JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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The Apollinarians denied the integrity of the human nature by saying that the eternal Son,
or Logos, supplied the place of human intelligence. Nestorius denied the unity of his person by
separating the two natures into two personalities. Eutyches, denied the essential integrity of both
natures by confusing them, that is, running them together, so as to make a third nature separate
and different from either the human or divine nature.
Gnosticism did not have a well knit, unified organization. They were too divided and too
varied to be brought together. Some remained within the existing churches, teaching their
doctrines, until they were expelled as heretics. Others formed themselves into separate
congregations. These congregations had special rites which resembled the mystery cults which
were widespread in the Roman Empire of that time.
Gnosticism strikes at the very root of Christianity. The Person of God—the Godhead, the
Trinity, the unity of the Old Testament and the New Testament as Holy Scripture, the personality
and free will of human beings, the existence of moral evil, salvation by grace through faith alone,
the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the redemption of Christ, His resurrection—the whole
significance of His Person and work—all this is denied. Such is the spirit of Gnosticism.
The Gnosticism addressed in the New Testament was an early form of heresy. The
intricately developed system of Gnosticism took place in the second and third centuries.
In addition to I John and Colossians there also seems to be allusions to early Gnosticism
in 1 Corinthians, 1 Timothy (6:20) and 2 Timothy, Titus and 2 Peter.
Most of the heresies in the early church revolved not around Christ's deity, but His
humanity. Most people believed that He was God, while some questioned whether He truly
became man. The apostle John wrote his first letter to refute arguments against Jesus' humanity,
not His deity:
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they
are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does
not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,
which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world" (1 Jn 4:1-3).
ARIANISM
Not until A.D. 318 did a recognized church leader deny Christ's deity. Arius (A.D. 250-
336), a presbyter in the church of Alexandria, taught the most subtle and damaging teaching of
the third and fourth centuries.