Nestorius

NESTORIUS : UNDERSTANDING INCARNATION
PROF. M. M. NINAN
as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his
righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously
committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he
justifies the one who has faith in Jesus." (NRSV)
• 2 Corinthians 5:21—"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God." (RSV)
• Galatians 3:10, 13—"All who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written,
'Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do
them.' ... Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us - for it
is written, 'Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree.'" (RSV)
• 1 Peter 2:24—"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and
live to righteousness."(RSV)
• 1 Peter 3:18—"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God." (RSV)
It is debated if the Church Fathers subscribed to this doctrine, including Justin Martyr c. 100-165,
Eusebius of Caesarea c. 275-339, Athanasius c. 300-373 and Augustine of Hippo 354-430
Although penal substitution is often associated with Anselm of Canterbury, he predates its formal
development within later Reform theology.
Since man has to pay for his sin, only a fully human who is sinless could pay the price for the
redemption. Thus in order to fulfill this condition Jesus has to be fully human - one of the brothers
of mankind a son of Adam. In fact he was the father of Adam - Adam was created by the Word.
Kabbalah calls him Adam Kadamon the Primordial Adam who created Adam in His own image.
Hence the Word alone is capable of redeeming his children. In a sense when the Son of God took
on the form of Son of Man the image was made alive not just by breath, by the Word totally giving
new life to the otherwise virtual image.
Since there are no human who is sinless and no sinful human can overcome death and reverse the
second law of thermodynamics which God made to come into effect to reduce human period of
suffering which human society will perpetuate with their sinful egoism, hatred and exploitation of
man by man, the original Adam Kadamon became Adam. How can this be possible? It was a
real struggle in the early Christian period and we are still struggling with this mystery. However
there is no doubt about the need of an incarnation, however and whatever that may imply for the
provision of the way of salvation.
It is here Nestorius step in.
Origins of Nestorianism in Antiochian Tradition
Nestorian ideas were first developed in the writings of Diodore of Tarsus against the heresy of
Apollinarius. In refuting Apollinarianism, Diodore wrote that at the time of the Incarnation and after
the Incarnation, the Divine and human natures of Jesus Christ were divided to such an extent that
there was complete independence of natures and no union whatsoever.
These ideas were further developed by Theodore of Mopsuestia (c.350-429), a scholar in the
Antochian tradition. Theodore taught that the human and Divine natures of Christ were so
completely separate that there was only contact between them, but no union of any kind. In
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