168-698: Supersessionism , also called replacement theology , is the Christian doctrine that the Christian Church has superseded the Jewish people , assuming their role as God's covenanted people , thus asserting that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant . Supersessionists hold that the universal Church has become God's true Israel and so Christians , whether Jew or gentile , are
336-474: A human nature and a divine nature can co-exist in one person. The study of the inter-relationship of these two natures is one of the preoccupations of the majority tradition. Teachings about Jesus and testimonies about what he accomplished during his three-year public ministry are found throughout the New Testament . Core biblical teachings about the person of Jesus Christ may be summarized that Jesus Christ
504-539: A preexistent figure who becomes human and then returns to God ", versus adoptionism – that Jesus was human who was "adopted" by God at his baptism, crucifixion, or resurrection. While there was a consensus as of 2007 that the divinity of Christ was a later development, there are scholars now who argue that the historical Jesus claimed to be God. Most scholars now argue that a high Christology existed prior to Paul. Brant Pitre 's argument that Jesus claimed to be divine has been particularly well received, obtaining
672-430: A system of theological thought is the development of a method, one which can apply both broadly and particularly. Christian systematic theology will typically explore: Revelation is the revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious through active or passive communication with God, and can originate directly from God or through an agent, such as an angel . A person recognised as having experienced such contact
840-608: A crucial event in his adoption by God. Historically in the Alexandrian school of thought (fashioned on the Gospel of John ), Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos who already possesses unity with the Father before the act of Incarnation . In contrast, the Antiochian school viewed Christ as a single, unified human person apart from his relationship to the divine. The notion of pre-existence
1008-496: A discipline of Christian theology formulates an orderly, rational and coherent account of Christian faith and beliefs. Systematic theology draws on the foundational sacred texts of Christianity, while simultaneously investigating the development of Christian doctrine throughout history, particularly through the ecumenical councils of the early church (such as the First Council of Nicea ) and philosophical evolution. Inherent to
1176-782: A famous proclamation of faith among Christians since the 1st century, said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Most Christians now wait for the Second Coming of Christ when they believe he will fulfill the remaining Messianic prophecies . Christ is the English term for the Greek Χριστός ( Khristós ) meaning " the anointed one ". It is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ( Māšîaḥ ), usually transliterated into English as Messiah . The word
1344-515: A foreign religion; nor do we include the Jews among those called to turn from idols and to serve the true God (cf. 1 Thes 1:9). With them, we believe in the one God who acts in history, and with them we accept his revealed word. Similarly, the words of Cardinal Kasper, "God's grace, which is the grace of Jesus Christ according to our faith, is available to all. Therefore, the Church believes that Judaism, [as]
1512-632: A head over the persons of the Godhead and their relationship with one another. Christology was a fundamental concern from the First Council of Nicaea (325) until the Third Council of Constantinople (680). In this time period, the Christological views of various groups within the broader Christian community led to accusations of heresy , and, infrequently, subsequent religious persecution . In some cases,
1680-561: A majority of scholars argue that this "high Christology" existed already before the writings of Paul. According to the "New Religionsgeschichtliche Schule ", or the Early High Christology Club, which includes Martin Hengel , Larry Hurtado , N. T. Wright , and Richard Bauckham , this "incarnation Christology" or "high Christology" did not evolve over a longer time, but was a "big bang" of ideas which were already present at
1848-616: A member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, published a book titled The Millennial Messiah , which devotes an entire chapter to "The Jews and the Second Coming". It states: Let this fact be engraved in the eternal records with a pen of steel: the Jews were cursed, and smitten, and cursed anew, because they rejected the gospel, cast out their Messiah, and crucified their King. [...] Let
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#17329170389522016-451: A more complex understanding of the idea of God in first century Judaism. However, Andrew Loke argues that if Jesus did not claim and show himself to be truly divine and rise from the dead, the earliest Christian leaders who were devout ancient monotheistic Jews would have regarded Jesus as merely a teacher or a prophet; they would not have come to the widespread agreement that he was truly divine, which they did. Brant Pitre also argues that
2184-611: A number of the existing issues. In his Christology from above, Aquinas also championed the principle of perfection of Christ 's human attributes. The Middle Ages also witnessed the emergence of the "tender image of Jesus" as a friend and a living source of love and comfort, rather than just the Kyrios image. Article 10 of the Belgic Confession , a confessional standard of the Reformed faith , subscribes to Nicene orthodoxy regarding
2352-527: A people" and "set up a covenant" with them, instructing them and making them holy. However, "all these things. [...] were done by way of preparation and as a figure of that new and perfect covenant" instituted by and ratified in Christ (No. 9). Vatican II also affirmed, "the Church is the new people of God" without being "Israel according to the flesh", the Jewish people. In Notes on the Correct Way to Present
2520-481: A point of reference for all other Christologies. Most of the major branches of Christianity— Catholicism , Eastern Orthodoxy , Anglicanism , Lutheranism , and Reformed —subscribe to the Chalcedonian Christological formulation, while many branches of Eastern Christianity— Syrian Orthodoxy , Assyrian Church , Coptic Orthodoxy , Ethiopian Orthodoxy , and Armenian Apostolicism —reject it. According to
2688-500: A premortal council to serve as the Redeemer of mankind. Historically, Latter-day Saint leaders and church instructional materials have promoted the idea that those who accept baptism into the church are literal descendants of the scattered Israelites, primarily the tribe of Ephraim. However, those teachings have been de-emphasized since the latter 20th century in favor of a competing narrative regarding members being adopted or "grafted" into
2856-468: A sect's unique Christology is its chief distinctive feature, in these cases it is common for the sect to be known by the name given to its Christology. The decisions made at First Council of Nicaea and re-ratified at the First Council of Constantinople , after several decades of ongoing controversy during which the work of Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers were influential. The language used
3024-409: A shift in emphasis of official Catholic teaching about Judaism , a shift which may be described as a move from "hard" to "soft" supersessionism, to use the terminology of David Novak. Prior to Vatican II, Catholic teaching on the matter was characterized by "displacement" or "substitution" theologies, according to which the Church and its New Covenant took the place of Judaism and its "Old Covenant",
3192-551: A single denomination though some traditions teach a certain view. Classical covenant theology is taught within the Presbyterian and Continental Reformed traditions. Methodist hermeneutics traditionally use a variation of this, known as Wesleyan covenant theology, which is consistent with Arminian soteriology. Certain mainline American denominations (e.g. TEC , ELCA , UMC ) have released non-supersessionist statements. Liberal Protestant opponents to supersessionism associate
3360-571: A theological iota, they took place in controversial political circumstances, reflecting the relations of temporal powers and divine authority, and certainly resulted in schisms, among others that separated the Church of the East from the Church of the Roman Empire. In 325, the First Council of Nicaea defined the persons of the Godhead and their relationship with one another, decisions which were ratified at
3528-573: Is "eternally begotten of the Father", indicating that their divine Father-Son relationship is not tied to an event within time or human history. In Christianity , the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is one being who exists, simultaneously and eternally , as a mutual indwelling of three Persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate as Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost). Since earliest Christianity, one's salvation has been very closely related to
