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Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Amazon Kindle Edition, 2014.
Volume 2, Ante-Nicene Christianity A.D. 100-325, “Chapter 12. The Development of Catholic Theology in Conflict with Heresy” Sections 137-158, Loc. 18758-20235.
§ 146. The Humanity of Christ.
Schaff observes that both the divinity and the humanity of Christ were asserted in early Christianity. This is what divided the Christians from the Gnostics, who treated Christ as a disembodied spiritual figure. Irenaeus in particular pushed back against the Gnostics. If the Christ were not fully human he could not save humans (Schaff 2014, Loc. 19463). Hippolytus and Tertullian likewise argued forcefully for Christ’s full humanity. Schaff further observes that Clement of Alexandria was emphatic about Christ’s humanity though Origen tended to fall into a superhuman view of Jesus (Schaff 2014, Loc. 19490).