Important Heresies of the Early Church

Most of the basic heresies present today on the person of Jesus Christ, were also present during the time of the early Church. The Bible also deals with some of them. The heresies in the early Church led the Church fathers to formulate doctrinal statements and Creeds for the Church, to defend the truth. Here are few major heresies of the early Church.

• The Ebionites: The Ebionites were the Jewish believers who believed in the Mosaic and Jewish ceremonies. This heresy arose in second century and they flourished east of the river Jordan. ‘Ebion’ in Hebrew means ‘poor’. So they were the ascetic sect of Jewish Christians who were very poor. They used the gospel of Matthew and accepted the teachings of Peter and James. But they rejected St Paul’s letters because of his condemnation of ceremonialism (Col 2:13-17).

They denied the deity of Jesus Christ. They emphasised the Law of Moses including the Sabbath and circumcision. They considered Jesus as a prophet and as a man. They taught that Jesus is the natural son of Joseph and Mary. They denied the deity of Jesus Christ because they thought that if they accepted the deity of Christ, then it would contradict their belief of monotheism.

• The Gnosticism: It is a complex religious movement based on pagan philosophy. They became prominent in the second century but were pre-Christian in origin. Gnostic heresies are dealt with in Col 1:19; 2:9. I John 5:20; I John 2:1; 4:1-4 and I Tim 3:16.

They denied the full humanity of Jesus Christ. They rejected the Old Testament and Judaism. The Gnostics said that Jesus did not have a physical body, and they considered ‘knowledge’ as the way of salvation. There were two types of Gnostics in those days. One group by name Docetae, considered Jesus as having a phantom appearance. The other group led by Cerinthian believed that Jesus and Christ were different. They said that Jesus was an ordinary man, and Christ was the Spirit of God received at the time of the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan. They believed that at crucifixion Christ departed from Jesus, and only Jesus suffered on the cross.

• Montanism: This heresy was due to Montanus of second century. It originated from Phrygia and later spread to Rome and North Africa. This was due to the formalism and worldliness in the Church. Tertullian was a Montanist in the beginning but left this group later. They expected the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and waited for the Millennium. They gave importance to celibacy and fastings.

• The Arianism: This was a heresy formulated by Arius, the priest in Alexandria. The modern form of Arianism is Jehovah’s Witnesses. This heresy was condemned and Arius was excommunicated from the Church in 319 AD. The council of Nicaea was called in 325 AD to deal with this controversy. In this council, the Arian heresy was condemned and ‘The original form of Nicene Creed was formulated.

Arianism denied the divinity of Christ and taught that Jesus Christ was a created being. They taught that Christ was inferior to the Father and He is not eternal. So in the Nicene Creed the homoousios (the Son is ‘one substance with the Father’) was added.  

• The Apollinarianism: This was founded by Apollinaris, the Bishop of Laodicea. He denied the completeness of Christ’s human nature. Since he could not explain the divine and human nature in Jesus Christ, he taught that Jesus had a human body but no spirit. This heresy was condemned by the Council of Constantinople in 318 AD.

• The Nestorianism: Nestorius, the Bishop of Constantinople, taught this heresy. Nestorianism denied the union of two natures of Christ, and reduced Him as a man filled with God. The teachings of Nestorius was condemned by Cyril of Alexandria, and he was condemned and banished by the Synod of Ephesus in 431 AD. 

• The Eutychianism: This heresy was taught by Eutyches who lived in fifth century and it is the opposite of Nestorianism. Eutychianism denied the distinction of the two natures of Christ, making a third or hybrid nature of the two. His teaching made Jesus Christ neither God nor man, but a third person who is formed from these two persons. The third person is different from the other two. 

The Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD made a Creed to counter heresies on the deity of Jesus Christ. About the two natures of Jesus Christ, the Creed says “Only-begotten, manifested in two natures, without confusion, without conversion, indivisibly, inseparable. The distinction of natures being by no means abolished by the union, but rather the property of each preserved and combined into one person and one hypostasis; not one served or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten, viz. God, Logos and the Lord Jesus Christ”.