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).

The Confession ‘Jesus is God’ in the New Testament

1957 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-299
Author(s):  
A. W. Wainwright
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Rudolf Bultmann ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
World Council

In a chapter of his book Glaube und Verstehen, recently translated into English under the title Essays Philosophical and Theological, Professor Rudolf Bultmann has discussed, by no means favourably, the Christological Confession of the World Council of Churches. The words of the Confession are: ‘The World Council of Churches is composed of Churches which acknowledge Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.’ Bultmann directs his attention chiefly to the confession that Jesus is God. In the New Testament he finds only one verse in which Jesus is un-doubtedly called God. That is John 20.28, in which Thomas addresses Jesus as ‘My Lord and my God!’ In contrast with this single example, there is in Bultmaann's opinion a great amount of evidence that the writers of the New Testament believed that Jesus was subordinate to His Father.

scholarly journals Teologia kapłaństwa i urzędu kapłańskiego w I wieku chrześcijaństwa

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Dariusz Kasprzak
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Good News ◽  
New Covenant ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church

Neither the Apostles nor any Christian minister is admitted to use the priest’s title in the text of the New Testament. Nevertheless, in the New Testament we can perceive the development of the doctrine of the priest ministry in the early Church. Albert Vanhoye maintains that the lack of the term “priest” in the New Testament suggests the way of understanding of the Christian ministry, different from this in the Old Testament. It can’t be considered as a continuation of Jewish priesthood, which was concentrated mainly on ritual action and ceremonies. In the first century the Church developed the Christology of priesthood (Hbr) and ecclesiology of priesthood (1 P). Early Christians focused first on the redemptive event of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant. Only then the religious communities adopted the priest’s title for their ministry.In the early years of the Church, all the ministries were regarded as a charismatic service among the Christian communities. In their services the early Christians followed Jesus Christ sent by God to serve. The Holy Spirit sent by God in the name of Jesus bestowed the spiritual gifts upon the Church (1 Kor 12–13). Consequently the disciples of Jesus and their successors could continue his mission. The Twelve Apostles’ ministry was the very first and most important Christian ministry. It was closely connected to the service of Jesus Christ himself. The Apostles were sent by the authority of Jesus Christ to continue his mission upon earth and they preached the Good News of the risen Christ. The Apostolicity was the fundamental base for every Church ministry established in different Christian communities. Successive ministries were established in order to transmit the teaching of Jesus Christ and to lead the community. For the early Christians the priesthood was not an individual privilege. It had rather the community character.

“Born of the Virgin Mary”: Toward a Sprachregelung on a Delicate Point of Doctrine

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-143
Author(s):  
Frans Josef van Beeck
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Infancy Narratives ◽  
The Church

This essay offers an interpretation of the traditional catholic teaching that “Jesus Christ, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary”. The author reviews recent exegesis and theology, then revisits the tradition of the church, then discusses the contrast between the physiological “facts” involved in human conception as they were understood in the classical periods — and thus at the place and time of the composition of the infancy narratives — and the accepted modern, scientific account of the same “facts”. He argues that neither the New Testament nor the Church teaches that Jesus' virginal conception is a cosmological miracle: rather this is a conclusion of the data of the faith, not an article of faith in and of itself. This should guide our speech in ministry.

The Future of Mission in the World Council of Churches: The Dialogue between Lesslie Newbigin and Konrad Raiser

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-111
Author(s):  
Michael Goheen
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Cross ◽  
General Secretary

AbstractIn this article, Michael W. Goheen summarizes and evaluates a debate between ecumenical pioneer Lesslie Newbigin and former WCC general secretary Konrad Raiser. Raiser exemplifies a trinitarian approach to ecumenism and mission that recognizes the universal presence of the Holy Spirit among all peoples and religions, and so would cease to have a Christocentric focus. For Newbigin, while a trinitarian approach to ecumenism and mission is of paramount importance, an abandonment of the centrality and universality of Jesus Christ is something that cannot be abandoned. In the end, says Goheen, the differences between Raiser and Newbigin are differences revolving around the meaning of Jesus Christ and his atoning work on the cross.