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#17329170389523696-616: Is Hebrews 8:13: "In speaking of 'a new covenant' [Jer. 31.31–32] he has made the first one obsolete." Other statements by Jesus have also been used, namely Matthew 21:43 "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits." Many early Christian commentators taught that the Old Covenant was fulfilled and superseded by the New Covenant in Christ, for instance, Justin Martyr wrote that
3864-624: Is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus . Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of the Jewish people from foreign rulers or in the prophesied Kingdom of God , and in the salvation from what would otherwise be the consequences of sin . The earliest Christian writings gave several titles to Jesus, such as Son of Man , Son of God , Messiah , and Kyrios , which were all derived from Hebrew scripture. These terms centered around two opposing themes, namely "Jesus as
4032-474: Is a further concept of infallibility, by suggesting that current biblical text is complete and without error, and that the integrity of biblical text has never been corrupted or degraded. Historians note, or claim, that the doctrine of the Bible's infallibility was adopted hundreds of years after the books of the Bible were written. The authority of the Bible can also be linked to the principle of sola scriptura ,
4200-526: Is a trinity in God's single being, the meaning of which has always been debated. This mysterious "Trinity" has been described as hypostases in the Greek language ( subsistences in Latin ), and "persons" in English. Nonetheless, Christians stress that they only believe in one God. Most Christian churches teach the Trinity, as opposed to Unitarian monotheistic beliefs. Historically, most Christian churches have taught that
4368-540: Is also conjectured to be the Greek translation of Aramaic Mari , which in everyday Aramaic usage was a very respectful form of polite address, which means more than just 'teacher' and was somewhat similar to ' rabbi '. While the term Mari expressed the relationship between Jesus and his disciples during his life, the Greek Kyrios came to represent his lordship over the world. The early Christians placed Kyrios at
4536-450: Is called "Father" in a more literal sense, besides being the creator and nurturer of creation, and the provider for his children. The Father is said to be in unique relationship with his only begotten ( monogenes ) son, Jesus Christ , which implies an exclusive and intimate familiarity: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." In Christianity, God
4704-477: Is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ did exist at that time, when all things were created by him. Therefore, the prophet Micah says, "His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" ( Micah 5:2 ). And the apostle: " He has neither beginning of days, nor end of life" ( Hebrews 7:3 ). He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty God, whom we invoke, worship and serve. John Calvin maintained there
4872-422: Is deeply rooted in Jewish thought, and can be found in apocalyptic thought and among the rabbis of Paul's time, but Paul was most influenced by Jewish-Hellenistic wisdom literature, where " 'Wisdom' is extolled as something existing before the world and already working in creation. According to Witherington, Paul "subscribed to the christological notion that Christ existed prior to taking on human flesh[,] founding
5040-581: Is evident in many places, however, the early part of the book of Hebrews addresses the issue in a deliberate, sustained argument, citing the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible as authorities. For example, the author quotes Psalm 45:6 as addressed by the God of Israel to Jesus. The author of Hebrews' description of Jesus as the exact representation of the divine Father has parallels in a passage in Colossians . Jesus%27 divinity In Christianity , Christology
5208-540: Is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable ..." Here St. Paul is referring to the Old Testament, since the scriptures have been known by Timothy from "infancy" (verse 15). Others offer an alternative reading for the passage; for example, theologian C. H. Dodd suggests that it "is probably to be rendered" as: "Every inspired scripture is also useful..." A similar translation appears in the New English Bible , in
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5376-404: Is not a merely abstract theological affirmation, but an affirmation that has concrete and tangible consequences; namely, that there is no organised Catholic missionary activity towards Jews as there is for all other non-Christian religions. In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (2013), Pope Francis emphasized communal heritage and mutual respect for each other, writing: We hold
5544-498: Is not the name of any official Roman Catholic Church teaching and the word appears in no Church documents, but official Catholic teaching has reflected varying levels of supersessionist thought throughout its history, especially prior to the mid-twentieth century. The theology that religious Jews dissent by continuing to exist outside the Church is extensive in Catholic liturgy and literature. The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) marked
5712-653: Is not the replacement (substitution), but the fulfillment of the Old Covenant." These statements by Catholic officials signal a remaining point of debate, wherein some adhere to a movement away from supersessionism, and others remain with a "soft" notion of supersessionism. Traditionalist Catholic groups, such as the Society of St. Pius X , strongly oppose the theological developments concerning Judaism made at Vatican II and retain "hard" supersessionist views. Even among mainstream Catholic groups and official Catholic teaching, elements of "soft" supersessionism remain. The Catechism of
5880-640: Is often called a prophet . Christianity generally considers the Bible as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. Such revelation does not always require the presence of God or an angel. For instance, in the concept which Catholics call interior locution , supernatural revelation can include just an inner voice heard by the recipient. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) first described two types of revelation in Christianity: general revelation and special revelation . The Bible contains many passages in which
6048-692: Is often misunderstood to be the surname of Jesus due to the numerous mentions of Jesus Christ in the Christian Bible . The word is in fact used as a title , hence its common reciprocal use Christ Jesus , meaning Jesus the Anointed One or Jesus the Messiah. Followers of Jesus became known as Christians because they believed that Jesus was the Christ, or Messiah, prophesied about in the Old Testament , or Tanakh . The Christological controversies came to
6216-416: Is one with God, he must have been united with God from the very beginning. Two fundamentally different Christologies developed in the early Church, namely a "low" or adoptionist Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation" Christology. The chronology of the development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship. The "low Christology" or "adoptionist Christology"
6384-491: Is supposed to mean. Soulen thinks Tapie's work is a remedy to this situation. Citations Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament , as well as on Christian tradition . Christian theologians use biblical exegesis , rational analysis and argument. Theologians may undertake
6552-566: Is the creator and preserver of the universe . God is the sole ultimate power in the universe but is distinct from it. The Bible never speaks of God as impersonal. Instead, it refers to him in personal terms – who speaks, sees, hears, acts, and loves. God is understood to have a will and personality and is an all powerful , divine and benevolent being. He is represented in Scripture as being primarily concerned with people and their salvation. Many Reformed theologians distinguish between
6720-405: Is the forgiving or pardoning of sin in general and original sin in particular through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus , enabling the reconciliation between God and his creation . Due to the influence of Gustaf Aulèn 's (1879–1978) Christus Victor (1931), the various theories or paradigmata of atonement are often grouped as "classical paradigm", "objective paradigm", and
6888-455: Is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be his Son by raising him from the dead", thereby raising him to "divine status". According to the "evolutionary model" or evolutionary theories, the Christological understanding of Jesus developed over time, as witnessed in the Gospels, with the earliest Christians believing that Jesus was a human who was exalted, or else adopted as God's Son, when he
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7056-695: Is the essence of eternal life . God the Son is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus of Nazareth as God the Son, united in essence but distinct in person with regard to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (the first and third persons of the Trinity). God the Son is co-eternal with God the Father (and the Holy Spirit), both before Creation and after
