THE EXPLICIT REVELATION OF GOD
25/04/24 08:21
The creation speaks to us indirectly of God. But it is Christ Himself who speaks to us directly of our Father and the Creation. Christ is relevant to us not as the great architect or the magnificent Law-Monger but as the Face of the Trinity, the I AM of Himself and the Revelation of our Father. Thomas Torrance observes, “Knowledge of the Father is derived from Jesus Christ his Son who is of the same being as the Father, for in him the Father has revealed himself to us as he is in his own essential nature.
JESUS REVEALS FATHER
“This is why Athanasius, in that key statement of his which we have allowed to guide us, insisted that 'it would be more godly and true to signify God from the Son and call him Father, than to name him from his works and call him Unoriginate (dy€vntov).' It follows from this, however, that our understanding of God as Creator must likewise be taken from the Son, for it is through the Son and Word who is eternally in God and proper to his essential nature that God is the Creator and Maker of everything. ' (1)
RE-MAKER OF US
In Australia at present, we have a problem with male violence against women. The truth is that statements like ‘enough is enough’ by politicians make no difference at all. Neither do public marches. That which transforms evil into God is Christ releasing His Spirit into our being.
LAST AND NEW ADAM
Jesus as the Last Adam is the Re-Maker of us. Only He has the creative power to transform us into the likeness of Himself and through those who follow Him, make them agents of His new creation life. We become agents of Christ as ourselves and not as clones of other people and their ideas of what we should be doing. Martha was an example of one who was near Christ but not one with Him as was Mary. Mary was positioned to know who she was in Christ – to live from her true identity and God ordained mode of fruitfulness. As Martha’s we may multiply activity. As a Mary we will multiply spirit and life.
US INCLUDED IN GOD
Our acceptance with God has been won by God in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus has given us union with God – am interwoveness with God far more intimate than the externalities of religion can produce. “That the eternal Son took what was ours that we might have what is his was not merely a central theme in Patristic thought. It lay at the heart of John Calvin’s account of the mirifica commutatio (the wonderful exchange manifest in the incarnate Son) and it would become a central affirmation in the soteriologies of Karl Barth, Hans Urs von Balthazar, and T. F. Torrance as also the many contemporary theologians influenced by them.” (2)
GET A LIFE IN A REAL GOSPEL
It will be better for Christ and ourselves if we live from this Gospel rather than any diluted/amended gospel that we have picked up like a virus or a flu. The incarnated life that is ours simply by believing sharpens our spirit and heals our soul so that we are indeed agents of new creation life rather than bearers of religion.
(1) Thomas Torrance. The Trinitarian Faith. The Evangelical Theology of the Ancient Catholic Church. P76.
(2) Intro to McSwain, Jeff. Simul Sanctification: Barth’s Hidden Vision for Human Transformation (Princeton Theological Monograph Series Book 232) . Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition
JESUS REVEALS FATHER
“This is why Athanasius, in that key statement of his which we have allowed to guide us, insisted that 'it would be more godly and true to signify God from the Son and call him Father, than to name him from his works and call him Unoriginate (dy€vntov).' It follows from this, however, that our understanding of God as Creator must likewise be taken from the Son, for it is through the Son and Word who is eternally in God and proper to his essential nature that God is the Creator and Maker of everything. ' (1)
RE-MAKER OF US
In Australia at present, we have a problem with male violence against women. The truth is that statements like ‘enough is enough’ by politicians make no difference at all. Neither do public marches. That which transforms evil into God is Christ releasing His Spirit into our being.
LAST AND NEW ADAM
Jesus as the Last Adam is the Re-Maker of us. Only He has the creative power to transform us into the likeness of Himself and through those who follow Him, make them agents of His new creation life. We become agents of Christ as ourselves and not as clones of other people and their ideas of what we should be doing. Martha was an example of one who was near Christ but not one with Him as was Mary. Mary was positioned to know who she was in Christ – to live from her true identity and God ordained mode of fruitfulness. As Martha’s we may multiply activity. As a Mary we will multiply spirit and life.
US INCLUDED IN GOD
Our acceptance with God has been won by God in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus has given us union with God – am interwoveness with God far more intimate than the externalities of religion can produce. “That the eternal Son took what was ours that we might have what is his was not merely a central theme in Patristic thought. It lay at the heart of John Calvin’s account of the mirifica commutatio (the wonderful exchange manifest in the incarnate Son) and it would become a central affirmation in the soteriologies of Karl Barth, Hans Urs von Balthazar, and T. F. Torrance as also the many contemporary theologians influenced by them.” (2)
GET A LIFE IN A REAL GOSPEL
It will be better for Christ and ourselves if we live from this Gospel rather than any diluted/amended gospel that we have picked up like a virus or a flu. The incarnated life that is ours simply by believing sharpens our spirit and heals our soul so that we are indeed agents of new creation life rather than bearers of religion.
(1) Thomas Torrance. The Trinitarian Faith. The Evangelical Theology of the Ancient Catholic Church. P76.
(2) Intro to McSwain, Jeff. Simul Sanctification: Barth’s Hidden Vision for Human Transformation (Princeton Theological Monograph Series Book 232) . Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition
