Theological Term: Dyotheletism

dyotheletism

The orthodox teaching that Jesus, the incarnate Son, has two wills, his divine will and his human will. It was condemned at the Third Council of Constantinople.

• From the Definition of Faith from the Third Council of Constantinople:

[W]e likewise declare that in [Christ] are two natural wills and two natural operations indivisibly, inconvertibly, inseparably, inconfusedly, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers.  And these two natural wills are not contrary the one to the other (God forbid!) as the impious heretics assert, but his human will follows and that not as resisting and reluctant, but rather as subject to his divine and omnipotent will. 

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 509:

In 649, Pope Martin I called a council, with Maximus present, which adopted a clear dyothelite position, that in Christ there are two wills, in harmony with Maximus’s teaching. This did not settle the matter, and controversy lingered, eventually resolved at the Third Council of Constantinople in 680-681.

The definition produced by that council specified that in Christ there are “two natural wills and two natural operations, indivisibly, incontrovertibly, inseparably, inconfusedly.” These two wills “are not contrary the one to the other … but the human will follows … as subject to his divine and omnipotent will.”

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is dyotheletism?
2. W. Robert Godfrey: Does Christ Have One or Two Wills?
3. Stephen Nichols: Maximus the Confessor

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Apollinarianism
• Arianism
• monotheletism

Filed under Defective Theology

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Sunday Hymn: My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

My shep­herd will sup­ply my need:
Jehovah is His name;
In pas­tures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the liv­ing stream.
He brings my wan­der­ing spir­it back
When I for­sake His ways,
And leads me, for His mer­cy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death
Thy pre­sence is my stay;
One word of Thy sup­port­ing breath
Drives all my fears away.
Thy hand in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my ta­ble spread;
My cup with bless­ings ov­er­flows,
Thine oil an­oints my head.

The sure pro­vi­sions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be mine abode,
And all my work be praise!
There would I find a set­tled rest,
While oth­ers go and come;
No more a stran­ger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.

—Isaac Watts

Theological Term of the Week: Monotheletism

monotheletism

The heretical teaching that Jesus has only one will, his divine will. It was condemned at the Third Council of Constantinople.

• From the Definition of Faith from the Third Council of Constantinople:

[W]e likewise declare that in [Christ] are two natural wills and two natural operations indivisibly, inconvertibly, inseparably, inconfusedly, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers.  And these two natural wills are not contrary the one to the other (God forbid!) as the impious heretics assert, but his human will follows and that not as resisting and reluctant, but rather as subject to his divine and omnipotent will. 

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, Book 1 by N. R. Needham, page 356:

The Monothelete position aroused mighty enemies among orthodox Chalcedonians. The Mightiest were pope Martin I (649-55) and the Greek monk Maximus the Confessor, who maintained that Christ had two wills, a human will alongside a divine one. Maximus thought this out most fully. The question itself was simple: did “will” belong to nature or person? The Monotheletes held that it belonged to person; a human being’s will (his capacity for desiring and choosing) was part of his individual personhood, not his human nature. Therefore, since Christ was not a human person, but a divine person incarnate in a human soul and body, He did not have a human will. He had only the divine will of the Logos. Maximus disagreed with this with every fibre of his being. He maintained that the will was distinct from person, and belonged to nature. Just as our ability to think (our mind) is part of our human nature, Maximus argued, so also our ability to desire and choose (our will) is part of our nature. Will is just as essential to human nature as mind is. For Maximus, the human person is the subject or ego — the “I” — who acts through the mind and will of his human nature.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is monotheletism?
2. Stephen Nichols: Monotheletism
3. Monergism: Monotheletism
4. W. Robert Godfrey: Does Christ Have One or Two Wills?
5. Mike Riccardi: How Many Wills Does Jesus Have?

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Apollinarianism
• Arianism
• dyotheletism
• heresy

Filed under Defective Theology

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.