7224-453: Is the final and most authentic expression of Abrahamic monotheism , superseding both Judaism and Christianity . The Islamic teaching of tahrif teaches that earlier monotheistic scriptures or earlier interpretations of them have been corrupted by later interpretations of them, while the Quran presents a pure and unaltered version of their divine message. The word supersessionism comes from
7392-412: Is the theory developed to resolve contradictory Quranic revelation by amending the earlier revelation. Only Quran 2:106 uses a form of the word naskh (specifically nanskh meaning 'we abrogate'). Q2:106 indicates of two varieties of abrogation: "supersession" – the "suspension" and replacement of the old verse without its elimination – or "suppression" – the nullification of the old verse from
7560-594: The Angel of the Lord spoke to the Patriarchs, revealing God to them, some believe it has always been only through the Spirit of God granting them understanding, that men have been able to perceive later that God himself had visited them. This belief gradually developed into the modern formulation of the Trinity , which is the doctrine that God is a single entity ( Yahweh ), but that there
7728-575: The Chalcedonian Creed did not put an end to all christological debate, it did clarify the terms used and became a point of reference for many future Christologies. But it also broke apart the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the fifth century, and unquestionably established the primacy of Rome in the East over those who accepted the Council of Chalcedon. This was reaffirmed in 519, when
7896-553: The Father , the Son ( Jesus Christ the Logos ), and the Holy Spirit . The Trinitarian doctrine is considered by most Christians to be a core tenet of their faith. Nontrinitarians typically hold that God, the Father, is supreme; that Jesus, although still divine Lord and Saviour, is the Son of God ; and that the Holy Spirit is a phenomenon akin to God's will on Earth. The holy three are separate, yet
8064-507: The First Council of Constantinople in 381. The language used was that the one God exists in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); in particular, it was affirmed that the Son was homoousios (of the same being) as the Father. The Nicene Creed declared the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus. After the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos and the second Person of the Trinity were being used interchangeably. In 431,
8232-506: The First Council of Ephesus was initially called to address the views of Nestorius on Mariology , but the problems soon extended to Christology, and schisms followed. The 431 council was called because in defense of his loyal priest Anastasius, Nestorius had denied the Theotokos title for Mary and later contradicted Proclus during a sermon in Constantinople . Pope Celestine I (who
8400-533: The Historical Jesus claimed to be divine and was the origin of high Christology. The study of the various Christologies of the Apostolic Age is based on early Christian documents. The oldest Christian sources are the writings of Paul . The central Christology of Paul conveys the notion of Christ's pre-existence and the identification of Christ as Kyrios . Both notions already existed before him in
8568-507: The Incarnation , the relationship of Jesus's nature and person with the nature and person of God, and the salvific work of Jesus. As such, Christology is generally less concerned with the details of Jesus's life (what he did) or teaching than with who or what he is. There have been and are various perspectives by those who claim to be his followers since the church began after his ascension. The controversies ultimately focused on whether and how
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#17329170389528736-509: The New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human, and since the early days of Christianity, theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures, at times resulting in ecumenical councils, and schisms. Some historical christological doctrines gained broad support: Influential Christologies which were broadly condemned as heretical are: Various church councils , mainly in
8904-546: The Plymouth Brethren , have espoused dispensationalist theology as contrasted to supersessionism and covenant theology. Additionally, as part of Christian–Jewish reconciliation , the Roman Catholic Church has placed an increased emphasis on the shared history between the Christian and modern Jewish religions . Rabbinic Judaism disregards supersessionism as offensive to Jewish history . Islam teaches that it
9072-487: The Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews , reaffirmed the validity of the Jews' covenant and then continued: [B]ecause as Christians we know that God's covenant with Israel by God's faithfulness is not broken ( Rom 11,29; cf. 3,4), mission understood as call to conversion from idolatry to the living and true God (1 Thes 1,9) does not apply and cannot be applied to Jews. [...] This
9240-589: The Revised English Bible , and (as a footnoted alternative) in the New Revised Standard Version . The Latin Vulgate can be so read. Yet others defend the "traditional" interpretation; Daniel B. Wallace calls the alternative "probably not the best translation." Some modern English versions of the Bible renders theopneustos with "God-breathed" ( NIV ) or "breathed out by God" ( ESV ), avoiding
9408-457: The Son of God through incarnation . The exact phrase "God the Son" is not in the New Testament. Later theological use of this expression reflects what came to be standard interpretation of New Testament references, understood to imply Jesus's divinity, but the distinction of his person from that of the one God he called his Father. As such, the title is associated more with the development of
9576-484: The communicable attributes (those that human beings can also have) and the incommunicable attributes (those which belong to God alone). Some attributes ascribed to God in Christian theology are: Some Christians believe that the God worshiped by the Hebrew people of the pre-Christian era had always revealed himself as he did through Jesus ; but that this was never obvious until Jesus was born (see John 1 ). Also, though
9744-534: The history of their religion . Supersessionism may be viewed as fundamentally antisemitic . In its canonical form, the Islamic idea of tahrif teaches that Jewish and Christian scriptures or their interpretations have been corrupted, which has obscured the divine message that they originally contained. According to this teaching, the Quran both points out and corrects these supposed errors introduced by previous corruption of monotheistic scriptures, which makes it
9912-479: The hypostatic union ) versus dyophysitism (coexisting natures after the hypostatic union) versus monophysitism (only one nature) versus Nestorianism (two hypostases). From the Christological viewpoint, the council adopted Mia Physis ('but being made one', κατὰ φύσιν ) – Council of Ephesus, Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius, i.e. 'one nature of the Word of God incarnate' ( μία φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένη , mía phýsis toû theoû lógou sesarkōménē ). In 451,
10080-461: The people of God . Often claimed by later Christians to have originated with Paul the Apostle in the New Testament , supersessionism has formed a core tenet of Eastern Orthodox , Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches for the majority of their history. Many early Church Fathers —including Justin Martyr and Augustine of Hippo —were supersessionist. Most historic Christian churches , including
10248-414: The veneration of icons while forbidding their worship. It is often referred to as "The Triumph of Orthodoxy". The Franciscan piety of the 12th and 13th centuries led to "popular Christology". Systematic approaches by theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas , are called "scholastic Christology". In the 13th century , Thomas Aquinas provided the first systematic Christology that consistently resolved
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#173291703895210416-476: The " cosmic Christology " later developed in the Gospel of John, elaborating the cosmic implications of Jesus' existence as the Son of God: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." Paul writes that Christ came to draw all back to God: "Through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (Colossians 1:20); in
10584-535: The "subjective paradigm": Other theories are the "embracement theory" and the "shared atonement" theory. The earliest christological reflections were shaped by both the Jewish background of the earliest Christians, and by the Greek world of the eastern Mediterranean in which they operated. The earliest Christian writings give several titles to Jesus, such as Son of Man , Son of God , Messiah , and Kyrios , which were all derived from Hebrew scripture. According to Matt Stefon and Hans J. Hillerbrand: Until
