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The God Who Is
Heresies Involving The Person of Christ
During the first three centuries after the founding of the Christian church, Christianity was plagued by heresies involving the person of Christ. "Whose Son is He?" "Is He really Divine, being God in flesh?"
During the second three centuries, Christianity was plagued with heresies involving the nature of Christ. "If Jesus is Divine, is He really a man?" "And, if He is both God and man, does He have a human will and a Divine will?"
Gnosticism
The first significant heresy to rise up in the early church was Gnosticism. F. W. Farrar in his book The Lives of The Fathers enumerates 13 different Gnostic sects. Basically, they taught that matter was evil; and so they came to the conclusion that if Christ is Divine, then He could not have had a body; and thus they denied His humanity. Others said, He had a body, and concluded He could not be Divine; and thus they denied His Deity. They concluded that He was one of a series of emanations from God, much like the rays of the sun, and thereby they denied His sovereignty.
Even today, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Mormons will acknowledge Jesus Christ to be "a god," but they do not worship Him as "the God." The Mormons describe Him as a son of God, and then teach, we, too, can become gods just like the man Jesus did. Like the Gnostics before them, they deny the Deity and the sovereignty of Christ.
The Deity and Humanity of Christ
Gnosticism was a serious heresy in the early church. Therefore, the apostle John exposed its error in his writings. In I John chapter 1, beginning at verse 1, we read, "That which was from the beginning..." John here argues the Deity of Christ on the basis of antiquity. Jesus is "from the beginning." If Jesus is "from the beginning," then He is before the beginning. He is therefore eternal; and if He is eternal, then He is Divine. He is "Immanuel," "God with us."
John continued, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life ..." Here, John declares that Jesus is not only Divine, but that the apostles had handled Him. Therefore, John declares He is man. Thus in the first verse of the first chapter in his First Epistle, John established the Deity and the humanity of Christ.
Still John continued. "(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." Note this well: fellowship involves the person of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. There can be no Christian fellowship except around the person of Christ, and everyone who denies the Deity of Christ has a man for a Saviour, and that will not do. Every man and woman who denies the Deity of Christ is outside the household of faith.
"All that glitters is not gold." It takes more than an education and ecclesiastical garb to make a preacher. If a minister is not truly born again, he is a blind leader of the blind. Consider how serious a thing it would be for us to try to teach others how to swim before we learn how to swim. Yet such a fraud would only be perpetrated upon men's bodies. But consider the seriousness of such fraud that affects men's souls; and not for time, but for eternity!
Arianism
The second great heresy to emerge in the early church was Arianism. Arianism denied that the Son of God is eternal, and therefore denied He is Divine. Yet, In Micah chapter 5, in verse 2, we read, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
The verse refers to the "Messiah" or "Christ," and when the priests were asked by Herod where the King of the Jews was to be born, they quoted this verse. It says that His "goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Only God is "from everlasting." Here the Lord Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God is declared to be Divine.
It has been argued that Christ was not known in the Old Testament as the "Son of God," but that He was known only as "The Word" of God. This is not true. When King Nebuchadnezzar caused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be cast into the fiery furnace, the king testified, "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God (Daniel 3:25). People in ancient times had a knowledge of the Son of God.
Consider again, Proverbs chapter 30, and verse 4. "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?" Who but God could do this? He who has done this is God. Only God is almighty and all wise. These are Divine attributes.
"What is his name, and what is his son's name ...?" The writer demands, "Tell me His incomprehensibility. Tell me His nature. And, while you are at it, tell me the name or nature of His son. The writer of Scripture here attributes the same sovereignty, omnipotence, and omniscience to the Son that belongs to the Father. The Jehovah's Witnesses deny that the Son of God is eternal. But, if the Father is eternal, then the Son must also be eternal, unless of course there can be a father where there is no son. In the next chapter we will deal with the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ, and how the Bible teaches Christ is the "Son" of God by what is called "eternal generation." There never was a time when He was not. "His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." There will never be a time when He is not.
But if Christ is the "only begotten Son" (John 3:16), when was He begotten? And, if He was begotten, then what is the nature of that begetting? We will consider these things in the next chapter.