The Faithfulness of Jesus Christ in Hippolytus's De Christo et Antichristo: Overlooked Patristic Evidence in the Πίστις Χριστοῦ Debate

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Bird ◽  
Michael R. Whitenton
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church

The debate over the meaning of πίστις Χριστοῦ has been continuing for some time and shows no signs of abating, yet one conclusion has remained constant: the Church Fathers, generally, did not understand πίστις Χριστοῦ in the Pauline materials in the subjective sense as the ‘faithfulness of Christ’. Furthermore, there has heretofore been no text that correlates Jesus' faithfulness with his death on the cross in patristic writings. In light of that, the aim of this study is (1) to offer a critique of recent work on πίστις Χριστοῦ in the Church Fathers, and (2) to break the longstanding silence by presenting overlooked evidence from Hippolytus's De Christo et Antichristo that unambiguously relates Jesus' faithfulness to his death on the cross.

scholarly journals The mercy of God as the foundation of charity of the Church

Diacovensia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-651
Author(s):  
Wiesław Przygoda
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
The Bible ◽  
1 John ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Church

Charity diaconia of the Church is not an accidental involvement but belongs to its fundamental missions. This thesis can be supported in many ways. The author of this article finds the source of the obligation of Christians and the whole Church community to charity service in the nature of God. For Christians God is Love (1 John 4, 8.16). Even though some other names can be found, (Jahwe , Elohim, Adonai), his principal name that encapsulates all other ones is Love. Simultaneously, God which is Love showed his merciful nature (misericordiae vultus) in the course of salvation. He did it in a historical, visible and optimal way through his Son, Jesus Christ through the embodied God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who loved the mankind so much that he sacrificed his life for us, being tortured and killed at the cross. This selfless love laid the foundations for the Church, which, in essence, is a community of loving human and God’s beings. Those who do not love, even though they joined the Church through baptism, technically speaking, do not belong to the Church since love is a real not a formal sign of belonging to Christ’s disciples (cf. John 13, 35). Therefore, charitable activity is a significant dimension of the Church’s mission as it is through charity that the Church shows the merciful nature of its Saviour. A question that needs to be addressed may be expressed as follows: in what way the image of God, who is love, implies an involvement in charity of an individual and the Church? An answer may be found in the Bible, writings of the Church Fathers of and the documents of Magisterium Ecclesiae and especially the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Cultural Crisis in the Mormon Kingdom: A Reconsideration of the Causes of Kirtland Dissent

1980 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-297
Author(s):  
Marvin S. Hill
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Land Values ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Cultural Crisis ◽  
The Will ◽  
Gathering Place ◽  
The Church

Until the time that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left western New York (where the church had been founded in 1830) and moved en masse to Kirtland, Ohio and then Far West, Missouri (where a second gathering place was established), the Mormons constituted a close-knit and fairly harmonious group. At Kirtland, however, serious internal discontent developed. In the wake of the collapse of the Anti-Banking Society in 1837 came widespread apostasy of many Mormons, several apostles included, who challenged Joseph Smith's role as prophetic leader whose word was the will of the Lord in secular as well as spiritual affairs. According to the prevailing interpretation, the causes were essentially economic. Fawn Brodie maintains in her chapter on the “Kirtland Disaster” that the “toppling of the Kirtland bank loosed a hornet's nest.” Quoting Apostle Heber C. Kimball, she says that afterward “there were not twenty persons on earth that would declare that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.” Despite Smith's efforts to salvage his Ohio community, “with mercantile firms bankrupt, the steam mill silent, and the land values sinking to an appalling low, Kirtland was fast disintegrating.” In a recent work, Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton repeat the generalization: “in Kirtland … Smith's failed bank led to internal dissension.”

