This is the erroneous teaching of the Arians. They said that Christ’s divinity is incomplete and that He came into being through the union of the Logos and the human body. Therefore, He cannot compare with God, but is merely all-excelling, being the most outstanding, the noblest, and the highest among the creatures-for the Word is not God who is uncreated; rather, He is the chief of all creation. Arius asserted that Christ was created by God, but was created before the ages, preceding all created things. Hence, there was a time when He did not exist. He further affirmed that because Christ died without sin, He could be resurrected, ascend to the heavens, and thus become God. The first general council assembled at Nicea in A.D. 325 declared Arianism a heresy and rejected it.
Under careful examination the false doctrine of the Arians is found to contain three points which are contrary to the revelation of the Scripture: (1) The Bible says clearly that “the Word was God” (John 1:1), yet Arius asserted that the Word is not the self-existent God and therefore maintained that Christ’s divinity is imperfect and cannot compare with God. This is truly a great heresy! (2) The Scripture says that Christ is the very God who exists from the beginning (John 1:1) and who is self-existent and without beginning. However, the Arians said that there was a time when Christ did not exist and that He became God only after His resurrection and ascension. This kind of teaching is also a great insult to Christ’s Person! (3) The Bible indeed says that Christ is the “firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15), and also that Christ is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14), but it does not say that He was created before the ages, as was arbitrarily asserted by the Arians. In summary, they totally denied Christ’s uncreated divinity and were too dogmatic concerning the time of Christ’s becoming a created one. Justifiably, their teaching was pronounced a heresy and rejected by the general council at Nicea.
This is the absurd teaching of the Apollinarians. They said that Christ’s humanity is incomplete because He has the human body and human soul, but does not have the human spirit, which is mysteriously replaced by the Logos. The so-called Christ is thus formed with these three: Logos, soul, and body (unlike a normal human being which is made up of the spirit, soul, and body). The second general council which assembled at Constantinople in A.D. 381 pronounced this doctrine a heresy.
Of course, this doctrine greatly contradicts the revelation of the Bible. Although the Bible says that Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20), having complete divinity, it also says that He was born of Mary (Luke 2:5-7), having perfect humanity. He was born a child (Isa. 9:6) and grew up in a normal human way (Luke 2:40, 52). He not only possesses a human body (Heb. 2:14) and a human soul (Matt. 26:38), but also a human spirit (Mark 2:8). Hence, the Scripture clearly reveals to us that Christ is a man complete with spirit, soul, and body and that He possesses perfect humanity as well.