questions
elaborating the ways of comprehending the nature and person of Jesus Christ. Pre-Apostolic
Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus also made significant
contribution towards development of Dogmatic Theology in apostolic age and formed the
basis for later formulated Christology.
Ignatius of Antioch who was born around 35AD and died between 68-108AD makes a
focusing on the humanity and divinity of Jesus in his Letters. He also referred to Jesus as
“God” and “God in the flesh” which is regarded as proof of his divinity. Ignatius insisted on
the unity with Christ as an essential virtue and the avoidance of those who leaned towards
heresies and denied Jesus’ divinity.
In this paper, Justin Martyr, a second-century apologist, aimed at proving the
rationality of the Christian perception to the pagan people. He postulated that He was nothing
but the incarnate word specifically the logos who took on human form for the purpose of
redeeming the world. Justin has a significant role in the development of Logos theology,
though it is criticized in later Christological debates.
Irenaeus, bishop in the late second century c. 130-202 AD, was an important Christian
theologian who defended the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation, the divinity of Jesus,
against Gnosticism. While speaking on grace he specifically noted the doctrine of the ‘one
God’ and the seamless progression between the Old and the New Testaments as well as Christ
the fulfiller of the plan of salvation. Irenaeus lived during a time of Gnosticism and critics of
faith and asserted the significance of the incarnation and Christ as the new Adam that would
lead humanity back to God.
With the emergence of Christianity, the theology about the nature and person of Christ
was gradually defined and formed in the first three centuries. They were already posed with
questions on the true nature of Christ, his oracle with God the Father and the significance of
incarnation for salvation.
The herewith enumerated Apostolic Fathers, Clement of Rome and Ignatius as well as
Polycarp focused on doctrines of Christ’s divinity and his Saviour’s role for sinful human
beings. Again, there emerged more of structural ways of explaining the nature of Christ as
Christianity expanded and faced other cultures and philosophies. As Christianity expanded
and came into contact with various cultures and philosophies, there started appearing more
structured theologies which described the nature of Christ.
The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD was meant to establish adherence to what became
the orthodox position on the divinity of Christ in response to the Arian heresy. The council
created the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, confirming Jesus Christ is of one substance as
the Father (homoousios) and dismissed Arianism as a heresy. The more recent Nicene Creed
has really become a key confession of the faith of the Christian church and the full deity of
Christ.
The Whole Christological debate received a boost when in the year 451 AD, the
council of Chalcedon was convened to define the nature of Christ. The council confirmed the
so-called ‘Chalcedonian Definition,’ which proclaimed: “Recognizing our Lord Jesus Christ,
of a rational and ineffable nature, in two natures without confusion, without change, without
division, and without separation.” It aimed at rejecting both Nestorianism and Eutychianism
as heresies while ascribing equal importance to Christ’s divinity and humanity.
These Church Fathers together with the decisions of the two council namely; that of
Nicaea and Chalcedon laid basic and significant foundation in the development of orthodox
Christology. Their compositions and perspectives on the theology and doctrine have remained
relevant in the modern world, attesting of the fact of their significant contributions to the
study of Christ’s divinity and humanity.
Arguments for the Divinity of Christ:
This article discusses one of the oldest pieces of evidence for Jesus’ divinity that is the
concept of the resurrection of Jesus. Claims of Jesus’ death and the concrete evidence of his
rising from the dead can be evidenced in the New Testament, especially the Gospels where
Jesus presents Himself as God. The raising from the dead was not just a case of revival but an
extra feature that clearly tuned Jesus as a victorious dominative power over sin and death
affirming his divinity. In addition, many signs that Jesus performed during his ministry,
including healing the sick, raising the dead, and overcoming the natural forces, are evidence
that establish him as the divine authority since such acts can only be accomplished by an
authority that is divine in nature. These signs relate to Jesus’s divinity revealing his authority
of being the Son of God while still affirming his humanity.
The issue of sin and its need to be redeemed or a way to remove sin’s effects on
mankind is a foundation of Christian’s theology known as atonement. Salvation by faith alone
is underpinned by the idea that Jesus died on the cross, and his death was the sacrificial once-
for-all offering which has provided a means for the human race to be saved. The logical and
theological necessity of atonement with Christ depends upon his divinity because it is only in
the divine nature that one could carry the burden of human sin and provide an access or a
bridge between the deity and man.
From the teachings of New Testament, it does not depict that Jesus died a WAP but
instead he died deliberately for the sins of the world in acts of divine love. If the divinity of
Christ, then, is omitted, the notion of atonement is stripped of its theological potency and
reduced to a works-based salvation.
Christ's Pre-existence and Incarnation:
This paper will explore high Christology as a background to the pre-existence of
Christ focusing on the belief that Jesus was divinely existent and played an active role in the
process of creation and salvation. This belief is supported by various biblical passages, such
as John 1:1-3, which gives insight of Jesus as the Word that was existing from the beginning
with God and in fact a key participant during creation. Thus, the main importance of Christ’s
pre-existence is that it reaffirmed his divinity, as well as the fact that he existed eternally as
‘the Son.’