Jesus Christ as Savior in the New Testament

1981 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-156
Author(s):  
Reginald H. Fuller
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Cross

The various versions of salvation in the New Testament have a prior unity in the event of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Intellectual Humility and the Community of the Sacraments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Close Connection ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Intellectual Humility ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

This chapter considers the role that the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist play in fostering a proper attitude of intellectual humility within Christian community. The sacraments dramatically enact the union with Christ that we have argued in previous chapters to define Christian intellectual humility, embodying the truth that our intellectual identities are not autonomous, but are dependent upon the constitutive identity of Jesus Christ and are located within the community of the church. Both baptism and Eucharist are understood within the New Testament to communicate the eschatological identity of the church, and therefore the distinctive character of our relationship to the reality of evil. The chapter will pay particular attention to the way that Paul directs his readers to think differently in response to the significance of the sacraments. It will also consider the close connection of the command to ‘love one another’ to the sacraments.

The New Testament Basis of the Doctrine of the Church

1950 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. Manson
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Doctrine Of The Church ◽  
The Church

As the starting-point of this paper I take the question, When did the Church come into existence? It is a question to which a great variety of answers is given; but they can be classified in two groups according to whether they put the birth of the Church before or after the death of Christ. These two groups again correspond roughly with two ways of thinking about the Church. We may think of it primarily as an organization with a function to perform; and in that case we shall think—as I do—of its coming into being at the moment that Jesus called his first disciple. Or we may think of it as a body of people who possess a certain status before God—forgiven sinners, redeemed persons or the like—and in that case we shall tend to think of its coming into being as a sequel to the completed redemptive work of Christ on the Cross.

Scripture and Tradition

1953 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-135
Author(s):  
Oscar Cullmann
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Knowing How ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

The problem of the relationship between Scripture and Tradition is in the first place a problem of the theological relationship between the apostolic period and the period of the Church. All the other questions depend on the solution that we give to this problem. The alternatives—co-ordination or subordination of Tradition to Scripture—derive from the question of knowing how we must understand the fact that the period of the Church is the continuation and unfolding of the apostolic period. For we must note right away that this fact is capable of divergent interpretations. That is why agreement on the mere fact that the Church continues the work of Christ on earth does not necessarily imply agreement on the relationship between Scripture and Tradition. Thus in my thesis developed in Christ and Time as well as in my studies on the sacraments in the New Testament I came considerably nearer to the ‘Catholic’ point of view. In fact I would affirm very strongly that through the Church the history of salvation is continued on earth. I believe that we find this idea throughout the New Testament, and I should even consider it the key for the understanding of the Johannine Gospel. I would maintain, moreover, that the sacraments, Baptism and Eucharist, take the place in the Church of the miracles performed by Jesus Christ in the period of the Incarnation. And yet I am going to show in the following pages that I subordinate Tradition to Scripture.

scholarly journals Materia i forma sakramentu Eucharystii

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 35-51
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Janczewski
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Body ◽  
Holy See ◽  
Last Supper ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Church

Jesus Christ constituted the sacrament of Eucharist during last supper. This article shows what it is the matter and the form of this sacrament. It quotes the bibical texts from the New Testament and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. It analyses the law of Holy See: the Popes, the Councils, and the Vatican Congregations. At the beginning the article shows the matter which is necessary to consecration of the bread, and to consecration of the wine. This bread and this wine will becoming later the Blood and the Body of Jesus Christ. The next part of this article is about the form conforming to Eucharist. The last part of this elaboration shows, what influence have the different defects of the matter and the form, relating on validity of consecration of Eucharist.

scholarly journals Pneumatologi för Jesu efterföljelse: Om treenigheten och kyrkan i Stanley Grenz teologi

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Spjuth
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

In today’s ecclesiology, the notion of the Spirit and the church has been heavily influenced by a recent and broad retrieval of Trinitarian theology. In this article, I discuss this in relationship to baptist and evangelical traditions as it is represented by Stanley Grenz. His “theology for the community of God” demonstrates the fruitfulness of the Trinitarian retrieval for such traditions. However, the main argument in the article is that it also implies certain risks. According to the Baptist tradition, the central message of the New Testament is the invitation to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. As Kathryn Tanner and Karen Kilby have argued elsewhere, when the biblical challenge to be like Jesus Christ is turned into a more general exhortation to become an image of the Trinity, it often results in abstract ethics and an ecclesiology that focuses mainly on general exhortations to love and to live in community. In contrast, this article claims that the biblical notion of discipleship has greater possibilities to allow for a more substantial and more holistic account of the Church, one that reunites ecclesiology, ethics and the Spirit’s transformative work within liturgy, charismatic service and mission.

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