10752-459: The "true spiritual Israel" referred to those who had "been led to God through this crucified Christ". Irenaeus taught that, while the New Covenant had superseded the old, the moral law underlying the Law of Moses continued to stand in the New Covenant. Whereas, Tertullian believed that the New Covenant brought with it a new law , writing: "Who else, therefore, are understood but we, who, fully taught by
10920-403: The 16th-century Protestant Reformation certain reformers proposed different canonical lists of the Old Testament. The texts which appear in the Septuagint but not in the Jewish canon fell out of favor, and eventually disappeared from Protestant canons. Catholic Bibles classify these texts as deuterocanonical books, whereas Protestant contexts label them as the Apocrypha . In Christianity , God
11088-462: The 27-book canon of the New Testament that all use). A definitive list did not come from any early ecumenical council . Around 400, Jerome produced the Vulgate , a definitive Latin edition of the Bible, the contents of which, at the insistence of the Bishop of Rome , accorded with the decisions of the earlier synods. This process effectively set the New Testament canon, although examples exist of other canonical lists in use after this time. During
11256-411: The 3rd century, Tertullian claimed that God exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the three personae of one and the same substance. To trinitarian Christians God the Father is not at all a separate god from God the Son (of whom Jesus is the incarnation) and the Holy Spirit, the other hypostases (Persons) of the Christian Godhead . According to the Nicene Creed, the Son (Jesus Christ)
11424-463: The 4th and 5th centuries, resolved most of these controversies, making the doctrine of the Trinity orthodox in nearly all branches of Christianity. Among them, only the Dyophysite doctrine was recognized as true and not heretical, belonging to the Christian orthodoxy and deposit of faith . In Christian theology , atonement is the method by which human beings can be reconciled to God through Christ 's sacrificial suffering and death . Atonement
11592-398: The Bible cannot both refer to itself as being divinely inspired and also be errant or fallible. For if the Bible were divinely inspired, then the source of inspiration being divine, would not be subject to fallibility or error in that which is produced. For them, the doctrines of the divine inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy, are inseparably tied together. The idea of biblical integrity
11760-428: The Bible than his Father, had to be a secondary, lesser, and therefore distinct god. For Jews and Muslims , the idea of God as a trinity is heretical – it is considered akin to polytheism . Christians overwhelmingly assert that monotheism is central to the Christian faith, as the very Nicene Creed (among others) which gives the orthodox Christian definition of the Trinity does begin with: "I believe in one God". In
11928-632: The Bible, the second Person of the Trinity, because of his eternal relation to the first Person (God as Father), is the Son of God . He is considered (by Trinitarians) to be coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit. He is all God and all human : the Son of God as to his divine nature, while as to his human nature he is from the lineage of David. The core of Jesus's self-interpretation was his "filial consciousness", his relationship to God as child to parent in some unique sense (see Filioque controversy). His mission on earth proved to be that of enabling people to know God as their Father, which Christians believe
12096-478: The Catholic Church refers to a future corporate repentance on the part of Jews: The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by 'all Israel,' for 'a hardening has come upon part of Israel' in their 'unbelief' toward Jesus [ Rom 11:20-26; cf. Mt 23:39]. [...] The 'full inclusion' of the Jews in the Messiah's salvation, in the wake of 'the full number of
12264-408: The Christian tradition) and can ultimately be traced to the medieval concept of the "cessation of the law" – the idea that Jewish observance of the ceremonial law (Sabbath, circumcision, and dietary laws) ceases to have a positive significance for Jews after the passion of Christ. According to Soulen, Christians today often repudiate supersessionism but they do not always carefully examine just what that
12432-516: The Council of Chalcedon affirmed dyophysitism . The Oriental Orthodox rejected this and subsequent councils and continued to consider themselves as miaphysite according to the faith put forth at the Councils of Nicaea and Ephesus . The council also confirmed the Theotokos title and excommunicated Nestorius. The 451 Council of Chalcedon was highly influential, and marked a key turning point in
12600-522: The Eastern Chalcedonians accepted the Formula of Hormisdas , anathematizing all of their own Eastern Chalcedonian hierarchy, who died out of communion with Rome from 482 to 519. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 interpreted the decrees of Chalcedon, and further explained the relationship of the two natures of Jesus. It also condemned the alleged teachings of Origen on the pre-existence of
12768-544: The Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic Church, Reformed Churches and Methodist Churches , hold that the Old Covenant has three components: ceremonial, moral, and civil ( cf. covenant theology ). They teach that while the ceremonial and civil (judicial) laws have been fulfilled, the moral law of the Ten Commandments continues to bind Christian believers. Since the 19th century, certain Christian communities, such as
12936-457: The End (see Eschatology ). So Jesus was always "God the Son", though not revealed as such until he also became the "Son of God" through incarnation . "Son of God" draws attention to his humanity, whereas "God the Son" refers more generally to his divinity, including his pre-incarnate existence. So, in Christian theology, Jesus was always God the Son, though not revealed as such until he also became
13104-520: The English verb to supersede , from the Latin verb sedeo, sedere, sedi, sessum , "to sit", plus super , "upon". It thus signifies one thing being replaced or supplanted by another. Throughout Church history, many Christian theologians saw the New Covenant in Christ as a replacement for the Mosaic Covenant and the Church as the new people of God . The word supersession is used by Sydney Thelwall in
13272-469: The Father has a special role in his relationship with the person of the Son, where Jesus is believed to be his Son and his heir. According to the Nicene Creed , the Son (Jesus Christ) is "eternally begotten of the Father", indicating that their divine Father-Son relationship is not tied to an event within time or human history. See Christology . The Bible refers to Christ, called " The Word " as present at
13440-453: The Father's relationship with humanity is as a father to children—in a previously unheard-of sense—and not just as the creator and nurturer of creation, and the provider for his children, his people. Thus, humans, in general, are sometimes called children of God . To Christians, God the Father's relationship with humanity is that of Creator and created beings, and in that respect he is the father of all. The New Testament says, in this sense, that
13608-567: The Gentiles' [ Rom 11:12, 25; cf. Lk 21:24], will enable the People of God to achieve 'the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,' in which 'God may be all in all.' The Church teaches that there is an integral continuity between the covenants rather than a rupture. In the Second Vatican Council's lumen gentium (1964), the Church stated that God "chose the race of Israel as
13776-465: The God of Israel, and turn the hearts aside, rejecting signs and wonders, and the power and glory of the God of Israel. And because they turn their hearts aside, [...] and have despised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and by-word and be hated among all nations.: (1 Ne. 19:13-14; 2 Ne. 6:9-11.) Such is the prophetic word of Nephi." Some Jews consider
13944-531: The Gospels do not claim to be an exhaustive list of his works. Christologies that can be gleaned from the three synoptic Gospels generally emphasize the humanity of Jesus, his sayings, his parables , and his miracles . The Gospel of John provides a different perspective that focuses on his divinity. The first 14 verses of the Gospel of John are devoted to the divinity of Jesus as the Logos , usually translated as "Word", along with his pre-existence, and they emphasize
14112-728: The House of Israel. The title page of the Book of Mormon —which adherents believe is among content translated by Joseph Smith from the gold plates —states that one of its primary purposes is "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God." The Nephites —whom the Book of Mormon presents as ancient Israelites who escaped Jerusalem just before the Babylonian captivity—are said to have kept
14280-419: The Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked, for "the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" ( Rom 11:29). The Church, which shares with Jews an important part of the sacred Scriptures, looks upon the people of the covenant and their faith as one of the sacred roots of her own Christian identity (cf. Rom 11:16–18). As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as
