Heresies

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

"I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you." (John 17:1-11)

According to our Bible, John 17:1-11 is part of the climax of the last discourse(s). Since the 16th century, this chapter has been called the “high priestly prayer” of Jesus. He speaks as intercessor, with words addressed directly to the Father and not to the disciples, who supposedly only overhear. 

“Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” was added in the editing of the gospel as a reflection on the preceding verse. Jesus nowhere else refers to himself as Jesus Christ.  Gospels were edited, and it takes a skillful scripture scholar to find those edits.  

Edits often were done to counter what were considered to be heresies (contrary opinions).  For example, some verses were added to Luke to stress Jesus’ real body and flesh which he sacrificed for the sake of others.  This countered docetic Christology (Docetism) such as that promoted by Marcion who accepted some parts of the New Testament but denied Christ's corporality and humanity.  Docetism was the doctrine that Christ's body was not human but either a phantasm or of real but celestial substance.  Marcion, a son of a bishop, was an early Christian theologian, evangelist, and an important figure in early Christianity (140-155 AD). 

A little investigation reveals that much of our Church’s teaching stemmed from successful attempts to overcome other philosophies and beliefs, so-called heresies, a very derogatory term to thwart differing views such as Arianism championed by Arius, a Christian priest.  Arius believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before "time" by God the Father; therefore, Jesus was not coeternal with God the Father.  Controversy over Arianism arose in the late 3rd century and persisted throughout most of the 4th century. It involved most church members from simple believers, priests, and monks to bishops, emperors, and members of Rome's imperial family. 

Emperor Constantine the Great summoned the First Council of Nicaea which defined many of the dogmatic fundamentals of Christianity. These definitions served to rebut the questions posed by Arians. All the bishops who were there were in agreement with the major theological points of the proto-orthodoxy since at that time all other forms of Christianity "had by this time already been displaced, suppressed, reformed, or destroyed.” To the victors go the spoils.  In this case, the Emperor's opinion prevailed.  Quite the example of politics influencing religion.

Deacon David Pierce