scholarly journals Did Christ Have a Conscience? Revisiting the Debates on Christ’s (Un)Fallen Humanity

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-602
Author(s):  
Ximian Xu
Keyword(s):  
Word Of God ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
God's Word

This article draws on the Dutch neo-Calvinist dogmatician Herman Bavinck’s notion of conscience to explore the question of whether Christ’s assumed humanity is fallen or unfallen. It will demonstrate that, for Bavinck, Christ’s conscience was silent and did not accuse or exonerate him according to the moral law (the word of God) as occurs in the postlapsarian conscience. Such a unique conscience reflects the unfallenness of Christ’s humanity and his impeccability. Moreover, Christ’s impeccability is concomitant with Christ’s permanent response to God’s word in faith. This suggests that in the eschaton, the human conscience will become silent in a faithful trust in the word of God.

Prophecy and the Priesthood of All Believers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Sujin Pak
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Priesthood Of All Believers ◽  
God's Word ◽  
False Prophets

Luther’s, Zwingli’s, Bucer’s, and Zell’s early uses of prophecy focused on buttressing their teachings of the priesthood of all believers, rejecting Roman Catholic distinctions between the spiritual and temporal estates, and challenging Roman Catholic “tyranny” over biblical interpretation. These Protestant reformers defined a true prophet as one who proclaims and interprets the Word of God alone; the prophet and prophecy were therefore significant tools for rejecting Roman Catholic authority—by spurning Roman Catholic conceptions of the priesthood and identifying Roman Catholic leaders as false prophets—and ultimately for asserting the prime authority of Scripture. In the 1520s lay pamphleteers, including several female pamphleteers, embraced Luther’s, Zwingli’s, Bucer’s, and Zell’s early conceptions of the prophet in order to defend their call to proclaim God’s Word, interpret Scripture, and rebuke wrong teaching.

scholarly journals Alkitab dalam Formasi Rohani pada Era Reformasi Gereja dan Implikasi bagi Gereja Pada Masa Kini

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
K Katarina ◽  
I Putu Ayub Darmawan
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Formation ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Church Member ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Present Context ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

This article discusses spiritual formation and God's Word in reformation. The formulation of the problem is the relationship between spiritual formation and God's Word in reformation. The author uses literature studies to collect information about spiritual formation and God's Word in reformation. Spirit for sola scriptura has produced a change in the life of the church at that moment. All teachings, church traditions, and practical actions which is conducted by church member must be tested under the Word of God. In the present context, church who facing various challenges related to moral life, teaching, and practical actions must return to the principles of word of God. To build a spiritual life, we must start from the Bible that is interpreted correctly, which then becomes a theological development, which then influences the concept of believer's thinking and practical actions. Artikel ini membahas tentang formasi rohani dan Firman Tuhan dalam reformasi. Rumusan masalah penelitian ini adalah bagaimana kaitan antara formasi rohani dan firman Tuhan dalam reformasi? Penulis menggunakan studi pustaka untuk menggali informasi tentang formasi rohani dan Firman Tuhan dalam reformasi. Semangat untuk sola scriptura menghasilkan perubahan dalam kehidupan gereja pada masa itu. Segala pengajaran, tradisi gereja, dan tindakan praktis yang dilakukan oleh setiap anggota gereja harus diuji di bawah Firman Tuhan. Dalam konteks masa kini, menghadapi berbagai tantangan gereja baik yang terkait dengan kehidupan moral maupun pengajaran dan tindakan praktis, gereja harus kembali pada prinsip Firman Tuhan. Untuk membangun kehidupan rohani maka harus dimulai dari Alkitab yang ditafsirkan secara benar yang kemudian menjadi sebuah bangunan teologi yang kemudian mempengaruhi konsep berpikir orang percaya dan tindakan praktis.