14448-416: The Jews and Judaism (1985), the Church stated that the "Church and Judaism cannot then be seen as two parallel ways of salvation and the Church must witness to Christ as the Redeemer of all." Modern Protestants hold a range of positions on supersessionism and the relationship between the Church and the Jewish people. These differences arise from dissimilar literal versus figurative approaches to understanding
14616-476: The Jews as a means to convert them to Christianity. Jeremy Cohen, followed by John Y. B. Hood and James Carroll, sees this as having had decisive social consequences, with Carroll saying, "It is not too much to say that, at this juncture, Christianity 'permitted' Judaism to endure because of Augustine." Eastern Orthodox Christians follow a view somewhat similar to replacement theology/supersessionism, although they do not officially call it as such. Supersessionism
14784-453: The Jews' covenantal status: "This people continues in spite of everything to be the people of the covenant and, despite human infidelity, the Lord is faithful to his covenant." Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI , wrote in his 1999 work Many Religions – One Covenant that "the Sinai [Mosaic] Covenant is indeed superseded." The post-Vatican II shift toward acknowledging
14952-570: The LORD" (for example, 1 Kgs 12:22–24;1 Chr 17:3–4; Jer 35:13; Ezek 2:4; Zech 7:9 ; etc.). The Second Epistle of Peter claims that "no prophecy of Scripture ... was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" The Second Epistle of Peter also implies that Paul's writings are inspired ( 2 Pet 3:16 ). Many Christians cite a verse in Paul's letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:16–17, as evidence that "all scripture
15120-518: The Latter-day Saint practice of posthumous baptism a particularly disrespectful enactment of supersessionist beliefs, and have repeatedly requested that the Church desist from baptizing Jewish Holocaust victims . Rabbinic Judaism rejects supersessionism, only discussing the topic as an idea upheld by Christian and Muslim theologians. Some modern Jews are offended by the traditional Christian belief in supersessionism, as they believe it undermines
15288-567: The Law of Moses with an understanding that it presaged Christ's messianic mission. The Book of Mormon further teaches that because the Jews rejected and crucified Christ, they will be scattered among the nations of the earth and scourged across generations until they accept Christ as the true Messiah. According to the Doctrine & Covenants , after Jesus reveals himself to the Jews, they will weep because of their iniquities. In 1982, Elder Bruce R. McConkie ,
15456-576: The Mosaic law, which was both a major issue at the Council of Jerusalem and a theme of Paul's Epistle to the Galatians , though the relationship of Paul and Judaism is still disputed today. Paul's views on the Jews are complex, but he is generally regarded as the first person to make the claim that by not accepting claims of Jesus's divinity , non-believing Jews disqualified themselves from salvation. Paul himself
15624-565: The Old Law which had been abolished; then the Law of Christ together with its mysteries, enactments, institutions, and sacred rites was ratified for the whole world in the blood of Jesus Christ. [...] [O]n the gibbet of His death Jesus made void the Law with its decrees and fastened the handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross, establishing the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race. At
15792-574: The Quran or hadith , but rather from the work of Muslim jurists who reinterpreted the Quranic message about islam (in its literal meaning of 'submission') being "the only true religion with God" into an argument about the religion of Islam being superior to other faiths, thereby providing theoretical justification for Muslim political dominance and a wider interpretation of the notion of jihad . In Islamic legal exegesis ( tafsir ), abrogation ( naskh )
15960-558: The Romans , the declaration states, "God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues. [...] Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures." A draft of the declaration contained a passage which originally called for "the entry of that [Jewish] people into
16128-536: The Second Vatican Council, which was convened two decades after the Holocaust , a different framework emerged on how Catholics should think about the status of the Jewish covenant. The declaration nostra aetate , which was promulgated in 1965, made several statements which signaled a shift away from "hard supersessionist" replacement thinking which posited that the Jews' covenant was no longer acknowledged by God. Retrieving Paul's language in chapter 11 of his Epistle to
16296-428: The Son and the Holy Spirit are still seen as originating from God the Father. The New Testament does not have the term "Trinity" and nowhere discusses the Trinity as such. Some emphasize, however, that the New Testament does repeatedly speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to "compel a trinitarian understanding of God." The doctrine developed from the biblical language used in New Testament passages such as
16464-478: The Son of God by his resurrection from the dead", which sounds like an adoptionistic Christology, where Jesus was a human being who was "adopted" after his death. Different views would be debated for centuries by Christians and finally settled on the idea that he was both fully human and fully divine by the middle of the 5th century in the Council of Ephesus . Paul's thoughts on Jesus' teachings, versus his nature and being, are more defined, in that Paul believed Jesus
16632-504: The Trinity teaches the unity of Father , Son , and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead . The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons , or in the Greek hypostases , but one being. Personhood in the Trinity does not match the common Western understanding of "person" as used in the English language—it does not imply an "individual, self-actualized center of free will and conscious activity." To
16800-678: The Trinity, is a mark of Catholicism , Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy as well as other prominent Christian sects arising from the Protestant Reformation , such as Anglicanism , Methodism , Lutheranism , Baptist , and Presbyterianism . The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church describes the Trinity as "the central dogma of Christian theology". This doctrine contrasts with Nontrinitarian positions which include Unitarianism , Oneness and Modalism . A small minority of Christians hold non-trinitarian views, largely coming under
16968-401: The ancients, personhood "was in some sense individual, but always in community as well." Each person is understood as having the one identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures. Since the beginning of the 3rd century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God exists in three Persons and one substance , Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Trinitarianism, belief in
17136-455: The authors claim divine inspiration for their message or report the effects of such inspiration on others. Besides the direct accounts of written revelation (such as Moses receiving the Ten Commandments inscribed on tablets of stone), the Prophets of the Old Testament frequently claimed that their message was of divine origin by prefacing the revelation using the following phrase: "Thus says
17304-491: The baptismal formula in Matthew 28:19 and by the end of the 4th century it was widely held in its present form. In many monotheist religions, God is addressed as the father, in part because of his active interest in human affairs, in the way that a father would take an interest in his children who are dependent on him and as a father, he will respond to humanity, his children, acting in their best interests. In Christianity, God
17472-411: The beginning of God's creation., not a creation himself, but equal in the personhood of the Trinity. In Eastern Orthodox theology, God the Father is the "principium" ( beginning ), the "source" or "origin" of both the Son and the Holy Spirit, which gives intuitive emphasis to the threeness of persons; by comparison, Western theology explains the "origin" of all three hypostases or persons as being in
17640-550: The brightness of His glory" ( Hebrews 1:3 ), equal unto him in all things. He is the Son of God, not only from the time that He assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as these testimonies, when compared together, teach us. Moses says that God created the world; and John saith that "all things were made by that Word" ( John 1:3 ), which he calls God. And the apostle says that God made the worlds by His Son ( Hebrews 1:2 ); likewise, that "God created all things by Jesus Christ" ( Ephesians 3:9 ). Therefore, it must needs follow, that he who
