675–794

The adoptionist controversy in Spain and the Synod of Frankfurt (794)

The Council of Toledo (675) declared that Christ is the Son of God by nature, not by adoption. Felix, bishop of Urgel, taught that according to his divinity Christ is the only-begotten Son by nature, and according to his human nature the Son of God by adoption, while preserving the unity of the Person from the moment of conception; a distinction was made between the natural birth in Bethlehem and a spiritual one that began at baptism and was completed in the resurrection. Alcuin objected that this divides Christ into two sons, since no father can have a son both by nature and by adoption. The Synod of Frankfurt in 794 condemned adoptionism.