June 3, 2015

“I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of G*d, which is the church of the living G*d, the pillars and the bulwark of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion:

He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” 1 Timothy 3:14-16

“All I know,” Paul would have told you, “is that when Jesus Christ became man, you and I were somehow mystically identified with him. His life, not just by the circumstances of it but by the whole purpose and dedication of it, led up to his death on the cross. And when he died, you and I, mystically identified with him, became dead to our old life of sin and disobedience; we were buried with him, and rose again with him into a new life, in which G*d is our sun and Christ is the air we breathe.” Ronald Knox (1888 – 1957) Pastoral Sermons, “For All The Saints” volume II, (p. 57)

The “Incarnation” and the “Atonement”: Incarnation is the coming of Christ in flesh, truly human, born as a child, truly a human being. The Atonement is the sacrificial act of the Cross, dying for our sins so that we might be saved through him. The Incarnation is easy to understand (maybe) because we have all been born to a mother and lived and grown as a human. But Atonement theories abound — and have abounded since the generations after the resurrection. “Why did Jesus have to die?” If I have heard that question once, I have heard it a thousand times. Christ died because how else will humans be able to make ourselves right with G*d.

Here is one example of an “Atonement Theory” formulated by the medieval theologian Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109):

“Anselm believed that humans could not render to God more than what was due to him. The satisfaction due to God was greater than what all created beings are capable of doing, since they can only do what is already required of them. Therefore, God had to make satisfaction for himself. Yet if this satisfaction was going to avail for humans, it had to be made by a human. Therefore only a being that was both God and man could satisfy God and give him the honor that is due him.”

“All I know,” Paul would have told you, “is that when Jesus Christ became man, you and I were somehow mystically identified with him” says Ronald Knox. What G*d has done for us through Christ is a mystery, but one day it will all be made clear for you and for me. Until then, we trust that what Christ has done does make us right with G*d.

Pastor Dave