Theological Term of the Week: Apollinarius

Apollinarius (or Apollinaris)
“[A]n Alexandrian thinker, a friend of Athanasius and a strong opponent of Arianism,” who “got in trouble for teaching quite openly that Christ did not have a human mind or spirit.”1 He lived from 300 until 390, and became bishop of Laodicea in 361.

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. H. Needham, page 272: 

Apollinarius believed that the human mind was the source of all human weakness and sin. He therefore felt that Christ’s sinless perfection required Him not to have a human mind. The divine and infinite mind of the Son or Logos, Apollinarius taught, took the place of a human mind in Christ: He was a divine mind in a human body. This absence of a human mind preserved Christ from the possibility of sin. Apollinarius also thought that is Christ had a human as well as a divine mind, He would split apart into two separate persons, a human Son of Man and a Divine Son of God. So again, to avoid this disastrous conclusion, Apollinarius denied that Christ had a human mind. 

Learn more:

1. Philip Schaff: Apollinaris of Laodicea
2. 5 Minutes in Church History: An Eight-Syllable Heresy
3. Ligonier Ministries: The Apollinarian Heresy
4. Theology in the Middle: Apollinaris and Apollinarianism, Part 1 and Apollinaris and Apollinarianism, Part 2

Related terms:

• Ambrose of Milan
• Athanasius
• Augustine of Hippo
• Basil of Caesarea
• Cappadocian fathers
• Gregory of Nanzianzus
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Hilary of Poitiers
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Monica
• Origen
• Pelagius
• Sabellius
• Tertullian

Filed under Christian History

1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.

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Sunday Hymn: Lo! He Comes, With Clouds Descending

Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
God appears on earth to reign.

Ev’ry eye shall now behold him,
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold him,
Pierced, and nailed him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

Ev’ry island, sea, and mountain,
Heav’n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate him must, confounded,
Hear the trump proclaim the day;
Come to judgment! Come to judgment!
Come to judgment, come away!

Now Redemption, long expected,
See in solemn pomp appear!
All his saints, by man rejected,
Now shall meet him in the air:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
See the day of God appear!

Yea, Amen! let all adore thee,
High on thine eternal throne;
Saviour, take the pow’r and glory,
Claim the kingdom for thine own:
O come quickly, O come quickly:
Alleluia! come, Lord, come.

—John Cen­nick

Other hymns of worship songs for this Sunday:

• The Old Rugged Cross at The Happy Wonderer 

Theological Term of the Week: Pelagius

Pelagius
A British monk who came to Rome in about 383. “His ardent zeal for holy living was wedded to a rather unorthodox theology.”1  He was active from 383 until 417.

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. H. Needham, page 251: 

Although [Pelagius’s] doctrine of God was Catholic enough (he believed in the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity), his beliefs about human nature sparked off a storm of controversy which ended with his condemnation for heresy. Pelagius held that all human beings were born into the world as sinless as Adam was before he fell; the apostasy of Adam had not corrupted humanity’s nature, but had merely set a fatally bad example, which most of Adam’s sons and daughters had freely followed. However, there were some people (according to Pelagius) who had managed to remain sinless throughout their lives by a proper use of their free-will, e.g. some Old Testament saints like Daniel. In fact, anyone could become sinlessly perfect if only he tried hard enough. 

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: Who was Pelagius?
2. 5 Minutes in Church History: Who Was Pelagious?
3. Crossway: 10 Things You Should Know about Pelagius and Pelagianism
4. Challies.com: The False Teachers: Pelagius

Related terms:

• Ambrose of Milan
• Athanasius
• Augustine of Hippo
• Basil of Caesarea
• Cappadocian fathers
• Gregory of Nanzianzus
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Hilary of Poitiers
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Monica
• Origen
• Sabellius
• Tertullian

Filed under Christian History

1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.