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Jesus Christ: God and Man |
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1. Jesus Christ is the center of our faith as the eternal Son of the Father who is also endowed with the Holy Spirit in his Incarnation. 2. There is no Christology without the teaching on the Trinity and no teaching on the Trinity without Christology. 3. There is no Christology without the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises and the opening of the Church, the People of God, to the whole world. The Apostles’ Growth in Faith • How did the Apostles come to this rule of faith? How was the Apostles’ journey of faith? They have trouble integrating the Lord’s Passion and death into their view of the Messiah and Son of God. It is only after Easter, when the Lord breathes on them the Holy Spirit, that they reach the fullness of faith in the Lord Jesus. From implicit faith to explicit faith. Jesus was gradually revealed to the Apostles as Son of God during his public life. Jesus accepted Peter’s profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” for he replies to Peter that the Father in heaven has revealed this to him. 2 approcahes: Christology From “Below” and From “Above” • Christology from below (Jesus’ birth, earthly life and human teaching ministry, Passion and death – all that deals with his true humanity) is enlightened by Christology from above (direct union with and obedience to his Father, miracles, prophetic teaching, Resurrection – all that indicates his Divine Sonship). The two phases of Jesus’ life belong together. The Titles of the Lord • The Creed joins Jesus’ name with his three titles: (1) Christ, or the Messiah, (2) his Trinitarian title of only Son, and (3) his sovereign title of Lord. 1. Jesus – God Saves. The name of Jesus (God saves) evokes God’s plan of saving activity in which he intervenes in history to save us from sin. The name Jesus given to the newborn child of Bethlehem sums up God’s saving might in history as well the peak of that activity when God gave his only Son to us. 2. Christ, or Messiah: a Threefold Office. The word “messiah” means “the anointed one.” Jesus had to transform the Messianic hope from the political, earthly kingship or priesthood in order to raise it to the level of his divine mission as Son ushering in a basically spiritual kingdom of God. 3. The Only Son of God. In Old Testament usage, “son of God” was used for angels and the chosen people, the children of Israel and their kings. In the Synoptics (cf. Mk 1:11) at his Baptism, a voice from heaven designates Jesus as “My Son, the beloved in whom I am well pleased.” At his Transfiguration (Mk 9:2-8), a voice comes from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him.” He also spoke of himself as the Son to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in the parable of the vineyard, when he described himself as the Son whom the owner of the vineyard sent last of all after sending the other servants (Mk 12:1-9). Jesus could teach us about his Father, using “Father, Abba” for his prayer but reserving the “Our Father” for his disciples. It is in the Garden of Olives that he uses the more intimate Abba (Mk 14:36). At his trial, to the question about his identity, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” he gave the direct answer: “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mk 14:61-62). Messiah (Christ) is being interpreted by Son of God (the Blessed One). 4. Lord. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Hebrew name for God, which is never pronounced, is translated as Kyrios, or Lord. Lord becomes the usual way of speaking of God. The New Testament continues to apply the full sense of the title to the Father and then applies the same title to the Son after his Resurrection. By its use in the Gospels and at the time of the Resurrection – “It is the Lord” (Jn 21:7) – the title takes on a connotation of love and adoration that becomes the ordinary Christian way of speaking of Jesus as the Lord Jesus.
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