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Course 9 · Lesson 3.1

The Council of Ephesus in 431 and the title Theotokos

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 9 outline

Module 1: The Person of Christ in Scripture

  1. Jesus fully human in the Gospels and letters
  2. Jesus fully divine: names, works and worship
  3. The incarnation in John, Philippians and Hebrews
  4. The questions Scripture leaves for later theology

Module 2: The Christological Controversies

  1. Early errors: docetism and ebionitism
  2. Arius and Apollinarius: is the Son a creature, is the mind missing?
  3. Two schools: Antioch and Alexandria
  4. Nestorius and Cyril of Alexandria
  5. Eutyches and the Tome of Leo

Module 3: Ephesus and Chalcedon

  1. The Council of Ephesus in 431 and the title Theotokos
  2. The Chalcedonian Definition of 451, phrase by phrase
  3. Hypostatic union explained: one person in two natures
  4. Those who did not accept Chalcedon: Oriental Orthodox and the Church of the East

Module 4: Christology After Chalcedon

  1. The later councils: two wills and one person
  2. The communication of properties and the suffering of God the Son
  3. Kenosis and the knowledge of Christ
  4. Modern challenges to Chalcedon and replies

Module 5: The Work of Christ: Atonement, Resurrection, Ascension

  1. Atonement in Scripture: images and metaphors
  2. Ransom and victory: Christus Victor
  3. Satisfaction and penal substitution
  4. Moral influence, recapitulation and healing
  5. The resurrection and the ascension of Christ

Module 6: The Holy Spirit in Scripture and the Early Church

  1. The Spirit in the Old and New Testaments
  2. Early Christian views of the Spirit
  3. The deity of the Spirit: Basil, Athanasius and Constantinople
  4. Procession of the Spirit and the filioque

Module 7: Gifts of the Spirit and Sanctification

  1. Gifts in the New Testament: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4
  2. Gifts across the traditions: cessationist, continuationist and Pentecostal views
  3. Sanctification in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant thought
  4. The fruit of the Spirit and the discernment of spirits

All courses

Program / Course 9: Christology and Pneumatology / Lesson 3.1

What you will learn

  • Describe the setting, leaders and main events of the Council of Ephesus.
  • State what the council decided and what it did not decide.
  • Explain what the title Theotokos affirms about Christ and about Mary.
  • Explain how Ephesus is received by Catholic, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant and Assyrian Christians.

The big idea

The Council of Ephesus met in 431, called by the emperor Theodosius II, and is counted by Catholic and Orthodox Christians as the third ecumenical council. It condemned the teaching of Nestorius, approved the second letter of Cyril to Nestorius, and forbade the writing of a new creed to replace the Nicene one. Its best known result is the confession of Mary as Theotokos. The council did not give a full account of how divine and human are joined in Christ. That task was left to Chalcedon twenty years later.

Key terms

Ecumenical council
From a Greek word for the inhabited world. A council meant to speak for the whole church, whose decisions on faith are accepted by those who count it as ecumenical.
Theotokos
God-bearer. The title affirms that Mary bore the person who is God the Son, in his humanity.
Session
A formal meeting of a council. Ephesus had several sessions between June and July of 431.
Canon
In a council context, a rule or decree. Ephesus issued six canons on church discipline and a ruling on the creed.
Legate
A representative sent to speak for a bishop. The bishop of Rome sent legates to Ephesus.
Deposition
Formal removal of a bishop from his office.
Dyophysite and miaphysite
Dyophysite means holding to two natures in Christ. Miaphysite means holding to one united nature of the Word incarnate. Both words appear in later lessons.

Background

The dispute described in the previous lesson reached a point where it needed an authority wider than any single bishop. Theodosius II summoned bishops from across the empire to Ephesus, an old city on the coast of Asia Minor with a long Christian history. It was also a city with a famous temple of Artemis, and its deep devotion to Mary is sometimes linked to that background, though historians caution that the link is uncertain.

