16,951
edits
Changes
m
link
The adoptionistic idea may have had its origin within the first century after Christ, but the oldest extant work that expressed the idea, ''Shepherd of Hermas'', appeared in the second century. In this work the Redeemer, Jesus, was thought to be a virtuous man, chosen by God, who was united with the Spirit of God and did works as God commanded. Jesus, thus, was adopted as Son by divine decree. This then denied the preexistence of Christ. In this form the heresy continued during the second and third centuries.
Known also as Dynamic Monarchianism, an early proponent of the heresy was Theodotus (the Tanner) of [[Byzantium]]. He taught, after arriving in Rome about 190, that the man Jesus was born of the virgin through the operation of the [[Holy Spirit]] and after the Holy Spirit descended upon him at his baptism, he became Christ and received the power for his ministry and then became God through his resurrection.
Condemned early as a heresy this adoptionist view entered into the ideas of a number of later heretical positions, such as those by [[Paul of Samosata]], [[Arius]], [[Nestorius]], and others during the Christological arguments of the next several centuries.