The incarnation also supports the aspect of divine nature since the birth of Christ was
the incarnation of the eternal son of God in the person of Jesus the Christ. The Incarnation is
widely considered as one of the significant concepts of the Christianity, as it eliminates the
distance between God and man. One of the fundamental units of the Gospel is the doctrine of
the incarnate Christ – the union of the divine Logos with a man – which is beyond human
reason but is absolutely necessary for comprehending the extent of the divine love and the
way of salvation.
This paper will focus on the doctrine of the hypostatic union as one of the
foundational tenets of the Christian faith since it asserts that the substance of Jesus Christ was
a fusion of both divine and human substance. It postulates that Jesus is the divine and human
natures but perfectly combined in one person, thus he is 100% God and 100% man but
without mixing of the two. The hypostatic union poses paramount significance to the unity of
Christ’s person and depicts his human and divine aspects as inalienable, thus making him the
best intercessor between God and man.
Trinitarian Theology:
High Christology is closely related to Trinitarian theology, which affirms the doctrine
of the Trinity—the belief that God exists as three persons in one essence: God and his Earthly
creations: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In the TRINITY, Jesus plays
a prominent role as the second person in the God head being the SON of God, as old and
immortal as the FATHER and the HOLY SPIRIT. Though entities of three distinct persons,
the roles in relation to the Trinity are balanced, harmonized, and marked by love – hence the
closeness of the Godhead.
High Christology corresponds with the main principles of the doctrine of the Trinity
and reflects the key aspect, which is the divinity of Jesus Christ and his place in the divine
plan. Here the New Testament shows how Jesus was involved both in the creation, the
redemption and the salvation of the human beings as well as the whole world and the effort to
be in harmony with the father and in doing His work with the help of the Holy spirit. The
doctrine of the Trinity yields a sound teaching on the act and being of God, while the mystery
of incarnation points towards the essence and role of Christ in the process of redemption.
Counterarguments and Responses:
Christianity has had various forms of high Christology through the years and the
following objections have been raised. Nonetheless, in the early Church one of the most
significant objections arises from the Arian controversy, which rejected the orthodox
Christian understanding of the Son as fully divine. Arius and his followers proffered the
opinion that Jesus Christ emanated from a subordinate status to the Lord God Almighty and
was therefore a creature of God. This concept was rather unorthodox regarding the very
nature of Jesus being divine and equal to the Father, which resulted in consistent theological
disputes and the subsequent call for the Nicaea council.
One challenge is adoptionism, based on the assertion that Jesus cannot be divine by
essence although he became the Son of God at some significant time such as his baptism.
Adoptionism affected the contemplation of the eternal sonship of Christ and also questioned
the doctrine of pre-existence of Christ as God, which is the bedrock of Christianity.
Different responses having been advanced by scholars of the modern world which
presents Scriptural, historical and theological approaches to counter the objections against
high Christology. Likewise, some scholars assert that the New Testament contributes to the
development of Christology by portraying Jesus as divine because of referential data
concerning his pre-existence and divinity features as well as his role of being the only one
created from the Father. Some writers argue that to say that early Christianity did not
originate with an affirmation of the divinity of Jesus is to put too fine a point on it: the early
Church was unanimous in its acceptance of Christ’s divinity as stated in the Niceno-
Constantinopolitan Creed and other creeds of the period.
Implications for Contemporary Theology:
From a positive perspective, High Christology has significant consequences for
theology in the present day and for the life of faith. It affirms the Deity of Jesus Christ as the
son of God and the Saviour of the world, it Lays stress on the attributes of Jesus Christ as the
focal point for belief in the Gospel message. There is also High Christology and how it
enriches our perception and understanding of the concept of salvation and need for divinity of
Christ in the act of atonement and redemption. Also, high Christology in the influence of
worship and devotion, which is consistent with approaching and worshipping Jesus as the
divine being worthy of adoration due to God Almighty.
Theological Reflection:
What High Christology insists upon, is to Re-examine the meaning of the Lord Jesus
Christ’s Deity as a part of our theology and our salvation. It challenges us to think and act
theologically where God becomes incarnate in Christ and we begin to grasp the depth and
intimacy of Christ’s divinity. High Christology encourages Christians to stand with a
consideration of the profound act of God’s love towards humanity as manifested in Jesus and
the need to trust in and worship Him.
Conclusion:
High Christology is a key doctrine held by the Christian faith that supports the
divinity of Jesus the Christ. The following are some of the reasons that affirm the doctrine:
Biblical evidence, historical development, and theological arguments (Despite these
objections). The belief of the divinity of Christ is significant to part of Christianity since it
forms the basis for what is referred to as fundamental Christian doctrines such as the doctrine
of the Trinity, Incarnation as well as salvation. Salvation also has transformative effects of
great significance to current day Christianity in how High Christology frames the
understanding of the nature and attributes of God, the way of salvation and the act of
worship. As believers in Christ, high Christology remains one for which we ought to stand for
because it is a deeply rooted and essential doctrine of the Christian faith.
