Theology Terms Tuesday – Monophysitism.
January 5, 2010 at 5:01 pm | Posted in Christology, Theological Terms, Trinity | Leave a Comment
Sorry for the lack of posts over the last two weeks. I decided to take a little blogging break over the holiday. Much needed rest was needed. Anyway, I am cooking up some ideas for a new series for our weekly terms in mean time enjoy this fun term as well as some history:
Monophysitism.
Derived from monos, “single,” and physis, “nature,” monophysitism is the doctrine which holds that the incarnate Christ had only a single, divine nature, clad in human flesh. It is sometimes called Eutchianism, after Eutyches (d.454), one of its leading defenders. Since the Council of Chalcedon, which confirmed as orthodox the doctrine of two natures, divine and human, monophysitism has been considered heretical. Its roots probably go back to Apollinaris (ca. 370), who laid tremendous stress on the fusion of the divine and human. Alexandria became the citadel of this doctrine, and Cyril, although deemed orthodox, furnished fule for the fire kindled by his successor, Dioscorus, and Eutyches, who denied that Christ’s body was the same in essence as the bodies of men. Their chief opponent was Leo I of Rome, whose formulation of the doctrine of two natures in one persone triumphed at Chalcedon.
John Piper Answers “Was it possible for Jesus to Sin”
October 20, 2009 at 3:16 pm | Posted in Christology | Leave a Comment
The Doctrine of Union With Christ and the Eucharist
July 26, 2009 at 2:42 pm | Posted in Christology, John Calvin, Quotes, Reading, Union with Christ | Leave a CommentCalvin looked at it this way: When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper here on earth, we are communing with Christ in His divine nature. Calvin said that in this act of mystical communion with the divine presence of Christ, the human nature of Christ is made present to us. In other words, when we meet at the Lord’s Table with Christ through His divine nature, that nature is still in perfect union with the human nature. Therefore, we are communing with the whole Christ. It is not because His body and blood are brought to earth or our bodies and blood are carried to heaven. It is simply that in this intimate meeting at the Lord’s Table, we commune with the perfectly united person of Christ, not just with His divine nature. So even though we are apart from the human nature of Jesus, we really commune with Him in His human nature. This view keeps the human nature human and the divine nature divine, and strongly emphasizes that we truly are communing with the real presence of Jesus Christ at the Lord’s Supper.
From A Taste for Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity by R.C. Sproul.
John Owen on Christ Suffering the Tantundem of the Law’s Punishmentthe Idem, Not t
June 18, 2009 at 5:32 am | Posted in Christology | Leave a CommentTheology Terms Tuesday – Ascension of Jesus.
June 9, 2009 at 3:24 pm | Posted in Christology, Theological Terms | Leave a Comment
The Ascension of Jesus refers to Jesus bodily ascending to heaven in the presence of his apostles, forty days following his resurrection. This ascension is well attested in the New Testament, described in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:1-12. The ascension takes place after his resurrection (John 20:17; Acts 1:3). In the gospel of Luke it is stated that “he left them and was taken up into heaven” (Luke 24:51). In Acts, Luke adds that, “…he was taken up to heaven” (Acts 1:2) and that, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). When Jesus actually ascended, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts 1:9).
Most references in Scripture speak of Jesus’ ascended status and do not actually mention how he came to be in heaven. These passages speak more of Jesus’ “exalted state”, that is, his present status in heaven after the experience of his ascension. Most notably is the quotation of Psalm 110:1, “sitting at the right hand of God”. This is the most quoted OT text in the NT. Mark places the use of this Psalm in the very teachings of Jesus (Mark 12:35-37; 14:62). Furthermore, Paul gives reference to Jesus’ exalted state in Philippians 2:8-11, stating in verses 9-11 that “…God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Elsewhere, Paul makes reference to Christ being “taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Other passages attest the very same about Jesus and give suggestion to his ascension into heaven (cf. John 6:62, 13:1-3, 16:5 & 28, 20:17; Acts 2:32-33; Hebrews 4:14, 9:24; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 1:12-18, 3:21).
Enjoying Christ and ALL His Benefits.
June 9, 2009 at 3:54 am | Posted in Christology, Gospel, John Calvin, Love | Leave a Comment“How do we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on his only-begotten Son — not for Christ’s own private use, but that he might enrich poor and needy men?
First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us. For this reason, he is called ‘our Head’ [Eph. 4:15], and ‘the first-born among many brethren’ [Rom. 8:29]. We also, in turn, are said to be ‘engrafted into him’ [Rom. 11:17], and to ‘put on Christ’ [Gal 3:27]; for, . . . all that he possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him.
It is true that we obtain this by faith. Yet since we see that not all indiscriminately embrace that communion with Christ which is offered through the gospel, reason itself teaches us to climb higher and to examine into the secret energy of the Spirit, by which we come to enjoy Christ and all his benefits.”
- John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Bk III, Ch. I.I
More Institutes Quotations – Calvin
July 16, 2008 at 11:46 am | Posted in Christology, Reading, Theology | 2 CommentsTags: Institutes, John Calvin, Pride, Vanity, Worship
Mingled vanity and pride appear in this, that when miserable men do seek after God, instead of ascending higher than themselves as they ought to do, they measure him by their own carnal stupidity, and neglecting solid inquiry, fly off to indulge their curiosity in vain speculation. Hence, they do not conceive of him in the character in which he is manifested, but imagine him to be whatever their own rashness has devised. This abyss standing open, they cannot move one footstep without rushing headlong to destruction. With such an idea of God, nothing which they may attempt to offer in the way of worship or obedience can have any value in his sight, because it is not him they worship, but, instead of him, the dream and figment of their own heart.
-John Calvin, Institutes, Book I. Ch. 4. Section 1.
Quotable Quotes.
May 21, 2008 at 7:49 am | Posted in Christology, Theology | Leave a CommentTags: Cristology, Gospel, Systematic Theology
John from Reformation Theology has put out a great quote on Jesus, Example or Savior… He writes
“To be clear: union with Christ does not lead to an imitation of Christ, a life spent following Jesus’ example in the hope that we will become better people. The Christian life is not to be understood as obedience to either an ethical imperative or a spiritual ideal. Rather, the Christian life is the radical and converting participation in Jesus Christ’s own being and life, and thus a sharing in his righteousness, holiness, and mission through the bond of the Holy Spirit.”
“Note, too, the emphasis I place on the work of the Holy Spirit. Union with Christ is entirely a work of God. Our human acts, beliefs, and decisions are powerless to effect a relationship with God. John Calvin understood that our deepest self had to become reconfigured and reconstituted or, to use his words, “regenerated” or “vivified,” through related to Jesus Christ. … God must reorder us be turning us in a new direction be uniting us to Jesus. So our being and becoming Christian is a divine initiative and not something that can be worked out through heightened religiosity, morality, activity, will, or spirituality. We are conjoined to Christ by the unilateral work of God though the Holy Spirit – to effect what Calvin called a “mystical union.””
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