It is otherwise with the second article of the Creed, “I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord,” which expresses doctrines so hotly disputed that they prove the saying true, “This child is set for a sign which shall be spoken against."[029] It is rejected by the Jew and the Mohammedan, and finds opponents in many who profess to accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as a Divine revelation, and to regard the exemplary life of Jesus as a model to be copied, while they deny His Divine origin, His sacrificial death, and His universal authority.

The early controversies concerning the Second Person of the Trinity were disputes regarding His nature and the relation in which He stands to the Father.  Certain heretics affirmed that Jesus was a mere man, selected by God and specially endowed with the gift of His Spirit.  Others maintained that Christ was not God, but a created spirit, nearest to the Father in dignity, who took upon Him human nature, and, having finished the work appointed Him on earth, went up again to God the Father.  One class, the Ebionites, regarded Him as a being essentially human, though begotten of the Spirit, by whom He was anointed above measure; while another, the Docetae, regarded Him as a Divine Being seemingly bearing human form and united with the man Jesus.  These views were finally rejected by the Catholic Church, because they conflicted with the Word of God which affirms the true Divinity of the Son of God, the true humanity of the Son of Man, and the true union of the two natures of God and man in One Person, Jesus Christ.

The Gnostics, who were the leaders in connection with such heretical views, are generally thought to date from the time of Simon Magus.  He had been enrolled as a disciple of the Apostles, and, professing faith in Christ, was baptized by Peter.  But he had joined the Christian Church for selfish ends,[030] as Luke’s statements show.  Hymenaeus,[031] Phygellus, and Hermogenes,[032] referred to by Paul in his second letter to Timothy, are believed to have been Gnostics, and towards the close of the first century Cerinthus and Ebion extended the system.[033]

SECTION 2.—­JESUS

Jesus is the personal name of our Lord.  In ancient times names had often a meaning and importance which they do not carry now.  “Name” means a word by which any person or thing is known, and names were originally given from some quality attribute inherent in the person or thing to which they were attached.  Proper names among the Hebrews had a deeper meaning and a closer connection with character and condition than elsewhere.  The care that marks the Scriptures in recording the origin of names of individuals and places, the frequent allusions to names as having a special relation to character or qualities, the solemnity with which a change of name is stated as marking an epoch in the history of individuals or nations, and the frequency with which names are