We are finally at a place where we can gain a clearer picture of the nature of Jesus as we in the orthodox churches have come to perceive it. The place I would like to begin is with a quote from Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 CE) as he wrote about The Word (or Logos). "Remaining what he (the Word) was, he assumed what he was not." I realize that his may seem very esoteric but it is actually a rather simple way of speaking about the Incarnation (which we will celebrate on Christmas day). So let's unpack it.
"Remaining what he (the Word) was" – the Word according to the Gospel of John was in the beginning with God and was in fact God. Thus the Word remained what he was (unchangeable and enteral) when he became incarnate. Thus the Word continued to be God in every way.
"He (the Word) assumed what he was not" – the Word then "assumed", or took upon himself, what he was originally not…true humanity. This means the Word took on our vulnerability, suffering and death. Thus the Word became human in every way.
These understandings (along with the understanding that God is one) helped to form the basis of the first great creed (creed is a statement of belief…from the Latin word "credo" which means "I believe") of the church, Nicaea. Soon after the church was legalized in 313CE by Emperor Constantine the disputes about the nature of Jesus came into the open. While this might not seem like such a big deal it became one when bishops on either side of the controversy tried to stop their church members from trading with church members on the other side of the controversy. Constantine would have none of this and so called the bishops together at Nicaea in 325 in order that they find common ground.
Nicaea was the first creed of the church to use non-Biblical language. While this was a cause of concern to some, most of the bishops believed such language was needed in order to clarify what the church ought to believe (and not believe) about the nature of Jesus.
The central theme of Nicaea was that in Jesus of Nazareth God had fully come into human history as a human being. This was made clear with statements such as:
- Jesus is made of the "same essence (reality) of the Father"
- Jesus is "God from God, Light from Light, True God of True God"
- Jesus was begotten not made (you and I are made) and thus is eternal with God
- Jesus was "incarnate, becoming human"
- Jesus "suffered"
The most famous phrase in the creed is "homoousion to patri" which affirmed that Jesus was the same reality as God. This replaced another similar phrase which said Jesus was only "like" God.
This creed was slowly but surely refined over the next 300 or so years. In fact the creed that we call the Nicene Creed is actually the creed edited in Constantinople in 381. Ultimately this creed was augmented by something called the Definition of Chalcedon in 451. Chalcedon insured that the church understood that Jesus:
- Was perfect in deity and in humanity
- Was actually God and actually human...with a rational (fully human) soul
- Had two natures (divine and human) which were not combined yet were not separated
In other words the creed and the definition try to help us understand the deep and profound mystery of God becoming en-fleshed in human history. Even though they are composed of mere human words they guide us into the belief that in Jesus of Nazareth we encounter the fullness of who God is and the fullness of what humans are supposed to be. This is the core of what it means to be a Christian; that we hold these two difficult ideas in tension and allow the Jesus they describe to guide our lives.
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