What did the early christian focus on?

Answer 1

The early Christians had many theological disputes which sometimes led to dissident bishops being exiled and to violent confrontations. The two main Christian churches were the Latin or Western church (which was the main church of the western part of the Roman Empire) and the Greek or Eastern which (which was the main church of the eastern part of the empire). Later these two churches came to be called Catholic and Orthodox respectively. They were both involved in acrimonious disputes with dissident Christian doctrines. The major dispute was about the conception of God.

There were controversies regarding the Trinity, whether Jesus was divine or not or how the divine and the human in Jesus coexisted. The earliest concept of God expressed by the earliest fathers of the Church was one of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." In 100 AD Ignatius of Antioch exhorted obedience to "Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit". Later in the 2nd century AD Justin Martyr wrote "in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit." Theophilus of Antioch produced the first recorded use of the word Trinity and defined it as God, His Word (Logos) and His Wisdom (Sophia). Controversies regarding the trinity developed. In the early 3rd century Tertullian was the first who defended the doctrine of the trinity against heresies.

There were non-Trinitarian beliefs. Sabellianism, believed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were essentially one and the same, the difference being simply in describing different aspects or roles of a single being. The Heavenly Father, Resurrected Son and Holy Spirit were different modes or aspects of one monadic God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons within God. A monad is a single entity which generates all other entities. Thus there was a single divinity, God and the Son and the Holy Spirit were aspects of single divinity. However, Monadism, unlike Unitarianism, accepted that Jesus was fully God.

Adoptionism believed that Jesus was an ordinary man who was adopted as God's Son at his baptism. Jesus was chosen because of his sinless devotion to the will of God.

Arianism, which was taught by Arius, believed that the Father existed prior to the Son who was not, by nature, God but rather a changeable creature who was granted the dignity of becoming "Son of God." It emphasised the father's divinity over the son in opposition to the Trinitarian doctrine. Arius, a presbyter (a leader of a local Christian congregation) in Alexandria (Egypt) came into conflict with Alexander, the patriarch of Alexandria and St. Athanasius I of Alexandria. These two men defended Trinitarianism and saw the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as co-equal. Jesus was begotten by the Father from his own being. Therefore, the Father (God) and the Son (Jesus) were of one essence (co-substantial) and co-eternal. Thus, this view upheld the divinity of Jesus. Arianism, instead, held that the father and the Son were of different essence and substance and that Jesus was not divine. As a result of this conflict, the Nicene Creed was established.

The Nicene Creed stemmed from the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) which gathered the top clergy from around the Roman Empire. One of its purposes was to resolve the conflict between St Alexander and Arius within the Church of Alexandria. The Council overwhelmingly ruled in favour of Alexander's interpretation, which came to be called the Nicene Creed. It became the creed of the Latin or Western Christianity and the Greek or eastern Christianity. The former was the Christian church of the western half of the Roman Empire and later came to be called Catholic Church. The later was the church of the eastern part of the Roman Empire and later came to be called Orthodox Church. Thus, the Nicene Creed became the creed of mainstream Christianity.

In the 5th century controversies regarding the nature of Jesus arose. Eutychianism stressed the unity of Christ's nature both in his divine and his human forms. It did so to such an extent that Christ's divinity consumed his humanity. Nestorianismstressed the distinction between the divine and the human in Christ. It did so to such an extent that it appeared that two persons were living in the same body. Miaphysitism arose as a reaction against Nestorianism. It held that Jesus embodied both Divinity and Humanity which were united in one or single nature, without separation, confusion, or alteration. The Ebionites, was a Jewish Christian movement which regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his divinity. It advocated following Jewish law and rites. It used only one of the Jewish Gospels and revered James the Just. It rejected Paul of Tarsus as an apostate from the Law.

The Council of Chalcedon was held in 451 AD to deal with the controversies about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus. It ruled that the humanity and divinity of Jesus are exemplified as two natures and that the one hypostasis (shared existence of spiritual or corporal entities) perfectly subsists in these two natures. This Council was followed by the Chalcedonian schism and the formation of the non-Chalcedonianchurches known as Oriental Orthodoxy which became separate from the mainstream Eastern (Greek) Orthodox churches. They are the Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Indian Orthodox Church) and Armenian Apostolic churches