Question:    “Do any of you believe that the blood of Jesus was not human blood, but divine blood? If so, will you please explain the biblical basis for this belief? I have heard of this belief before, but I am not sure I understand it very well.”

The above question caught my interest because of a book I recently read. The book, Heresies, by Harold O. J. Brown, discusses the history of heresy in the Christian church and contains information that relates to the above question.

The view that Jesus’ blood was divine results from an over emphasis on the deity of Christ. This theory has surfaced periodically through the centuries and may be traced to the error of Apollinaris of Laodicaea in the latter part of the 4th century. Today, those who claim ‘Jesus’ blood is divine’ have probably never heard of Apollinaris.

Apollinaris began with an acceptable view, the view that Christ is God, but elaborated it to the extent that it begin to threaten another element of Christian doctrine, the true and full humanity of Christ. The Christology of Apollinaris is ultimately monophysitic, that is, Christ had only one nature as opposed to the orthodox position of two natures. One of the results of Apollinaris’ emphasis is that the true humanity of Christ fades in significance and is over shadowed by his deity. Hence, the conclusion that his blood is divine.

To Apollinaris it appeared that his opponents believed in two Christs, one human and one divine, because they asserted the “two natures” of Christ. The following is a short excerpt by Harold O. J. Brown which may be of interest:

“Apollinaris was identified as a heretic before his opponents were able clearly to formulate the precise nature of his heresy. As in the case of orthodoxy’s resistance to Arianism, the church sensed that a vital spiritual and religious interest was at stake before it clearly identified the nature of the threat; it rushed to oppose Apollinaris before it was entirely sure why it had to do so. In the case of Arianism, what was at stake was the ability of Jesus Christ, if less than fully God, to save his people. With Apollinaris there was no suggestion that Jesus was less than fully God, but the diminution of his humanity made it less than certain that we are his brethren and consequently brought the orthodox into the lists against Apollinaris; the question was whether they would be able to avoid the contercharge of Apollinaris, that they really taught two Christ, one divine and one human.” [HERESIES; pg. 165]