Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 95:377 (Jan 1938)
Article: The Question of Christ: An Historical Study
Author: C. Douglas Honeyford

BSac 95:377 (Jan 38) p. 76

The Question of Christ: An Historical Study

C. Douglas Honeyford

“What think ye of Christ?” The problem of the Person of Christ has been a subject of consideration and controversy in every age of the Christian Church. Every generation has been faced with the question: “Who do men say that I am?” When Jesus asked His disciples this question their answers reflected several shades of opinion. “Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Popular opinion judged Him to be only a man. But Jesus was not satisfied with this estimate of Himself. His second interrogation was personal and pointed: “But who say ye that I am?” Peter’s inspired answer was a declaration of eternal truth: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Mankind is still divided over the question of Christ-some say He is man, but others claim He is God.

The question is still urgent. What is the correct answer? No problem of greater importance can demand the earnest attention of man’s mind. All other questions are subordinate. Philip Schaff, in his Introduction in The Person of Christ, writes: “The question of Christ is the question of Christianity, which is the manifestation of his life in the world; it is the queston of the Church, which rests upon him as the immovable rock; it is the question of history, which revolves around him as the sun of the moral universe; it is the question of every man who instinctively yearns after him as the object of his noblest and purest aspirations; it is the question of personal salvation, which can only be obtained in the blessed name of Jesus.” For nineteen centuries the Person of Christ has been the centre of discussion and debate by both His friends and foes. On the answer given depends an issue of paramount importance-Is Jesus Christ God?

I. Orthodoxy

For the first six centuries of the Christian era there was

BSac 95:377 (Jan 38) p. 77

waged within the Church a battle for belief. In this extended Christological controversy some of the greatest Christian thinkers laboured to formulate the truth concerning the Person of Jesus Christ. Exact definitions of terms were required. Many crucial problems had to be settled. Minds of great acumen and power were called upon to decide such questions as-In what sense was Jesus Christ God? Was His humanity real or only apparent? How were the divine and human natures united in one person? Was He a single or a dual personality? Great Church councils were convened to analyze these doctrinal problems and to register decisions. The champions of truth and error, like gladiators in an arena, wrestled in debate over these questions. As the outcome of this prolonged polemical struggle four doctrines were...