The Christian Life

2019 ◽  
pp. 240-256
Author(s):  
Stefan Heuser
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
God's Word ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Public Witness

This chapter explores Bonhoeffer’s understanding of the Christian life in its public witness to God’s worldly presence. For Bonhoeffer, the Christian life unfolds as God’s word draws human beings into the story of Christ and as human beings in turn respond through practices of prayer and doing justice for others. The first section of this chapter explores the grammar of the Christian life as witnessing to the word of God. The second outlines Bonhoeffer’s distinction between the ethics of formation and of conformation, which sets apart Bonhoeffer’s approach to the Christian life from some other Protestant approaches. Third, there follows an account of the Christological grammar of the Christian life as life ‘in Christ’. The final section reflects upon the significance of Bonhoeffer’s doctrine of the mandates for understanding the publicity of the Christian life and its relevance for public theology today.

scholarly journals External cultic tradition and internal ethical purity in Matthew 15

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francois P. Viljoen
Keyword(s):  
Hand Washing ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
God's Word ◽  
True Meaning ◽  
The Law ◽  
Matthean Community

In Matthew 15:1–20, Jesus responds to the accusation made by the Pharisees and the scribes that his disciples do not observe the tradition of hand-washing (οὐ γὰρ νίπτονται τὰς χεῖραςὅταν ἄρτον ἐσθίωσιν), because they do not wash their hands before they eat bread. In this story of dispute, two ideas are interwoven, namely the locus of impurity (external or internal) and the manmade tradition of the elders (ἡ παράδοσις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων) versus the Word of God (ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ). The Pharisees are depicted as obsessed with external manmade rules to ensure purity, whilst Jesus is concerned with inner purity based on God’s Word. In this article, the story is interpreted on two levels. The first level describes the dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees. The second level explores the tension the Matthean community experienced in their encounter with Pharisean Judaism of their day – the Judaism of the dual Torah. The question is which aspect of the Torah is challenged by Matthew’s Jesus, and what he considers to be the true meaning of the Law. It seems that Matthew uses this story to define and maintain the identity and values of his community over and against that of the Pharisees and their successors. Devices that Matthew uses to define the identity and required morality for his community, are identified. Such devices demonstrate how a community’s values can influence the identity and ethics of a society.In Matteus 15:1–20 reageer Jesus op die aantyging van die Fariseërs en skrifgeleerdes dat sy dissipels nie die handewas-tradisie eerbiedig nie. In hierdie verhaal van dispuut word twee idees vervleg: eerstens dié van die locus van onreinheid, en tweedens dié van mensgemaakte tradisies teenoor die Woord van God. Die Fariseërs word voorgestel as mense wat obsessiefis oor mensgemaakte reëls wat reinheid verseker, terwyl Jesus op innerlike reinheid gesteld is, wat op die Woord van God gebaseer is. In hierdie artikel word die verhaal op twee vlakke geïnterpreteer. Die eerste vlak beskryf die dispuut tussen Jesus en die Fariseërs. Die tweede vlak ondersoek die spanning wat die Matteus-gemeenskap in hulle verhouding met die Farisese Judaïsme van hulle tyd ervaar het. Die vraag is watter aspek van die Torah deur die Matteaanse Jesus bevraagteken word, en wat Hy as die ware betekenis van die Wet beskou. Dit wil voorkom asof Matteus hierdie verhaal gebruik om die identiteit en waardes van sy gemeenskap teenoor die dominante Farisese Judaïsme te definieer en te handhaaf. Middele wat Matteus gebruik om die identiteit en verlangde moraliteit van sy gemeenskap te definieer, word geïdentifiseer. Sodanige middele demonstreer hoe ’n gemeenskap se waardes die identiteit en etiek daarvan kan beïnvloed.

ONTOTHEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF LANGUAGE IN THE WORKS BY J.G. HAMANN

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
Aleksei V. Lyzlov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Language ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Language Characteristic ◽  
The Relationship

Understanding of the language in the works by J.G. Hamann is considered as preceding the M. Heidegger’s philosophy of language. However, if Heidegger refuses the theological concepts and thinks the language exclusively in an ontological way, Hamann understands the language not in an ontological, but in an ontotheological way. Hamann’s apprehension of the word as both the ground of all things and the basis of human understanding is discussed. The relationship between the word of God and the word of man; speech as a “translation” of the God’s word, that sounds in the creation, into the human language; the specifics of the language situation after the fall, are discussed as the essential themes of Hamann’s philosophy of language. The historicity of human language and speech and the interrelations between language, creativity and sexuality are posed as important themes of Hamann’s controversy with the contemporary to him philosophy of the Enlightenment contesting the instrumental understanding of language characteristic of the Enlighteners and their understanding of reason as having no external preconditions, a supraindividual and supra-historical instance.

