Apostolic Fathers Flashcards
Clement - What are the titles that he ascribes to God in 33:2 when speaking of his creative activity?
“Why the Creator and Master of the universe Himself exults his works.”
Clement highlights two attributes of God when speaking of the creation of the heavens, what are they?
What do the adjectives that he attaches to these attributes suggest about how Clement is thinking about the Creator God?
- transcendent might > established the heavens
- incomprehensible understanding > ordered them
- Adjectives give us insight into his understanding of God; stresses the fact that God is beyond understanding; most likely applies to God the Father and is the one that is inaccessible to human beings, is beyond us; if God is inacesibe there must be some kind of intermediary and Clement considers Jesus as fulfilling this role.
Clement speaks of particular parts of creation coming into being in connection with God’s will, command, power, and hands. What parts of creation does he connect to each of these?
Will – separated the earth from the water
Command – bade creatures into existence
Power – established bounds of the creatures (land and sea)
Hands – formed man
In 36 Clement offers a compact but profound discussion of the person and work of Christ. Who does he identify Jesus Christ as in 36:1?
The High Priest
- Engaging Jewish tradition and Hebrews
In 36:2 Clement uses the phrase “through him” to highlight 5 different benefits believers receive through Christ; list the 5 benefits.
- we look straight at the heavens above
- we see mirrored God’s faultless and transcendent countenance
- the eyes of our heart were opened
- our unintelligent and darkened mind shoots up into the light
- the Master was pleased to let us taste the knowledge that never fades
In 49 Clement discusses the basis for the salvation of human beings. What, specifically, did “Jesus Christ our Lord” give for the salvation of “our bodies” and “our souls”?
His Blood for us by the will of God
His body for our bodies
His soul for our souls.
In 1Clement 46 and 58 we find two extremely primitive Trinitarian formulae. Identify the formulae and explain why you think I said that they are extremely primitive.
46:6 – “One God and one Christ and one Spirit…”
58:2 – “For as truly as God lives, as truly as the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit live…”
(Separate but not one)
In Eph 7:2 and 20:2 Ignatius gives us some insight into how he thinks of sin and salvation. What is the name that he uses for Jesus at the beginning of 7:2 and what does he call the bread that is broken in 20:2?
Physician
Bread
(Sin = sickness and a cure is needed)
Ignatius writes that Jesus is “both carnal and spiritual, born and unborn, God become man, true life in death; sprung both from Mary and from God, first subject to suffering and then incapable of it – Jesus Christ our Lord.” What is Ignatius’ methodology? That is to say, how does he go about affirming that Jesus is both divine and human?
Uses opposites to make two points
o Genetic model of Christology; springing from human and divine parents
o Healthy body is in equilibrium; Jesus is in perfect balance and wholly healthy and makes him capable of being the physician
Ignatius uses a striking metaphor to describe the work of salvation in Eph 9:1. What is the metaphor AND what, according to this metaphor, are the particular roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the work of salvation?
Ancient Hoisting Mechanism
o Jesus’ work on the cross is the hoisting engine and what powers/enable salvation.
o HS is the rope because Jesus is no longer around; HS makes Jesus present once again and connect people to him
o Faith is the windlass
o Love is the road
In Mag 6:1 Ignatius refers to two stages in the existence of Jesus Christ, what are they?
1 – Pre- Incarnated: before time began when He was with the father
2 – The Son on earth as a human being: the ministry of Jesus
- Strength of this statement is the description of preexistence
- Weakness is that it is too simple; divinity of Jesus is eternal but the humanity of Jesus is not eternal and Ignatius didn’t specify this
How did Ignatius conceive of the relationship between Jesus and the Father?
- united by will and activity
- No clarity as to whether or not they are one in will or if Jesus is just on board with God’s plan.
- Affirms divinity before during and after, but too simple. How is Jesus separate? Distinction and unity not distinguished.
- Jesus as ambassador
- The strength is that there is clear connection between father and jesus by identifying jesus as son and word
- Weakness because doesn’t specify how he is manifested, and “his word came forth out of silence into the world” seems to suggest that the Word doesn’t exist at some point.
