Christology is a Systematic Theology category referring to the study of Jesus Christ: his personhood, attributes, nature, and membership in the godhead. It answers the questions regarding who Christ is and what we know and should believe about him as found in the whole of Scripture. This includes biblical material that speaks of Christ before his incarnation.
His Pre-existence
I believe that Christ was pre-existent with the Father before his incarnation. He is from ancient days (Mic 5:2), is called Mighty God and Everlasting Father to equate him with God (Isa 9:6) without it being an offense or an advantage to exploit (Phi 2:6), and he invoked the holy name of God when speaking of his own origin (Joh 8:58), and in his confession that he was with the Father before his earthly appearance (Joh 6:46).
Views such as Arianism reject that Jesus could be fully God because they deem that to be a divided view of God. Christ was then a fiat of creation, according to this view. My expressed belief is that Christ was in the beginning with God and that all things were made through him, which shows him to be the creator not something created.
His Deity
I believe in the full deity of Christ as the eternal and only begotten (Psa 2:7, Heb 1:5) Son of the living God (Joh 5:18); who was self-conscious of his divinity (Mat 13:41, Mar 2:27-28, Joh 10:31), and was proclaimed to be God through witnesses (Joh 1:1, Rom 10:13, Luk 2:11) and through demonstration of his power (Joh 10:38, Mat 11:5) and authority (Mar 2:27-28) as the visible image of our invisible God (Col 1:15) with all divine attributes.
My belief is in the full deity of Jesus Christ unlike Ebionism, which believes that the spirit of Christ descended on Jesus and did not reside in him. This view holds that the spirit of Christ left Jesus near the end of his life. My expression rejects this view.
His Humanity
I believe in the full humanity of Jesus, his complete human experience including emotions, and his voluntary weakness and limitation (Heb 4:15). I believe that he was fully tempted as we are; yet, without sin (2Co 5:21). I believe in his death on the cross (Phi 2:8) and his descent into Hades (Eze 18:20, Rom 6:23, 1Jo 4:10) as a substitutionary atonement for mankind’s sin (Heb 2:17); in his bodily resurrection (1Co 15:6); in his ascension into heaven (Mar 16:19); and his future, personal, visible, and premillennial return (Joh 14:3).
My view incorporates both a Christology from below and a Christology from above. What can be known about Christ comes from historical information in the Scriptures as well as the Church’s teaching about Christ, which is a sort of insider’s view because one sees Christ more fully as a believer. Due to his sinless nature, the Catholic Church believes Mary also was then sinless.[1] My view expresses my belief that Mary is uninvolved and was a vessel used by God, not being sinless herself.
His Virgin Birth
I believe in the virgin birth of Christ (Isa 7:14, Mat 1:18, 23), which demonstrates that salvation comes from God alone; that the divine and the human had been united; and that enabled Christ to come in the flesh without the inherited sin of humanity (Gal 4:4-5).
Views that are more liberal do not adhere to a virgin birth and do not believe it to be necessary for Christ’s deity. Raymond E. Brown views the infancy narratives concerning the virgin birth to be lacking in witness since Joseph was likely dead by the time of Jesus’ public ministry.[2] My statement of belief reflects my trust in the Scriptural account of the infancy narratives and support in the Old Testament. Since I also adhere to a Christology from above, the historical witness of the Church in the confession of Irenaeus and Tertullian are significant supports of an early doctrine.
His Atonement for Sin
I believe that Jesus fulfilled God’s ideal of the offices of prophet (Mat 13:57), priest (Heb 4:14), and king (Mat 19:28) as a representative for humanity. Jesus was subordinate to the Father; yet, equal in substance. Living a fully human life without sin and his full deity allowed Christ to provide atonement for humanity as death could not hold him (Act 2:24), and his unnecessary death became an offering to satisfy the offense of humanity (Joh 3:17).
This position rejects views such as that of Faustus Socinus that Christ’s death was not in payment of a penalty because God can simply forgive.[3] It also rejects the idea that this means an inner conflict within God for punishing his son who is an expression of himself such as the views of Albrecht Ritschl demonstrate.[4] My belief reflects the total depravity of humanity being unable to fulfill its original role and who was in need of a representative to satisfy its role and pay the penalty that was incurred, which could not be justly removed without the propitiation of Christ.
[1] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 531.
[2] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1998), 762.
[3] Ibid., 832.
[4] Ibid., 835.