17808-456: The center of their understanding, and from that center attempted to understand the other issues related to the Christian mysteries. The question of the deity of Christ in the New Testament is inherently related to the Kyrios title of Jesus used in the early Christian writings and its implications for the absolute lordship of Jesus. In early Christian belief, the concept of Kyrios included the pre-existence of Christ , for they believed if Christ
17976-513: The christological debates. It is the last council which many Lutherans , Anglicans and other Protestants consider ecumenical. The Council of Chalcedon fully promulgated the Western dyophysite understanding put forth by Pope Leo I of Rome of the hypostatic union , the proposition that Christ has one human nature ( physis ) and one divine nature (physis) , each distinct and complete, and united with neither confusion nor division. Most of
18144-716: The claim that by scripture alone that the authority of the Bible is more important than the authority of the Church. The content of the Protestant Old Testament is the same as the Hebrew Bible canon , with changes in the division and order of books, but the Catholic Old Testament contains additional texts, known as the deuterocanonical books . Protestants recognize 39 books in their Old Testament canon, while Roman Catholic and Eastern Christians recognize 46 books as canonical. Both Catholics and Protestants use
18312-541: The concept of a triune God, although the Trinitarian doctrine was not formalized until the 4th century. At that time, the Emperor Constantine convoked the First Council of Nicaea , to which all bishops of the empire were invited to attend. Pope Sylvester I did not attend but sent his legate . The council, among other things, decreed the original Nicene Creed. For most Christians, beliefs about God are enshrined in
18480-437: The cosmic significance of Christ, e.g.: "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." In the context of these verses, the Word made flesh is identical with the Word who was in the beginning with God, being exegetically equated with Jesus. Following the Apostolic Age , from the second century onwards, a number of controversies developed about how the human and divine are related within
18648-472: The covenantal status of ethnic Jews were led by Pope John Paul II . Among his most noteworthy statements on the matter is that which occurred during his historic visit to the synagogue in Mainz (1980), where he called Jews the "people of God of the Old Covenant, which has never been abrogated by God (cf. Romans 11:29, "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" [NRSV])." In 1997, John Paul II again affirmed
18816-403: The deity of Christ. The article places emphasis on the eternal generation of the Son and the eternal divine nature of Christ as Creator. We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made nor created (for then He should be a creature), but co-essential and co-eternal with the Father, "the express image of His person, and
18984-444: The divine nature, which gives intuitive emphasis to the oneness of God's being. Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature, person, and works of Jesus Christ , held by Christians to be the Son of God . Christology is concerned with the meeting of the human ( Son of Man ) and divine ( God the Son or Word of God ) in the person of Jesus . Primary considerations include
19152-466: The doctrine of Trinitarianism , which holds that the three persons of God together form a single God. The Trinitarian view emphasizes that God has a will and that God the Son has two wills, divine and human, though these are never in conflict (see Hypostatic union ). However, this point is disputed by Oriental Orthodox Christians, who hold that God the Son has only one will of unified divinity and humanity (see Miaphysitism ). The Christian doctrine of
19320-527: The doctrine of supersessionism. This continues to be taught in Confessional Lutheran denominations, such as the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod , which have rejected a Christian theological basis for Zionism. The Reformed ( Continental Reformed , Presbyterian , Congregationalist and Reformed Anglican ) tradition adheres to covenant theology and historically has taught that "Christ fulfills
19488-499: The doctrine of the Trinity than with the Christological debates. There are over 40 places in the New Testament where Jesus is given the title "the Son of God", but scholars don't consider this to be an equivalent expression. "God the Son" is rejected by anti-trinitarians , who view this reversal of the most common term for Christ as a doctrinal perversion and as tending towards tritheism . Matthew cites Jesus as saying, "Blessed are
19656-407: The doctrine with racist motivations. Paul van Buren developed a thoroughly nonsupersessionist position, in contrast to Karl Barth , his mentor. He wrote, "The reality of the Jewish people, fixed in history by the reality of their election, in their faithfulness in spite of their unfaithfulness, is as solid and sure as that of the gentile church." The Lutheran Churches have historically taught
19824-525: The early Christian communities, and Paul deepened them and used them for preaching in the Hellenistic communities. What exactly Paul believed about the nature of Jesus cannot be determined decisively. In Philippians 2 , Paul states that Jesus was preexistent and came to Earth "by taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness". This sounds like an incarnation Christology. In Romans 1:4, however, Paul states that Jesus "was declared with power to be
19992-494: The endorsement of noted scholars Dale C. Allison Jr. , Chris Tilling, Tucker Ferda, and Christine Jacobi. From the second to the fifth centuries, the relation of the human and divine nature of Christ was a major focus of debates in the early church and at the first seven ecumenical councils . The Council of Chalcedon in 451 issued a formulation of the hypostatic union of the two natures of Christ, one human and one divine, "united with neither confusion nor division". Most of
20160-440: The ethnic Jews as a covenanted people has led to heated discussions in the Catholic Church over the issue of missionary activity directed toward Jews, with some Catholics theologians with Cardinal Avery Dulles reasoning that "if Christ is the redeemer of the world, every tongue should confess him", while others vehemently oppose "targeting Jews for conversion". Weighing in on this matter, Cardinal Walter Kasper , then president of
20328-469: The expectations of Jewish covenant life and renews the people of God rooted in the Old Testament and Judaism" and that "Jesus is the new temple, the new Israel." Mormonism professes to be the restoration of the original Christian faith and that the ancient Hebrew religion was a form of proto-Christianity. Nevertheless, Latter-day Saints believe that the modern day descendants of Israel are still God's covenant people, but they have nonetheless apostatized from
20496-403: The faithful response of the Jewish people to God's irrevocable covenant, is salvific for them, because God is faithful to his promises," highlight the covenantal relationship of God with the Jewish people, but differ from Pope Francis in calling the Jewish faith "salvific". In 2011, Kasper specifically repudiated the notion of "displacement" theology, clarifying that the "New Covenant for Christians
20664-515: The final and most pure divine revelation. Sandra Toenis Keiting argues that Islam was supersessionist from its inception, advocating the view that the Quranic revelations would "replace the corrupted scriptures possessed by other communities", and that early Islamic scriptures display a "clear theology of revelation that is concerned with establishing the credibility of the nascent community" vis-à-vis other religions. In contrast, Abdulaziz Sachedina has argued that Islamic supersessionism stems not from
20832-478: The fulfillment of his Judaism, not that there was any tension between being Jewish and Christian. Christians quickly adopted Paul's views. For most of Christian history, supersessionism has been the mainstream interpretation of the New Testament of all three major historical traditions within Christianity – Orthodox , Roman Catholic and Protestant . The text most often evident in favor of the supersessionist view
21000-442: The fullness of the people of God established by Christ"; however, at the suggestion of Catholic priest (and convert from Judaism ) John M. Oesterreicher , it was replaced in the final promulgated version with the following language: "the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and 'serve him shoulder to shoulder' (Zeph 3:9)." Further developments in Catholic thinking on
21168-495: The heading of Unitarianism . Most, if not all, Christians believe that God is spirit, an uncreated, omnipotent , and eternal being, the creator and sustainer of all things, who works the redemption of the world through his Son, Jesus Christ. With this background, belief in the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit is expressed as the doctrine of the Trinity , which describes the single divine ousia (substance) existing as three distinct and inseparable hypostases (persons):