This lesson sets out what happened, then separates what the council defined from what later tradition built on it. Careful readers keep those two things apart. The council said less than later writers sometimes suggest, and what it said was carefully tied to a few texts.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: The meeting

The council was set to open on Pentecost in June 431. Cyril of Alexandria arrived with many bishops. John of Antioch and his bishops were delayed on the road. After waiting about two weeks, Cyril, who presided over the council, opened the first session on 22 June without them. Nestorius refused to attend, claiming the meeting was irregular.

In one day the council read the Nicene Creed, Cyril’s second letter to Nestorius and Nestorius’s reply, and a collection of passages from the Fathers. It approved Cyril’s letter as consistent with Nicaea and rejected Nestorius’s as contrary to it. It then deposed Nestorius as a false teacher. The speed of the proceedings was one of the main complaints against Cyril afterward.

Step 2: What the council affirmed

Cyril’s letter, which the council approved, states that the Word united to himself in his person a body animated by a rational soul, and became man. It insists that the union is a real one, not merely a matter of honor, will or closeness. It then draws the conclusion that Mary can be called Theotokos, because she bore the Word made flesh.

In this way the council affirmed the title Theotokos, though it did so by approving a letter and not by writing a separate formula. The council said that the child of Mary is the eternal Son. It did not use the later Chalcedonian vocabulary of two natures and one person, and it did not approve Cyril’s twelve anathemas as a council text.

Step 3: The rival meeting and the arrival of Rome’s legates

When John of Antioch arrived, he and about forty bishops met separately and condemned Cyril and Memnon, bishop of Ephesus, as men who had introduced new ideas and acted unlawfully. When the legates sent by Pope Celestine arrived, they joined Cyril’s side and affirmed his council’s actions.

The emperor at first confirmed the deposition of all three, Nestorius, Cyril and Memnon, then accepted the Cyrillian council, and Cyril and Memnon returned to their posts. It was a rough business, and the stages of the dispute show how much depended on the court. The Formula of Union of 433 repaired the breach.

Step 4: The other decisions

The council also decided that no one may produce or hold another creed than the Nicene Creed. This ruling, sometimes called the Definition of Faith, aimed to prevent each side from writing new statements. It has been cited ever since, including in later debates over additions. It was not treated by later councils as barring all new explanations, since Chalcedon itself issued a Definition.

Ephesus also condemned the followers of Pelagius, in particular Celestius, a disciple who had appeared in Constantinople. It took up local matters, such as a dispute over the island of Cyprus, and adopted a few disciplinary canons. These are less famous but show the council as a working body and not only a doctrinal stage.

Step 5: Theotokos in the tradition

The title is a statement about Christ first. It says that the one born of Mary is God the Son. It is also a statement about Mary: she is truly the mother of the person Jesus, and not only of the body. The Orthodox, Catholic and Oriental Orthodox churches use it in their liturgies, and the icon of Mary with the child is often accompanied by the Greek abbreviation for it.

Many Protestants accept the title as a correct statement, though they may use it less. Others, like Anabaptists or evangelicals, may hesitate because of concerns about devotion to Mary. The Assyrian Church of the East has historically preferred other titles. Readers should distinguish the doctrine the title expresses, which most Christians accept, from the devotion that surrounds it, which varies a good deal.

  1. Why did Cyril begin the council before the Antiochene bishops arrived, and how should that decision be assessed?
  2. What does it mean that the council affirmed Theotokos by approving a letter?
  3. What does the ban on new creeds protect, and what does it risk?
  4. Why might Protestants accept the doctrine but use the title less?
  5. What parts of Ephesus does Chalcedon build on?
  6. What did the council leave unsaid about how the natures are united?

Examples

The icon of the Theotokos

In Orthodox and Catholic churches an icon of Mary holding the child, often with the Greek letters for Mother of God, expresses the doctrine in art. The child is shown not as a baby but as a small adult, a sign of the wisdom of the eternal Son.

