Bite-Sized: #MindBlown

It took a while to develop the sophisticated theological claims that we take for granted today. One of the most central and also most complicated ones is the affirmation that Jesus Christ is both fully man and fully God. All of us Christians affirm this fact, but have we ever asked why? Or, perhaps even deeper, how?

In the fifth century, this was the main Christological conflict. To somewhat simplify the first 500 years of Christian theological progression, I'll explain it this way. From the New Testament onward, certain facts about the nature of Christ had to be asserted (always based on the testimony of Holy Scripture) to avoid descent into false teaching. It began with a positive affirmation of the divinity of Christ. But that affirmation had to be tempered by an equally positive affirmation of the humanity of Christ. Those two positive affirmations had to be qualified by the fact that his divinity and humanity are, in some way, different, because we have the biblical language of the Word being "made flesh" and taking on a body. But even though the humanity and divinity are different, we still worship and believe in one unified Christ. Do you begin to see the immense amount of work the early church Fathers had to do to reel people in?

The unity of Christ was the main focus of Cyril of Alexandria's work. Some people of his day, most notably Nestorius, made claims about Christ that suggested that there were "two of them", the divine Word of God and some man that the Word decided to "conjoin" himself too. Coming to this conclusion makes sense in a way. Divinity is a pretty big thing. One might say it's an all-consuming thing. If Jesus is truly divine, whatever humanity he has, true or not, must be considered like a drop in the ocean of his divinity...right? I mean, Jesus can't be both completely God and completely human...right?

Wrong. And this is where Cyril gets awesome. He describes Jesus as the burning bush. I'm not even going to add commentary to this one. This interpretation itself is meditation-worthy:

"It was not impossible to God, in his loving-kindness, to make himself capable of bearing the limitations of the manhood. And he foretold this to us in enigmas when he initiated Moses, depicting the manner of the incarnation in types. For he came down in the form of fire onto the bush in the desert, and the fire played upon the shrub but did not consume it. When he saw this, Moses was amazed. Why was there no compatibility here between the wood and the fire? How did this inflammable substance endure the assaults of the flame? Well, as I have already said, this event was a type of a mystery, of how the divine nature of the Word supported the limitations of the manhood; because he chose to. Absolutely nothing is impossible to him (Mk 10:27)." (Cyril of Alexandria, On The Unity of Christ)

Why should you care? Because Christ is "the firstborn among many brothers [and sisters]". Guess who those brothers and sisters are? You. That same fire wants you. And you can shine with His glory. As a matter of fact, that's His will for you. Submit to it. 

Haha, what am I doing, referring to the Creator in the Universe like some kind of irresistible, immense force...He's an irresistibly immense Person. He loves you and He wants you to love Him so that He can be glorified in you.