The Doctrine of the Person of Christ in the Early ChurchThe Eastern and Western Apologists
The church in the era of the Apologists (150-300 A.D.) responded to attacks on orthodox Christological doctrine by heathen philosophers such as Celsus (ca. 178). Thus the church began to articulate the doctrine of Christ, particularly his simultaneous true humanity and true deity. The eastern apologists approached theology through a heavy veil of Greek philosophy, particularly Platonism. The foremost eastern apologists are Clement of Alexandria and Origen of Alexandria. Irenaeus of Lyons and Tertullian are the most significant among the western apologists. Without the hindrance of Greek philophy, the western church was able to make more strides in explaining the dual nature of Christ.
Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. 130-200 A.D.) vigorously opposed the Gnostics and docetists in his writings, emphasizing the unity of Christ in the flesh. Of Christ’s nature, he writes, “the invisible becoming visible, the incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassible becoming capable of suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all things in himself…the Word of God is supreme…taking to himself the preeminence, as well as constituting himself head of the church, he might draw all thngs to himself at the proper time.” Because of his stress on the true humanity of Christ in opposing the Gnostics, Irenaeus is often incorrectly accused of Apollinarianism.
Tertullian of Carthage (ca. 155-240/60 A.D.) approached the Christological question with a background of firm Trinitarianism. In his work Against Praxeas, he argues, “Flesh does not become spirit nor spirit flesh. Evidently they can be in one. Of these Jesus is composed, of flesh as man and of spirit as God…” Tertullian argued for two natures in Christ, while stressing that He was only one person, providing a solid foundation for future theologians to expound upon.
Clement of Alexandria’s (ca. 150-211/16 A.D.) approach to the Scriptures led him to equate the Platonic definition of the Logos with the soul of the man Jesus Christ. Thus Christ’s humanity was deprecated and obscured even though Clement affirmed the human nature was present. Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185-254 A.D.) also approached the incarnation through the lens of Platonic thought, which led him to erroneously conclude that the human soul of Jesus became fully divine. These Eastern theologians did not make significant strides in Christology due to their Platonic interpretation of the Logos.
| . | Irenaeus, Against Heresies III, quoted in Ibid., 10.4.
| | . | Ibid., 10.4. | | . | Ibid., 10.4. | | . | Ibid., 10.5. | | . | Ibid., 10.6. |
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