Adoptionism

Adoptionism, also called dynamic monarchianism, was a minority Christian belief that Jesus was born merely human and that he became divine later in his life. By these accounts, Jesus earned the title Christ through his sinless devotion to the will of God, thereby becoming the perfect sacrifice to redeem humanity. Adoptionists typically portray two key points in Jesus' life as stages in Jesus' theosis: his baptism and his resurrection. They consider God to have given Jesus his miraculous power and divine authority after Jesus proved his holiness. Adoptionism arose among early Christians seeking to reconcile the claims that Jesus was the son of God with the monotheism of Judaism. Adoptionism was common before it was first declared heresy at the end of the 2nd century. Some scholars see adoptionist concepts in the Gospel of Mark and in the Pauline epistles (Mark 1:11 and Romans 1:4). Adoptionism was condemned by the church as heresy at various times. The belief contradicts the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, defined at the First Council of Nicaea, which identifies Jesus as eternally God.