21336-420: The human aspects and the ministry of Jesus (including the miracles, parables, etc.) and move towards his divinity and the mystery of incarnation. A basic Christological teaching is that the person of Jesus Christ is both human and divine. The human and divine natures of Jesus Christ apparently ( prosopic ) form a duality, as they coexist within one person ( hypostasis ). There are no direct discussions in
21504-464: The idea of the pre-existence of Christ as the Logos ('the Word'), as expressed in the prologue to the Gospel of John . These approaches interpret the works of Christ in terms of his divinity. According to Pannenberg, Christology from above "was far more common in the ancient Church, beginning with Ignatius of Antioch and the second century Apologists." The term Christology from below or low Christology refers to approaches that begin with
21672-483: The idea. John Hick , writing in 1993, mentioned changes in New Testament studies, citing "broad agreement" that scholars do not today support the view that Jesus claimed to be God, quoting as examples Michael Ramsey (1980), C. F. D. Moule (1977), James Dunn (1980), Brian Hebblethwaite (1985) and David Brown (1985). Larry Hurtado , who argues that the followers of Jesus within a very short period developed an exceedingly high level of devotional reverence to Jesus, at
21840-427: The influence of Gentile Christians, who brought their pagan Hellenistic traditions to the early Christian communities, introducing divine honours to Jesus. According to Casey and Dunn, this "high Christology" developed after the time of Paul, at the end of the first century CE when the Gospel of John was written. Since the 1970s, these late datings for the development of a "high Christology" have been contested, and
22008-405: The latter being rendered void by the coming of Jesus. The nullification of the Old Covenant was often explained in terms of the " deicide charge" that Jews forfeited their covenantal relationship with God by executing the divine Christ. As recently as 1943, Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Mystici corporis Christi : By the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took the place of
22176-408: The major branches of Western Christianity ( Roman Catholicism , Anglicanism , Lutheranism , and Reformed ), Church of the East , Eastern Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy subscribe to the Chalcedonian Christological formulation, while many branches of Oriental Orthodox Churches ( Syrian Orthodoxy , Coptic Orthodoxy , Ethiopian Orthodoxy , and Armenian Apostolicism ) reject it. Although
22344-475: The major branches of Western Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy subscribe to this formulation, while many branches of Oriental Orthodox Churches reject it, subscribing to miaphysitism . Christology (from the Greek Χριστός , Khristós and -λογία , -logia ), literally 'the understanding of Christ', is the study of the nature (person) and work (role in salvation) of Jesus Christ . It studies Jesus Christ's humanity and divinity, and
22512-484: The middle of the 2nd century, such terms emphasized two themes: that of Jesus as a preexistent figure who becomes human and then returns to God and that of Jesus as a creature elected and "adopted" by God. The first theme makes use of concepts drawn from Classical antiquity, whereas the second relies on concepts characteristic of ancient Jewish thought. The second theme subsequently became the basis of "adoptionist Christology" (see adoptionism ), which viewed Jesus' baptism as
22680-414: The nature of God is a mystery , something that must be revealed by special revelation rather than deduced through general revelation . Christian orthodox traditions (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant) follow this idea, which was codified in 381 and reached its full development through the work of the Cappadocian Fathers . They consider God to be a triune entity, called the Trinity, comprising
22848-413: The new law, observe these practices, the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition the action itself demonstrates. ...Therefore, as we have shown above that the coming cessation of the old law and of the carnal circumcision was declared, so, too, the observance of the new law and the spiritual circumcision has shone out into the voluntary observances of peace." Augustine of Hippo followed
23016-400: The oldest Christology. The other early Christology is "high Christology", which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father's will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come", and from where he appeared on earth . According to Bousset, this "high Christology" developed at the time of Paul's writing, under
23184-495: The others. The work of Matthew Tapie attempts a further clarification of the language of supersessionism in modern theology that Peter Ochs has called "the clearest teaching on supersessionism in modern scholarship." Tapie argued that Soulen's view of economic supersessionism shares important similarities with those of Jules Isaac's thought (the French-Jewish historian well known for his identification of "the teaching of contempt" in
23352-407: The pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again. Scripture asserts that Jesus was conceived, by the Holy Spirit, and born of his virgin mother Mary without a human father. The biblical accounts of Jesus's ministry include miracles , preaching, teaching, healing , Death , and resurrection . The apostle Peter, in what has become
23520-526: The peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God (5:9)." The gospels go on to document a great deal of controversy over Jesus being the Son of God, in a unique way. The book of the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the New Testament, however, record the early teaching of the first Christians– those who believed Jesus to be both the Son of God, the Messiah, a man appointed by God, as well as God himself. This
23688-405: The person of Jesus. As of the second century, a number of different and opposing approaches developed among various groups. In contrast to prevailing monoprosopic views on the Person of Christ, alternative dyoprosopic notions were also promoted by some theologians, but such views were rejected by the ecumenical councils . For example, Arianism did not endorse divinity, Ebionism argued Jesus
23856-427: The proto-Christian faith that God anciently revealed through the ancient patriarchs and Israel's prophets. For example, the Book of Moses narrates that the biblical patriarch Enoch was shown a vision of Jesus as the Messiah who should be crucified and resurrected. The Book of Abraham narrates that God revealed to the titular biblical patriarch a vision of the Son of Man (a common title for Jesus Christ) being chosen in
24024-571: The relation between these two aspects; and the role he plays in salvation . " Ontological Christology" analyzes the nature or being of Jesus Christ. "Functional Christology" analyzes the works of Jesus Christ, while " soteriological Christology" analyzes the " salvific " standpoints of Christology. Several approaches can be distinguished within Christology. The term Christology from above or high Christology refers to approaches that include aspects of divinity, such as Lord and Son of God, and
24192-498: The relationships between the covenants of the Bible , particularly the relationship between the covenants of the Old Testament and the New Covenant. After the establishment of the political state of Israel in the wake of the Holocaust, mainstream Christian theologians and denominations began to re-examine supersessionism and some communities came to outright reject the teaching. Protestant hermeneutical frameworks tend to guide views on
24360-486: The respective articles for each of these viewpoints: for example, there is a section within dispensationalism detailing that perspective's concept of Israel. Differing approaches influence how the land promise in Genesis 12, 15 and 17 is understood, whether it is interpreted literally or figuratively, both with regard to the land and the identity of people who inherit it. Adherents to these various views are not restricted to
24528-566: The same 27-book New Testament canon. Early Christians used the Septuagint , a Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Christianity subsequently endorsed various additional writings that would become the New Testament. In the 4th century a series of synods , most notably the Synod of Hippo in AD 393, produced a list of texts equal to the 46-book canon of the Old Testament that Catholics use today (and
24696-465: The same epistle, he writes that "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15). The synoptic Gospels date from after the writings of Paul. They provide episodes from the life of Jesus and some of his works, but the authors of the New Testament show little interest in an absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life, and as in John 21:25 ,
24864-487: The same time rejects the view that Jesus made a claim to messiahship or divinity to his disciples during his life as "naive and ahistorical". According to Gerd Lüdemann , the broad consensus among modern New Testament scholars is that the proclamation of the divinity of Jesus was a development within the earliest Christian communities. N. T. Wright points out that arguments over the claims of Jesus regarding divinity have been passed over by more recent scholarship, which sees
