Christology is the doctrine of the person of Christ. Tertullain had to define the church's tradition of the incarnation of Christ on two different fronts:
(a) Against pagan polytheism
(b) Against Monarchianism in the Christian church.
In addition to this he was to fight against the disruptive and divisive tendencies of Marcion and Valentinus, two of the leaders of Gnosticism. Tertullian formed his Christological terminology to combat these forces. The sources of his theological formulae were the Bible, Judaism, Gnosticism, popular and legal language. Stoicism was particularly helpful to him for theological reflection.