Some Basic Christology

cross 

Who is this person who:

forgives sins,
does miracles,
has power over death?

Answer of the Early Church: Only God can forgive sins.  Therefore:  Jesus is divine.  He is the "Son of God."

* See, for example, Mk 1, Jn 1:33-35, Jn 20:30-32, Rm 1:3-5


But who is this person who:

eats with his followers,
cries at the death of a friend,
died on a cross and was buried?

Answer of the Early Church: Jesus is human.  He is the "Son of Man." 

* See, for example, Mk 2:1-12, Mk 8:31, Mk 10:44-46.

    But if Jesus is divine, what is the relationship between Him and Yahweh, the one God of the Old Testament?  What, in other words, is the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, the "Son of God"?  What is the relationship, then, between Yahweh's divinity and the divinity of Jesus?

Answer of the Early Church: The Son is "one in Being" (homo-ousios) with the Father.

    If the Son is "one in Being" with the Father, does that mean they are just two "manifestations" or "projections" of one person?

Answer of the Early Church: No.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three Persons in one Being.

    If Jesus is the Son of God, and the Son of God is "one in Being" with the Father, does that mean Jesus isn't human?

Answer of the Early Church: No. Jesus is fully God and fully man.

    Does that mean Jesus is two people?  When we point at Him, should we say: "There they go."

Answer of the early Church: No.  He is two natures in one person.

    Thus, when we point at Jesus, we can say, "There He is!"

Who is He?  He is the Son of God incarnate – fully God and yet fully man.