The Finality of Christ and Humanity

1966 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-408
Author(s):  
John W. Fraser
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Ultimate Truth ◽  
Universal History ◽  
Final Destination ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church

What is meant by the finality of Jesus Christ for men? This is raised by consideration of a Study Pamphlet, ‘The Finality of Jesus Christ in the Age of Universal History’, issued by the Division of Studies, World Council of Churches. On page I of this Study Pamphlet we are told that ‘Jesus is at the end of the human journey’, and also that ‘He has revealed the ultimate truth to men, has shown in full, final and sufficient measure to them the nature of God and the truth concerning life’. The emphasis is on what we would normally call ‘the final coming’, and on what is shown of God in Jesus. ‘Because He has already appeared we know our final destination’, i.e. we know whom to expect to meet. The stress will then lie on what the Church, who knows Him, does until the end, serving men for Him. The New Testament emphasis does not lie on what we do, but on what He did. The New Testament emphasis does not lie on the end, but on an act of redemption and reconciliation effected by God in Jesus Christ, a thing done once and for all. ‘Through Him God was pleased to reconcile all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross’ (Col. 1.20). Because He has done this Christ reigns over all and the end is assured. ‘Nothing can separate us from His love‘ (Rom. 8.39).

Martin Luther

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kolb
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Body ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Church Community ◽  
Relationship With God ◽  
External Sign ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines Martin Luther’s theology of the sacraments. Luther maintained that sacraments were a form of the Word instituted by Christ that conveyed the forgiveness of sins, and were connected with an external sign—and as such were a powerful way for believers, many of whom were illiterate, to experience firsthand and personally the grace of God. He identified Baptism and Eucharist as sacraments, and occasionally Confession (Penance) as well, though not as a separate sacrament but as an extension of the sacrament of Baptism. Baptism marked not only the establishment of one’s relationship with God, but also identification as part of the church community, and was therefore a sign of oneness in God. Regarding Eucharist, Luther rejected transubstantiation and the idea of Christ being “re-sacrificed” at the Mass, and yet he took Christ’s words of institution literally in identifying the bread and wine as the Body and Blood of Christ, and thus, “food of the soul.” As connected to Luther’s “theology of the cross,” by which believers are utterly dependent upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ, sacraments are a means by which believers can receive and be nourished by that grace.

scholarly journals “Hopeful Gradualness” and Ecclesial Mission

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Briola
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
Humanae Vitae ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church

On October 13, 2014, the remarkable midterm Relatio post Disceptationem of the 2014 Synod on the Family invoked the legge di gradualità on four occasions. This “law of gradualness” would later be dropped from the final Relatio Synodi, though inarguably its vestiges remained. Simultaneously the locus of disappointment, apprehension, and excitement, the term’s precise meaning remained and continues to remain unclear. Taking the principle to be what Ladislas Orsy would term a “seminal locution” and thus in need of further explication, this paper will examine the law of gradualness through a diachronic lens. It will trace the term’s evolution from its initial emergence around Humanae vitae during the late 1960s and early 1970s, to its reserved acceptance into ecclesiastical parlance in the 1980 Synod on the Family and Familiaris Consortio, to its unique use this past October at the 2014 Synod. It is the contention of this paper that the 2014 Synod marked a new expansion of the term, away from its previously primary, if not exclusive, contentious identification with Humanae vitae. Though maintaining many of its previous connotations, seen in light of Francis’s papacy, the law of gradualness has become fundamentally a foundation and spirituality for the church’s mission to the world. Reflecting God’s own pedagogy revealed most clearly in Jesus Christ, the law of gradualness requires an ecclesial lens of hope. It is a hope that a merciful and authentic encounter with people where they actually are can prompt genuine conversion and growth. The church, as sacrament, is dauntingly tasked to imitate this divine logic that balances the acceptance of the Incarnation with the demands of the Cross. Ultimately then, applying gradualness to the church’s own pilgrim life, this is an eschatological hope that likewise stimulates ongoing ecclesial conversion and so enables authentic growth, accompaniment, dialogue, and mission.

scholarly journals Membangun Penjelasan Dan Sikap Etis Trinitarian Terhadap Kejahatan Natural COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-105
Author(s):  
Thio Christian Sulistio
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Natural Evil ◽  
Moral Problem ◽  
Son Of God ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Greater Good ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church

