by carlos@thehumanjesus.org
In the summer of 431 yet another church council was convened by yet another Roman Emperor, Theodosius the 2nd, aka the Younger. The purpose for this latest meeting (by this time there had been more than 200 church councils) was twofold.
Early in the 2nd century Ignatius declared “our God, Jesus the Christ was conceived in the womb by Mary…”
In the 3rd century Malchion, a pastor in modern-day Turkey, wrote that God "was in the womb..."
And the French bishop Hilary said that Luke 1:35 taught how “the One Only-begotten God…entered the Virgin's womb.”
Never mind that some of these early so-called Church Fathers criticized other self-professed Christians at the time for teaching what they deemed heretical views.
For example, Irenaeus described some who believed “Christ passed through Mary just as water flows through a tube.”
Still others taught that the Son “underwent a transformation and in the shape of a serpent entered into a womb…”
Now it’s well known that most modern-day Protestants, like Bishop Nestorius, reject the title of Mary as "the mother of God." I say most because Anglicans and Lutherans venerate Mary as the Theotokos! And many Protestants subscribe to the view espoused by the late Christian apologist Dave Hunt who, on one of his the Berean Call radio programs put it this way:
In the summer of 431 yet another church council was convened by yet another Roman Emperor, Theodosius the 2nd, aka the Younger. The purpose for this latest meeting (by this time there had been more than 200 church councils) was twofold.
- To declare the primacy of the Nicene-Chalcedonian creed of 381AD;
- And to condemn the teachings of the bishop of Constantinople, Nestorius, who had rejected the Theotokos title for Mary.
Early in the 2nd century Ignatius declared “our God, Jesus the Christ was conceived in the womb by Mary…”
In the 3rd century Malchion, a pastor in modern-day Turkey, wrote that God "was in the womb..."
And the French bishop Hilary said that Luke 1:35 taught how “the One Only-begotten God…entered the Virgin's womb.”
Never mind that some of these early so-called Church Fathers criticized other self-professed Christians at the time for teaching what they deemed heretical views.
For example, Irenaeus described some who believed “Christ passed through Mary just as water flows through a tube.”
Still others taught that the Son “underwent a transformation and in the shape of a serpent entered into a womb…”
Now it’s well known that most modern-day Protestants, like Bishop Nestorius, reject the title of Mary as "the mother of God." I say most because Anglicans and Lutherans venerate Mary as the Theotokos! And many Protestants subscribe to the view espoused by the late Christian apologist Dave Hunt who, on one of his the Berean Call radio programs put it this way: