The Person Of Jesus Christ Flashcards
Key concept of this unit
- Jesus the son of God (divine)
- Jesus the teacher of Wisdom
- Jesus the Liberator
- ‘christians have no problem accepting christ as holy, as God. But they always have problems accepting him as a human being at the same time’ - Zeffireli = encaspulates the first majore issue regarding the person of christ
Summary/inro of this unit
The person of Jesus Christ is the question of who Jesus was. There are three options we should consider – the son of God, a teacher of wisdom and a political liberator. Proponents of these views point to different aspects of Jesus’ life as evidence for their overall view of who Jesus was.
Jesus the Human - why he is important?
- if Jesus did not die and feel pain, the resurrection would not be real. Christianity would be false.
‘if Christ has not been raised, then our faith is dead’ 1 corithians - He had to be human - only humans need saving
- He had to be God, only God can save
- If he wasn’t God he couldn’t overcome evil, if he wasn’t human he couldn’t overcome evil for humanity
Evidence that suggest Jesus is the son of God
- title used for Jesus in the New Testament and in the early church
- Jesus’ Baptism + transfiguration
- links to the idea to the doctrine of the trinity and incarnation
- The knowlegde between God and Jesus was mysterious - Jesus calls God ‘Abba’ and a heavenly voice declares Jesus ‘my son’ = personal relationship
- ‘the word was God’
- The Bible shows Jesus divine nature e.g. through performing mircales
The Son of God view
The Trinity
- the Nicene Creed which proclaimed the trinitarian view correct
- Belief in one God
- Christ is the Son of God, “eternally begotten” of the Father
- This was developed by The Chalcedonian Definition;. The definition claims that Christ has two natures which join together in one being. = Hypostatic union
- “Christ is to us One and the same Son’’
God as fully Human & fully divine
The idea that Jesus is fully divine and fully Human creates issues as humanity. Christian’s reject the idea of a Demi-God.
- Jesus saved humanity = therefore must be God
- Jesus had to be human in order to live on earth like humans do
- The doctrine of homoousios (supported by Bindley - ‘truly God and Truly Man) - states that Jesus was of the same substance(as one being). They rejected he was the mix between the two
O’Collins (1993) writes how we cannot draw any conclusive answers abt the inner life of anyone
He agred that we have a unique relationship with God but argued we cannot know the Inner world of any being
Problems with God as fully divine/human
- Jesus would have been courptiable if hes fully human, human sin = suggests that Jesus is flawed
- Jesus would be falliable he would be able to make mistakes, Jesus is tempted to sin = e.g. Jesus becomes angry in the temple
- Hick: the gospel of John was the last written of the 4 gospels (90-110AD) – casting doubt on its credibility. = Perhaps the divinity of Jesus was a later invention.
- The earlier gospels don’t include any clear statements of divine self-identification from Jesus.
Jesus the teacher of wisdom:
Jesus the rabbi
- rabbi’ means teacher or leader.
- trying to teach humanity new ways of living/ responding to ethical problems
- He chose sinners as his disciples
- The disciples sometimes addressed Jesus as ‘rabbi‘.
- He taught in synagogues and in the open e.g. Matthew 5:17-48 = The Sermon on The Mount – teachings such as ‘turn the other cheek.’
- His teachings were about the importance of love in the face of hatred, forgiveness of sins, love of enemies, love of God, inclusion of outcasts.
Bonhoeffer linked the idea of incarnation to humanity, the incarnation of Christ allows us to encounter God in human life in a special way
“Jesus was a great moral teacher” - Dawkins = he even recognises this - however c.s lewis says no
advocates for practising for what he preached - othrapraxis over othrodoxy - physically breaking down the preoneptions about gender etc
question if Jesus was just one of many?
evaluation: Hick’s understanding of Jesus
book: The Myth of God incarnate.
- Jesus’s awareness of God’s will and willingness to act on it are not unique to him; others can also perceive and follow God’s will.it is also found in Moses/Abraham was jesus just one of those? why is their no relgion for them?
-
shows that there are different paths to salvation
(the idea of God coming to earth should be taken as a metaphor) - In this interpretation, Jesus is not a unique figure with a unique role in salvation
- Jesus is a role model for the kind of transformation that is needed for salvation - self-centredness to other-centredness
- Hick understands Jesus as a metaphorical incarnation (not a real one) who remains close to God and sets an example of how to live a moral life
- Hick is attempting to provide a universally accepted understanding of Jesus (he is retaining the central beliefs whilst removing those that are controversial)
Responses to Hick
Bonhoeffer
- Bonhoeffer links the incarnation to both human salvation and an understanding that we meet God in human beings. This has strong links to the idea that we encounter God in the oppressed, the struggle for justice etc.
- Without the incarnation, a connection is lost with the idea of encountering God in human life and, their seriousness and significance
- Lewis rejects hicks views as Jesus’ moral nature cannot be separated from his divine
Jesus the son of God: Medieval theology
the knowlge he may of had
Medieval theologians thought that we have knowldge of God in 3 ways:
Scientia Visions: face to face knowledge of the divine reality of God.)
Scientists infusa: an infused knowledge (given not learned by God)
Scienta experienta: knowledge gained through experience (the human way)
Jesus as the son of God - The miracles of Jesus
There are numerus accounts of Jesus performing healing and nature mircales. These include:
- healing the sick
- walking on water
- jesus feed the 5000
- healed the bleeding woman - Jesus overturned social norms, had women followers and heals a woman through touch - scandolous at the time - suggests an inclusive attitude - this arguement goes against Daly
Why is it important that Jesus could perform miracles?
* Demonstrates his authority
* For Christians, it reinforces the idea that he is God’s Son
* Shows he is God incarnate
Evaluation with miracles
18th century philospher: Hume (1711) - argued that we should treat these miracles stories with specticsm (with doubt) & believe a more likely explanation to the event
1. Lack of probability: the miracle could be incorrect
- N.T Wright suggests that the miracle stories should be understood in terms of the intentions of the writer as showing that Jesus has the power and the authority to unite people. Jesus’ authority is more important than what exactly he did in any given story. For example, raising the dead girl showed Jesus’ authority over death = its about WHO he helps/why?
- Schillebeekc argued that miracles are to be taken metaphorically rather than literally. For example, Marks Gospel was wriiten for persecuted christians, so a reader can take comfort in stories such as the calimng of the strom for unsettling situations
catholics - The son of God
The early church cleared up all heretical doctrines such as:
- DOECETISM : The belief Jesus was of pure spirits
- ARAINISM : The belief that Jesus was of a lesser substance to God the father
- This created the HYPOSTATIC UNION: To affirm the pefect conjunction of Jesus two natures (human & divine)
Jesus the liberator - Jesus’ challengers to social
- challenged social conventions, aswell as in more theological sense liberating humanity from the imprisonment of sin & death
- spoke out against the domination of the rich over the poor . (Including social outcasts)
- Lukes Gospel in particular emphasises Jesus’ inclusion of women in his mission even though they lived in a patriarchal society.
(not considered as equals) - Sought to break down the division between God and people
- To some he was a reformer, seeking political revolution and the freeing of the people of Israel from the Romans (messiah)
- wanted to bring about chnge that went againsts religious laws at the time - took matters into his own hands