 COVID-19 merupakan kejahatan natural yakni kejahatan yang disebabkan oleh proses natural yang sudah tidak berfungsi sebagaimana mestinya sebagai akibat kejatuhan manusia dalam dosa. Keberadaan COVID-19 sebagai kejahatan natural akan menimbulkan pertanyaan mengapa kejahatan natural dapat ada, untuk apa kejahatan natural ini dan bagaimana akhir dari kejahatan natural ini (problem metafisika kejahatan)? Pertanyaan lain adalah bagaimana respons atau sikap orang-orang percaya terhadap keberadaan kejahatan natural ini (problem moral kejahatan)? Penulis berupaya menjawab dua problem tersebut dengan menggunakan penjelasan trinitarian dari metanarasi Kristen yakni dari sudut providensi Allah, karya Yesus Kristus di salib, dan karya Roh Kudus di dalam gereja Tuhan. Allah di dalam kedaulatan-Nya mengizinkan kejahatan natural COVID-19 untuk kebaikan yang lebih besar. Anak Allah Yesus Kristus mengalahkan kejahatan melalui pelayanan-Nya di bumi dan di Salib. Roh Kudus, yang diutus Bapa dan Anak, menghibur dan memberi kuasa kepada gereja untuk melanjutkan misi Yesus Kristus. COVID-19 is a natural evil, namely an evil caused by a natural process that is not functioning properly because of the fall of humans into sins. The existence of COVID-19 as a natural evil will raise the question of why natural evil can exist, what is the purpose of natural evil, and how does this natural evil ends (the metaphysical problem of evil)? Another question is how the response or the attitude of the believers to the existence of this natural evil (the moral problem of evil)? The author tries to answer these two problems by using a trinitarian explanation of Christian metanarrative, namely from the point of God’s providence, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. God in his sovereignty permits the natural evil of COVID-19 for the greater good. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, triumph over evil through His ministry on earth and on the cross. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, comforts, and empowers the church to continues the mission of Jesus Christ.

A Wisdom for Anglican Life: Lambeth 1998 to Lambeth 2008 and Beyond

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
David F. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
First Century ◽  
Keynote Paper ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Love Of God ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTThis keynote paper was delivered at the Society for the Study of Anglicanism which gathered at the AAR Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in November 2005. On the basis of many years of observation and participation in the life of the Anglican Communion, I attempt to offer in this article a ‘Wisdom for Anglican Life’ — a wisdom which takes seriously the unity and koinonia of the Church as rooted in the cross of Jesus Christ and the love of God. Such wisdom is rooted in the faithful worship of the Church but also engages seriously with the struggles of the world. It counsels gentleness, kindness, forgiveness and above all patience in matters of dispute, and embraces the thoughtful but rigorous communal study of Scripture. This article ultimately suggests that a pressing task facing the Communion today is to learn afresh how to be Anglican Christians in the twenty-first century.

scholarly journals EASTER CELEBRATIONS WITH A DIFFERENCE: A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE JOHANE MASOWE CHISHANU YENYENYEDZI APPROACH TO THE EVENT

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-35
Author(s):  
Phillip Musoni ◽  
Paul Gundani
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Holy Communion ◽  
Death Of Jesus ◽  
Evil Spirits ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Church

The celebration of Easter has become a universal event within the Christian liturgical calendar and aims to commemorate the passion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Messages on the passion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ are vigorously proclaimed throughout the holy week, which usually begins on a holy Thursday ending on a resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday). Some Churches will even dramatise the events that led to the death of Jesus Christ and how He was crucified on the cross. Apparently, the purpose of these ritual re-enactments is to capture the minds of the congregants on how their Saviour suffered and eventually died on the cross to bring salvation to humanity. Invariably, on resurrection Sunday, the services will end with a ritual of Holy Communion. However, while other Christian denominations commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter, we have noted that the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi Church celebrates ‘Easter’ with a difference. For them ‘Easter’ is the time to remember the ‘Fathers of the Faith’, i.e. the messianic leaders whom God raised to give leadership and guidance to the church. Every Easter, the Johane Masowe Chishanu yeNyenyedzi ReligiousMovement commemorates deliverance from evil spirits, which was made possible through the charismatic leadership of Shonhiwa Masedza (Johane), founder of the original ‘Church’; Mudyiwa Dzangara (Emanuere), second from Johane; and Sanders Nhamoyebonde (Sanders/Nyenyedzi), third from Johane.In the view of the Church adherents, Jesus Christ was sent by God to deliver people of mhiri yegungwa (overseas), i.e., the whites and the Jews, whilstMasedza, Mudyiwa and Nhamoyebonde were sent by God to deliver Africans.It is against this background that this study seeks to delve deeper into this religious movement’s unique ways of celebrating the memory of their spiritual leaders during Easter commemorations. Interviews and participant observation are the key tools used for data collection, since this movement under study has no written documents.

