After the church had agreed that Jesus Christ is fully God, they continued to struggle with how his humanity and deity could coexist.  Some views such as Arianism and Apollinarianism denied either Christ’s full deity or his full humanity, while other views such as Nestorianism and Eutycianism affirm both natures, but stand at opposite extremes of how they relate.

Nestorius was Patriarch of Constantinople in 428.  During his time, the term Theotokos was used to describe Mary as the bearer of God.  The term was meant to preserve Christ’s humanity by emphasizing that he was born of a woman instead of miraculously appearing.  But Nestorius thought the term Christotokos better suited the situation, because he thought it was better to speak of Christ’s birth rather than God’s birth.

He had a good point, but because most who rejected Theotokos were heretics, he came under suspicision.  He also rejected the term “hypostatic union” thinking it reduced both Christ’s divinity and humanity.  Cyril of Alexandria then accused Nestorius of rejecting Christ’s union and claimed that Nestorius thought the Christ was two separate persons, one divine and one human.

Nestorius was condemned in 430 and later banished to Egypt where he died[foot id="1"].  Although Nestorius’ story is unfortunate, it did cause the Council of Chalcedon (451 C.E.) to more clearly articulate their understanding of the Son of God’s two natures and one person.