Pelagius and Celestius

The council’s condemnation of Celestius shows that other debates were running in parallel. Pelagius and his follower had taught that human beings can obey God without grace, a view opposed in the West by Augustine. The decision belongs to the history of the doctrine of grace.

A constructed student exercise

A student is asked to defend the title in one sentence without mentioning Mary. She writes: if the Son of God was truly born, then the one who was born is the Son. The exercise shows that the title is about Christ. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic teaching counts Ephesus as the third ecumenical council and affirms that Mary is truly Mother of God. The Catechism connects the title directly to faith in the incarnation.

Orthodox

The Orthodox Church honors Ephesus as the third council and sings Theotokos in nearly every service. It reads the council as protecting the unity of Christ against any suggestion that the Word merely dwelt in a man.

Oriental Orthodox

These churches, which also use Theotokos, accept Ephesus as the last council they share with the Catholic and Orthodox churches. They honor Cyril above all.

Assyrian Church of the East

This church does not count Ephesus as an ecumenical council in the same way, and historically did not accept the deposition of Nestorius. Its relations with Catholic and other churches have improved since the 1994 declaration.

Protestant

The main Reformation churches accept the Christological teaching of Ephesus. Luther affirmed the title, and Reformed confessions affirm the same doctrine of Christ, while many Protestants avoid Marian devotion that goes beyond the title.

Why it matters

Ephesus fixed a starting point. After it, no mainstream Christian could say that the child of Mary was simply a man in whom God dwelt. How the divine and human are united was the next question, and it is the subject of the next lessons.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Ephesus made Mary a goddess.

Correction: The council taught that Mary is the mother of the person who is God the Son, which is a claim about Christ. Churches that honor Mary do so as a creature, though the form of devotion differs by tradition.

Misunderstanding: Ephesus defined the two natures of Christ.

Correction: It did not. It approved Cyril’s letter and condemned Nestorius. The language of two natures in one person was defined at Chalcedon in 451.

Misunderstanding: The council had no politics.

Correction: The council had both theological and political dimensions, including imperial control, rivalry among sees, and the speed of Cyril’s opening session. Recognizing this does not decide whether the doctrinal result was sound.

Knowledge check

What did the Council of Ephesus decide about Nestorius?

In its first session in June 431 the council read Cyril’s second letter and Nestorius’s reply, approved Cyril’s as consistent with Nicaea, rejected Nestorius’s, and deposed him as a false teacher. The emperor later upheld the deposition, and Nestorius spent the rest of his life in retirement and exile.

What does Theotokos mean, and what does it claim?

Theotokos means God-bearer or Mother of God. It claims that the child Mary bore is the eternal Son of God. It is primarily a statement about Christ and secondarily about Mary, who is mother of the person and not only of a body.

What did Ephesus say about creeds?

It decided that no other creed should be produced, written or held in place of the Nicene Creed. The aim was to prevent rival formulas. Later councils still issued definitions, so the ruling was not read as barring all explanation, though it has been cited in later arguments over additions to the creed.

What did the council leave for later councils to settle?

It affirmed that the child of Mary is the Son of God, but it did not define how the divine and human natures are united. The vocabulary of two natures in one person and the relation of the natures was settled at Chalcedon in 451.

Think it through

  1. Why might a title about Mary be an important test of belief about Christ?
  2. What are the dangers of holding a council quickly, and of delaying one?
  3. How should Christians who do not use Marian titles think about this doctrine?
  4. Is a ban on new creeds helpful or too restrictive?

Independent assignment

Explaining Theotokos

In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words. Explain Theotokos to a friend who has never heard of it, in two paragraphs, one on what it says about Christ and one on what it says about Mary. Then write a third paragraph on how a Protestant, a Catholic and an Orthodox Christian might each respond. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study