“Who is Jesus?”: The Basics of Christology

Christology is the root of Christian theology and its most distinctive area. All theological disputes have, whether they acknowledge it explicitly or not, some implications and assumptions embedded in their understanding of Christology.

This is because Christology draws together both anthropology and theology proper. That is to say, in pursuing Christology one must provide answers both for what and who God is, and for what it means to be human. Thus, in one area of study there are claims made on the grandest scale down to the most practical.

For instance, many of the more abstract areas of theology, such as Trinitarian theology, received their original impetus from disputes about Christ’s divinity, such as the Nestorian heresy. On the other hand, other heresies, such as the Albigensian, were rooted in an extreme and incorrect position on His humanity and with that the goodness of material Creation in general.

Moreover, an accurate Christology is necessary in order to have a proper personal relationship with Christ. After all, how can you call someone a friend (as Christ so generously called us) if you fatally misunderstand who and what He is?

It is thus paramount for any Christian to have a proper understanding of the basics of the discipline. The potential for extremely grave error lies in ambiguity and ignorance. Fortunately, two millennia of perennial controversies have borne fruit in a fire-forged set of doctrines set down by the Catholic Church through its councils and gathered in the Catechism.

This is the fundamental tenet of Christology in the Catholic magisterium: That Jesus Christ the Redeemer is fully human and fully divine, the two natures existing completely and simultaneously in one person:  “He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man” (CCC 464).

Why is it necessary that Christ be fully divine? Because the divine alone has the authority to forgive sins: “This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with Himself. At the same time, it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience” (CCC 614).

It is only through the mediation of one himself sinless and possessing the authority and essence of God that sins can be forgiven. To deny this is to imply that a mere human could atone for the sins of all mankind, which is absurd. Nobody can atone for even their own sins, much less billions of others. Thus, Christ must be divine.

But if divinity is the source of authority, what is the use of Christ’s humanity? Without it, Christ’s example could not be truly authentic and within reach by God’s grace: “[Jesus’s] love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example” (CCC 459).

If Jesus was not truly human, then what good could His coming ultimately do for humanity? If his very visceral suffering as prophesied in the Old Testament and portrayed in the gospels was merely an illusion, what hope of imitation could there be for those seeking redemption? He came not only to atone for humanity but to conform it to God. He must be truly human to be imitable with the help of grace, which bridges the gap between mankind and God.

Thus, Christ’s divinity is sourced from the authoritative nature of His sacrifice on the Cross. In His humanity is the hope of being conformed to Him, and through Him to the whole Trinity. Lose either of these poles, and you have lost not just Christian belief, but all grounds for faith, hope, and love, for their objects become ultimately unattainable. Christ himself is either of no avail or beyond reach if He has not both natures in full. A relationship with Him would be vain or impossible, and Christianity would be madness.

If any one area of Christian theology can be deemed most vital, it is Christology. Any Christian must possess clear knowledge of the well-founded doctrines, at the peril of lacking the very intelligibility and possibility of faith itself. Christianity simply cannot hold water with incorrect Christology. A slight error will always express itself when the razor of logic is put to use.