Ecclesia ex Auditu A Reformed View of the Church as the Community of the Word of God

1982 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31
Author(s):  
Alan E. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Word Of God ◽  
Systematic Account ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
The People ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Tradition

Does a church in the Reformed tradition ever express its own essence and self-understanding more clearly than when, in the liturgy, with the subtlest blend of invitation and command, the minister bids the congregation: ‘Hear the Word of God!’? Here, in dramatic, personal (but corporate) encounter between the people and God's Word — delivered first as Scripture and then expounded as proclamation — the church becomes anew what it already and always is: a community of the Word. A people are summoned into being by living, creative, divine Speech, and from their own side come into being — or better, move toward their true being — through the only appropriate response to divine Speech, namely that faith which comes by hearing (Rom. 10: 17). Our concern here is not to offer a systematic account of this Reformed understanding of the church in all its major aspects, but simply to raise a few of the hermeneutical questions involved: what does it mean for a church tradition to understand itself in these predominantly verbal and auditory categories, indeed to think of the whole encounter between God and man as occurring primarily in the mode of speech and hearing?

The crisis of obedience: God's word and Henry's reformation

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Rex
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Royal Authority ◽  
Good Works ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Lutheran Theology ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Significant Achievement ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTThe new political theology of obedience to the prince which was enthusiastically adopted by the Church of England in the 1530s was essentially founded upon Luther's new interpretation of the fourth commandment. It was mediated to an English audience by Tyndale, but his ideas were not officially adopted as early as some recent research has suggested. The founding of royal authority on the Decalogue, and thus on the ‘word of God’, was a particularly attractive feature of this doctrine, which became almost the defining feature of Henrician religion. Rival tendencies within the Church of England sought to exploit it in the pursuit of their particular agendas. Reformers strove to preserve its connections with the broader framework of Lutheran theology, with the emphasis on faith alone and the ‘word of God’, while conservatives strove to relocate it within an essentially monastic tradition of obedience, with an emphasis on good works, ceremonies, and charity. The most significant achievement was that of the Reformers, who established and played upon an equivocation between the royal supremacy and the ‘word of God’ in order to persuade the king to sanction the publication of the Bible in English as a formidable prop for his new-found dignity.

Lee Roy Martin, The Unheard Voice of God: A Pentecostal Hearing of the Book of Judges: A Theological Review

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-29
Author(s):  
Robert Pope
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Book Of Judges

AbstractThis review of Lee Roy Martin's The Unheard Voice of God: A Pentecostal Hearing of the Book of Judges draws on some of the main themes of the book and poses some theological questions with the intention of continuing the book's constructive agenda. The aim is a dialogue in which aspects of Dr Martin's argument are rehearsed, questioned and brought alongside insights from other theological traditions. Hermeneutics are under consideration, specifically a Pentecostal hermeneutic, but so too are the more fundamental questions of how scripture speaks a Word of God into the faith community and how that faith community might hear it. The review emphasises the need to be careful, faithful and expectant hearers and suggests that the reader and the expositor might also have a place to play in a Pentecostal hermeneutic. Some insights from Reformed theology are presented, particularly the importance of proclamation and the role which the Holy Spirit plays in receiving and living in obedience to God's word. In conclusion, a number of questions are posed while Dr Martin's contribution is noted and applauded.

The ‘Bible’ of Thomas Merton: A Biblical Reading of American Identity in Selected Writings of Thomas Merton, and Specifically Opening the Bible (1970)

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-198
Author(s):  
Anthony Purvis
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Actual Experience ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Critical Account ◽  
Thomas Merton ◽  
The One

Opening the Bible(1970) is Thomas Merton’s major critical account of the Bible and biblical theology. Writing the book made him anxious; and the first version of the book forTime-LifeBooks in 1966 was never published. Yet he also knew he had to complete the book. For Merton, the Bible’s message is urgent. In times of great crisis, everything human culture holds sacred must come under scrutiny and judgement. Everything must be measured according to the Bible’s mandate to love God in neighbour. Yet there is a central paradox in Merton’s discussion, and it is this which makes what he says all the more compelling. On the one hand, Merton commends a book which he claims offers no explanations. It asks us to look to the future; and it asks us not to put faith in ourselves but in a truth which is not seen. On the other hand, the Bible is God’s word and it is authoritative. Its authority, however, is revealed in human history. The Bible’s over-arching historical narrative is one which asks those who hear its message to transform lives and human relationships. Using a range of critics and writers, including Barth, Bultmann and Faulkner, Merton contends that the ‘word of God’ is recognised in actual experience and in its power to fundamentally change how people see each other and the created world.

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