Human Nature and the Limits of Plasticity: Revisiting the Debate Concerning the Supernatural

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Church

SummaryKathryn Tanner’s recent work rehabilitates the decades-long debate concerning the supernatural, in which the church fathers feature as principal interlocutors. It is her particular

scholarly journals Personalitas Yesus dan Kritik terhadap Nestorius: Analisis Ibrani 4:12-14

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
Leti Yulita Samai ◽  
Hendi Hendi
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Church

Abstract: The doctrine of the personal personality of Jesus Christ is still controversial today. Jesus Christ is the central figure and has the highest authority in Christianity, Jesus Christ is trusted by Christians because He is the Savior of all mankind, the proof that He is the Savior is through the Incarnation of the divine nature taking Mary's human nature so that Jesus Christ has two natures in His person namely, divine and human, the nature of Jesus is distinguishable but inseparable. However, a Christian figure in the fifth century, Nestorius, gave the opinion that Jesus Christ had separate divine and human natures in two distinct persons. It was Nestorius's teaching that became a major debate and rejection by Church fathers such as Cyril of Alexandria and rejected Nestorius's teaching in the Church. The author uses the method of text analysis or exegesis from Hebrews 4:12-14 which includes syntactic and semantic analysis, the semantic content will be analyzed by interacting with other texts such as the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers. :12-14 to make comparisons with the teachings of Nestorius. Based on the results of the research in Hebrews 4:12-14 and the opinion of the church fathers, it shows that Nestorius' teaching is heresy and should not be accepted in the Church. Jesus Christ is fully God and human because in Him there are two natures or natures, namely divine and human and these two natures cannot be separated in two different persons, if the person of Jesus can be separated then He cannot die, rise and save all mankind and it is useless to believe in Him.Abstrak: Doktrin tentang personalitas pribadi Yesus Kristus masih menjadi kontroversi sampai zaman sekarang. Yesus Kristus adalah tokoh sentral dan memiliki otoritas tertinggi dalam Kekristenan, Yesus Kristus dipercaya oleh umat Kristiani karena Dia adalah Juruselamat bagi seluruh manusia, bukti bahwa Ia adalah Juruselamat yaitu melalui Inkarnasi natur keilahian menggambil natur kemanusiaan Maria sehingga Yesus Kristus memiliki dua natur dalam pribadi-Nya yaitu ilahi dan manusiawi, natur Yesus dapat dibedakan tetapi tidak bisa dipisahkan. Namun tokoh Kekristenan pada abad ke-lima yaitu Nestorius memberikan pendapat bahwa Yesus Kristus memiliki natur ilahi dan manusiawi yang terpisah dalam dua pribadi yang berbeda. Pengajaran Nestorius inilah yang menjadi perdebatan besar dan penolakan yang dilakukan oleh para bapa Gereja seperti Cyril dari Alexandria dan menolak pengajaran Nestorius dalam Gereja. Penulis menggunakan Metode analisis teks atau eksegesis dari surat Ibrani 4:12-14 yang mencangkup analisis sintaksis dan semantis, isi semantis akan dianalisis dengan berinteraksi pada teks-teks lain seperti Alkitab dan tulisan para Bapa Gereja, Selanjutnya Penulis juga mengambil hasil teks eksegesis Ibrani 4:12-14 untuk menjadikan bahan perbandingan dengan ajaran Nestorius. Berdasarkan Hasil penelitian Ibrani 4:12-14 dan pendapat para bapa Gereja menunjukan bahwa pengajaran Nestorius adalah bidah dan tidak sepantasnya diterima dalam Gereja. Yesus Kristus sepenuhnya Allah dan manusia karena dalam diri-Nya terdapat kedua natur atau kodrat yaitu ilahi dan manusiawi dan kedua natur ini tidak dapat dipisahkan dalam dua pribadi yang berbeda, jika pribadi Yesus dapat dipisahkan maka Dia tidak dapat mati bangkit dan menyelamatkan seluruh umat manusia dan sia-sialah beriman kepada-Nya.

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