FIRST COUNCIL OF EPHESUS

Transcription

1 FIRST COUNCIL OF EPHESUS Spring 431 A. T. Jones, Ecclesiastical Empire, Chapter 9!1

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4 BACKGROUND Roman Emperor Theodosius ( ) made his empire Roman Catholic by decree and also by harsh repression, but divisions arose in the church, as well as the desire for supremacy. At his death the empire was divided into the east and the west, and his two sons became emperors of those divisions Arcadius in the east and Honorius in the west.!4

5 Under Arcadius, Chrysostom was made bishop of Constantinople, who challenged the vices of the clergy and who deposed thirteen bishops. He also incurred the anger of the monks by calling them a disgrace to their profession and reviled the empress (in the east) as another Jezebel. This empress called for the bishop of Alexandria, Theophilis, to call a council to denounce Chrysostom.!5

6 Also on the scene were Cyril, bishop of Alexandria. Jones calls him one of the very worst men of his time. He was naturally tyrannical and murderous, And Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, second only to Cyril in wickedness, according to Jones. These two took sides on whether Mary was the mother of Jesus (Nestorius) or the mother of God (Cyril). Fierce letters went back and forth; people were flogged and imprisoned.!6

7 The question to decide was whether Mary was the mother of the divinity of Christ and, therefore, the mother of God, or was she only the mother of the humanity of Christ? For a considerable time prior to this the question had been agitated.!7

8 Nestorius declared in a sermon that to maintain the peace and tranquility of the church, he was ready to grant the title of Mother of God to Mary, as long as nothing was meant other than the man born of her was united to the Divinity. But this was not acceptable to Cyril. Instead, he drew up propositions that Nestorius was to accept, and Nestorius drew up his own propositions. Mary was finally declared to be the mother of God, but things weren t really settled. A general council was called. At Ephesus.!8

9 AGREED UPON AT EPHESUS Nestorius was deposed and excommunicated. He was called a second Judas. He was banished to Petra in Arabia. His books were publicly burned. No Nestorians (also called Simonians) were to hold any meetings. If they did, the place of the meeting was to be confiscated, as were the estates of all who were in attendance.!9

10 Nestorius was not allowed to remain long at Petra. He was taken from there to a place in the desert between Egypt and Libya, and from there taken from place to place until he died of the hardships inflicted. Thus was the first Council of Ephesus, the third general council of the Catholic Church. During this council the Catholic doctrine that the Virgin Mary was the mother of God was established.!10

11 The events of this council created a major schism between the followers of the different versions of theology presented at the council, and the schism was only mended by difficult negotiations. Factions acquiesced and condemned Nestorius and accepted the decisions of Cyril s council. However, the rift would open again during the debates leading up to the Council of Chalcedon.!11

12 The controversy went on and did not stop until December 8, 1854, when Pope Pius IX established the supposed divinity of the Mary, by announcing the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.!12

13 And in 1994, the Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East marked the resolution of a dispute between those two churches that had existed since the Council of Ephesus. They expressed their common understanding of doctrine concerning the divinity and humanity of Christ, and recognized the legitimacy and rightness of their respective descriptions of Mary as, on the Assyrian side, the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour, and, on the Catholic side, as the Mother of God and also as the Mother of Christ.!13

14 Also passed by the council at Ephesus was the condemnation of any departure from the creed established by the First Council of Nicaea (325).!14

15 Nestorianism emphasized the distinction between Christ s human and divine natures.!15

16 Nestorius tried to answer a question that was yet unsolved: How can Jesus Christ, being part man, not be partially a sinner, since man is by definition a sinner? Nestorius believed that no union between the human and divine was possible. If such a union of human and divine occurred, then Christ could not truly be consubstantial [of the same substance] with God nor consubstantial with man because Jesus would grow, mature, suffer and die (which Nestorius argued God cannot do), and he would also possess the power of God that would separate him from being equal to humans.!16

17 Nestorius s opponents charged him with placing Christ s divinity and humanity into two persons existing in one body, which would deny the reality of the Incarnation. Eusebius, a layman who later became a bishop, was the first to accuse Nestorius of heresy, but Nestorius s most forceful opponent was Cyril of Alexandria. Cyril argued that Nestorianism split Jesus in half and denied that he was both human and divine.!17

18 In Christ were united the divine and the human the Creator and the creature. The nature of God, whose law had been transgressed, and the nature of Adam, the transgressor, meet in Jesus the Son of God, and the Son of Man. (Ms ) The working out of the great plan of salvation, as manifest in the history of this world, is not only to men but to angels a revelation of the Father. (Ms )!18

19 The apostle would call our attention from ourselves to the Author of our salvation. He presents before us His two natures, divine and human. Here is the description of the divine: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God [Phil. 2:6]. He was the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person [Heb. 1:3]. Here is the human: He was made in the likeness of men [Phil. 2:7]; found in fashion as a man [Phil. 2:8]. He was in all things like unto us. Though He was God, He did not appear as God. He veiled the manifestations of Deity, which had commanded the homage and called for the admiration of the universe. He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead took the form of man. He laid aside His glory, and for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.... (Ms ; ellipsis in original)!19

20 As a member of the human family, Jesus was mortal; but as God, He was the Fountain of Life to the world.... But He voluntarily laid down His life, that He might give life and bring immortality to light. He must bear the sins of the world and endure the penalty that rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul. The whole treasure of heaven was poured out in one gift to save fallen men. The Saviour brought into His human nature all the life-giving energies that human beings may need and will receive. Wondrous union of man and God! (Ms )!20

21 The Son of God entered into the plan for man s salvation, knowing all the steps that He must descend in order to make expiation for the sins of the burdened, groaning world. What humility was this! It amazed the angels. Tongue can never describe it, the imagination cannot take it in the eternal Word consented to be made flesh; God became man. But He stepped still lower; the Man must humble Himself to bear insult, reproach, shameful accusations, and abuse. (Ms ; ellipsis in original)!21

22 It was not enough that Jesus should die in order to meet the demands of the broken law; it was needful for Him to die a shameful death. He says through the prophet, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. He stood as the substitute for man, who was under sentence as a traitor, a rebel. Hence Christ died as a malefactor, in the place of the traitors, with all their treasured sins upon His divine soul. He was numbered with the transgressors. All this He deemed of small account in view of the results that He was working out, in behalf not only of the inhabitants of this speck of a world, but of the whole universe every world that God had created.... All this humility of the Majesty of Heaven was for guilty, condemned man. He went lower and lower in His humiliation, until there was no lower depth that He could reach in order to lift man up from his moral degradation. (Ms ; ellipsis in original)!22

23 In all points He was tempted as we are, and because He successfully resisted temptation under every form, He gave men the perfect example, and through the ample provision Christ has made, we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust.!23

24 NEXT WEEK SECOND COUNCIL OF EPHESUS AD 449!24