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Theology of the sacraments
Theology of the sacraments
The role of sacraments to christians
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About Christ…
The mystery of the incarnation means that our humanity cannot comprehend the way Jesus Christ was fully divine and fully human. Within the person of Christ, there is a perfect union between two distinct essences, one is divine and one is human. For Christ to be the perfect human means he suffered and died, for Christ to be the perfect deity means he resurrected and conquered death for all. Christ, through the Spirit, is the way in which our humanity experiences the presence of God. We are able to stand in the presence of God because of Christ. God took on the form of a servant and was without sin. But because of his servant-taken-form, he was able to fully understand humanity. Jesus did not take away from or detract the glory of God in the incarnation, but in the form of a servant, He was able to grasp the sinfulness of man and became an offering for our sin.
About atonement…
Atonement, salvation, reconciliation, and redemption are all words used to describe the work Christ did to bring God and humanity together despite humanity’s attempts to run away. The Bible is one story from beginning to end of God putting his family back together. Atonement, Christ’s sacrifice, is the way in which God puts his family back
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Through the sacraments we see God, united with Christ, through the Spirit dwelling and moving within creation. We participate in the sacraments out of love and obedience, but our obedience is not the point. We participate in the sacraments through the power of the Holy Spirit, to encounter the grace of God. This is something God does, not us. Experiencing God through baptism, common meal, and gathering as the church happens because of God’s grace, not because of anything human-focused. The sacraments are moments with God along the journey which move us along and are not meant to substitute discipleship or
In this first chapter of Jesus and the Disinherited , the author Howard Thurman describes
In The Meaning of Jesus N.T. Wright and Marcus Borg present different views on issues relating to how Jesus is viewed. While Borg and Wright do agree on central ideals of Christianity, Borg tends to have more liberal views, whereas Wright holds more conservative views.
“The word "Incarnation"comes from the Latin words "in" and "carnis" which means “flesh."" Flesh is the solid part of our being, the part that we can see and touch, in contrast to our mind, soul, and spirit” According to John 4:24, God in his natural form is a spirit. In God’s plan of salvation, “it was necessary for the Son of God to be revealed to humankind in ways that they could see and touch, and so the Incarnation was a part of the plan-- placing the eternal, immortal, invisible Son of God in a body of flesh”(Lehigh, David). According to the Catholic Church, “The Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human.
The central teachings of traditional Christianity teachings were created to assure that man could work out his salvation. Therefore, making man responsible for finding his way to God, so that he could have a personal relationship with his Savior through Jesus the Son of God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2017). Jesus Christ attracted followers who eventually took his teachings throughout the Roman world and beyond. Jesus, who was born to Mary and Joseph in Judea teaching methods placed him in conflict with prevailing Jewish beliefs and authorities; nevertheless, Jesus message inspired a small group of followers, who believed he was the Messiah (Matthews et al., 2014). However, the meaning of Jesus’s
In the parables and teachings of Jesus in the book of Matthew, when Jesus is faced with describing how one should judge others he states, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged…” (Matthew, pg. 179). To Jesus withholding judgement was crucial to stemming hypocrisy and empowering his followers to self-reflect. When thinking of the philosophical implications of Jesus’ teachings it is important to ask what the principles upon which he defines goodness are. How might his teachings differ from the works of Aristotle when it comes to defining relationships and defining what makes people good or bad?
...is composed of two natures, one external, one internal, one divine the other human, one invisible and one visible. “For notwithstanding this supreme and divine state, he experienced swaddling clothes, the crèche, childhood and the powerlessness of childhood, flight and persecution” (pg 144). God experienced the lowliness of human nature. Even though Jesus experienced all these states he was truly God-man. However, the glory of the Father wasn’t established in him yet. It was deferred by the plan of God for his son. This division only existed in Jesus. It was for the sole purpose of representing and erasing the separation that occurred between God and his creatures through sin. Jesus was separated from glory due to love. So its our duty to love Jesus in his love. It was due to love he gave his divinity to humanity. The mystery is love and only can be love.
We know that Christ is someone unique and distinct in many ways from every other man, especially in his incarnation. This word Incarnation basically means `made flesh'. This passage shows the unique and miraculous events which were involved in Christ's incarnation.
We can see the birth of Jesus in Matthew (Matt 1:18-25) (Matt 2:1-12), Luke (Luke 2:1-2) and John (John1:1-18). Both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus’ birth place was in Bethlehem in Judea in the time of King Herod of Judea and Emperor Augustine of the Roman Empire. The gospels tell us that Jesus was born in a stable under an inn (Luke 2:7). This is unlikely because Bethlehem was the birthplace of David, who was Joseph’s ancestor. This means that there may have been a house with his cousins or extended family there. The Hebrew word for inn can also be described as ‘the upper room’ and in traditional Jewish houses, there was an upper room where the family stayed and underneath this was the place where the animals were kept. This could have been seen as the stable under the ‘inn’. Now because of the census performed by Emperor Augustine the Jews had to travel to their ancestral home that meant that the house Mary and Joseph were staying at could have been full, so the upper room was full, making the only available room for the baby to be born in the stable below. Jesus was thought to be traditionally born in 1AD after the Monk Dionysus Exigus tried to calculate the year, from the Birth of Jesus, by taking away the reigns of Kings. Unfortunately Exigus made a few errors and Jesus is now thought to be born a few years BC. We know that in Matt 2:1 and Matt2:16 (Luke 1:55) that King Herod the Great was the ruler of Judea. From Roman records we know that King Herod died in 4BC near the feast of the Passover. This means that the earliest time Jesus could have been born was early 4BC. Herod plays an integral part in determining Jesus birth date because it also could explain the Bethlehem Star, which we...
“The atonement made our salvation possible” (Erickson 1998:799). I think this line cements the centrality of the atonement to the Gospel, we could even say from the above statement...
By redemption, Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God from whom we were estranged because of sin.
The term “atonement” originates from the Greek word katallage which means “reconciliation, restoration to favor”. The HELPS Word Studies gives this definition, “reconciliation (restoration) as the resulting of Christ exactly (precisely) exchanging His righteousness (blood) for our guilt. During the Old Testament times, sin was only
y Name is Irma Rivera J. I’m currently in my second year at HCC in pursuit of a Business Degree majoring in Accounting. I’m taking this course to complete my Humanities requirement, and because I’ve always been enthusiastic and intrigued with religion as a whole. I was raised up Catholic but as I grew older I’m more open to many religions and don’t feel I belong to any one particular religion but a blend of many. I would classify myself a Christian Omnist. (I just learned
According to Christianity, God sent His son, Jesus,to the world to spread His message. In Christianity Jesus has a very important role and through his parables God’s word is spread. Jesus used a sermon and several parables to create a core ethical system that explained God’s real nature, directed how His people must live, and warned of the consequences of failing to follow these teachings.
In the bible, Jesus and his resurrection into heaven is seen as a pivotal part of his life and the lives of all humankind. By being risen up by the Lord, Jesus is validating what only a select few believed. He was truly the Son of God and the Son of Man. God, the all powerful, was able to raise Christ from the dead and once again, have him at his right hand side. Jesus had to be resurrected in order to fulfill the prophecies made about the Messiah and prove to the disbelievers that he was who he claimed to be. This was exactly what occurred when disbelievers heard of the resurrection occurring. As found in the Gospel of Luke, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for
The greatest communicator I know has overcome the world by communication. a man who communicated love so well that He would rather die than ever be without me. A communicator so great, that he borne my griefs, carried my sorrows and was even pierced for my transgressions. The greatest communicator I know is a man named Jesus.