25032-530: The soul, and other topics. The Third Council of Constantinople in 681 declared that Christ has two wills of his two natures, human and divine, contrary to the teachings of the Monothelites , with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. The Second Council of Nicaea was called under the Empress Regent Irene of Athens in 787, known as the second of Nicaea. It supports
25200-405: The spiritually illiterate suppose what they may, it was the Jewish denial and rejection of the Holy One of Israel, whom their fathers worshiped in the beauty and holiness, that has made them a hiss and byword in all nations and that has taken millions of their fair sons and daughters to untimely graves. [...] What sayeth the holy word? "They shall be scourged by all people, because they crucify
25368-410: The start of Christianity, and took further shape in the first few decades of the church, as witnessed in the writings of Paul. Some 'Early High Christology' proponents scholars argue that this "high Christology" may go back to Jesus himself. There is a controversy regarding whether Jesus himself claimed to be divine. In Honest to God , then- Bishop of Woolwich , John A. T. Robinson , questioned
25536-466: The story of Christ [...] on the story of divine Wisdom". The title Kyrios for Jesus is central to the development of New Testament Christology. In the Septuagint it translates the Tetragrammaton , the holy Name of God. As such, it closely links Jesus with God – in the same way a verse such as Matthew 28:19, "The Name (singular) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit". Kyrios
25704-501: The study of Christian theology for a variety of reasons, such as in order to: Christian theology has permeated much of non-ecclesiastical Western culture , especially in pre-modern Europe, although Christianity is a worldwide religion . Christian theology varies significantly across the main branches of Christian tradition: Catholic , Orthodox and Protestant . Each of those traditions has its own unique approaches to seminaries and ministerial formation. Systematic theology as
25872-422: The subject, with covenant theology generally associated with supersessionism and dispensationalism generally opposed to supersessionism. Christian Zionism is also associated with a rejection of supersessionism; Dual-covenant theology contrasts with supersessionism by holding that the Mosaic covenant remains valid for Talmudic Jews. Extensive discussion is found in Christian views on the Old Covenant and in
26040-529: The three "Persons"; God the Father , God the Son , and God the Holy Spirit , described as being "of the same substance" ( ὁμοούσιος ). The true nature of an infinite God, however, is commonly described as beyond definition, and the word 'person' is an imperfect expression of the idea. Some critics contend that because of the adoption of a tripartite conception of deity, Christianity is a form of tritheism or polytheism . This concept dates from Arian teachings which claimed that Jesus, having appeared later in
26208-655: The title of chapter three of his 1870 translation of Tertullian 's An Answer to the Jews . In the New Testament , Jesus and others repeatedly give Jews priority in their mission, as in Jesus's expression of him coming to the Jews rather than to gentiles and in Paul the Apostle 's formula "first for the Jew, then for the Gentile". Yet after the death of Jesus, the inclusion of the gentiles as equals in this burgeoning sect of Judaism also caused problems, particularly when it came to gentiles keeping
26376-413: The very idea of family, wherever it appears, derives its name from God the Father, and thus God himself is the model of the family. However, there is a deeper "legal" sense in which Christians believe that they are made participants in the special relationship of Father and Son, through Jesus Christ as his spiritual bride . Christians call themselves adopted children of God. In the New Testament, God
26544-462: The views of the earlier Church Fathers but emphasized the importance to Christianity of the continued existence of the separate Rabbinic Jewish faith: "The Jews ... are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ." The Catholic church built its system of eschatology on his theology, where Christ rules the earth spiritually through his triumphant church . Augustine, however, also mentioned to "love"
26712-574: The word inspiration , which has the Latin root inspīrāre - "to blow or breathe into". Christianity generally regards the agreed collections of books known as the Bible as authoritative and as written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit . Some Christians believe that the Bible is inerrant (totally without error and free from contradiction, including the historical and scientific parts) or infallible (inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not necessarily on matters of history or science). Some Christians infer that
26880-445: The written Quran ( mus'haf ). Both Christian and Jewish theologians have identified different types of supersessionism in the Christian reading of the Bible . R. Kendall Soulen notes three categories of supersessionism identified by Christian theologians: punitive, economic, and structural: These three views are neither mutually exclusive, nor logically dependent, and it is possible to hold all of them or any one with or without
27048-541: Was a Jew. After a conversion experience he came to accept Jesus's claim to be the Messiah later in his life. In the opinion of Roman Catholic ex-priest James Carroll , accepting Jesus's divinity, for Paul, was dichotomous with being a Jew. His personal conversion and his understanding of the dichotomy between being Jewish and accepting Jesus's divinity, was the religious philosophy he wanted to see adopted among other Jews of his time. However, New Testament scholar N.T. Wright argues that Paul saw his faith in Jesus as precisely
27216-593: Was already upset with Nestorius due to other matters) wrote about this to Cyril of Alexandria , who orchestrated the council. During the council, Nestorius defended his position by arguing there must be two persons of Christ, one human, the other divine, and Mary had given birth only to a human, hence could not be called the Theotokos , i.e. "the one who gives birth to God". The debate about the single or dual nature of Christ ensued in Ephesus. The First Council of Ephesus debated miaphysitism (two natures united as one after
27384-421: Was an ordinary mortal, while Gnosticism held docetic views which argued Christ was a spiritual being who only appeared to have a physical body. The resulting tensions led to schisms within the church in the second and third centuries, and ecumenical councils were convened in the fourth and fifth centuries to deal with the issues. Although some of the debates may seem to various modern students to be over
27552-530: Was and forever is fully God (divine) and fully human in one sinless person at the same time, and that through the death and resurrection of Jesus , sinful humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life via his New Covenant . While there have been theological disputes over the nature of Jesus, Christians believe that Jesus is God incarnate and " true God and true man " (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered
27720-400: Was fully divine and also human. What it did not do was make clear how one person could be both divine and human, and how the divine and human were related within that one person. This led to the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries of the Christian era. The Chalcedonian Creed did not put an end to all Christological debate, but it did clarify the terms used and became
27888-501: Was resurrected. Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his pre-existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John. This "evolutionary model" was proposed by proponents of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule , especially Wilhelm Bousset 's influential Kyrios Christos (1913). This evolutionary model was very influential, and the "low Christology" has long been regarded as
28056-424: Was sent as an atonement for the sins of everyone. The Pauline epistles use Kyrios to identify Jesus almost 230 times, and express the theme that the true mark of a Christian is the confession of Jesus as the true Lord. Paul viewed the superiority of the Christian revelation over all other divine manifestations as a consequence of the fact that Christ is the Son of God . The Pauline epistles also advanced
28224-492: Was that the one God exists in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); in particular it was affirmed that the Son was homoousios (of one substance) with the Father. The Creed of the Nicene Council made statements about the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus, thus preparing the way for discussion about how exactly the divine and human come together in the person of Christ (Christology). Nicaea insisted that Jesus
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