Ecce Verbum
Why do we read old books? taken from the introduction C.S. Lewis wrote to Athanasius's "On The Incarnation" "The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern…
stathanasiusontheincarnation.pdf
5.9 MB
On the Incarnation of the Word
St. Athanasius
"Athanasius stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, “whole and undefiled,” when it looked as if all the civilised world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius – into one of those “sensible” synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away."
At a time when the Arian heresy was at its most influential, the bishops who sided with Arianism taunted Athanasius with the words “The world is against you Athanasius.” But Athanasius defiantly responded: “Athanasius contra mundum” (“No. It’s Athanasius against the world.”). While Arianism insisted that the Son was a mere creature, Athanasius argued for Christ’s full deity.
read online
#christology
St. Athanasius
"Athanasius stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, “whole and undefiled,” when it looked as if all the civilised world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius – into one of those “sensible” synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away."
At a time when the Arian heresy was at its most influential, the bishops who sided with Arianism taunted Athanasius with the words “The world is against you Athanasius.” But Athanasius defiantly responded: “Athanasius contra mundum” (“No. It’s Athanasius against the world.”). While Arianism insisted that the Son was a mere creature, Athanasius argued for Christ’s full deity.
read online
#christology
Ecce Verbum
stathanasiusontheincarnation.pdf
On the knowledge of Christ
Christ is true God and true man. This truth can raise many questions about what Christ's knowledge as a man was during His earthly life.
The Church Fathers strongly emphasised that one is Christ, who is both God and a man at the same time. He is not different as God and different as man, and therefore of Christ-God we pronounce human actions and attributes, and of Christ-man, divine ones. The dogma of faith is that in Christ there is only one person and this is the divine person of the Son of God (Word, Logos). The heresy opposing this truth is Nestorianism, which claims that in Christ there are two persons: divine and human, between which there is moral unity.
Christ took His human nature from the Blessed Virgin Mary, as confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon (451). This means that Christ had the same nature that we have, not only metaphysically the same, but physically, because He took it from the lineage of Adam. Therefore, He is co-essential to us as a species.
The soul of Christ had feelings. Christ had a complete human nature, which also includes the feelings of the soul's sensual powers. The feelings in Christ were rightly ordered. In Christ, reason preceded feeling, and feeling never prevented Him from acting rationally.
It is a dogma of the faith that Christ was free from original sin and personal sins. Christ not only did not actually sin, but could not sin. He was also free from the passions- internal temptations. He also possessed all the virtues in the highest degree.
At the first moment of the Incarnation, Christ, as a man, voluntarily chose the path of suffering, although He could also choose the path of joy. Christ, as a man, could prevent his suffering at any time. Christ's human will constantly had the power to work miracles.
Christ had relative omniscience and grace in the highest degree. Therefore, He had no intellectual or moral defects. Christ came to atone primarily for original sin, and therefore took on the shortcomings that are a consequence of original sin. Christ assumed bodily defects to awaken faith in the Incarnation, because if without these defects He assumed human nature, it would seem that he was not a real man. Through the Incarnation, He also gave us an example of patience by bravely enduring human ailments and shortcomings.
The Incarnation is a mystery of faith. Mystery means that without Revelation we are unable to know it with natural reason, and after Revelation we are unable to fully know it in a positive way. The Incarnation does not oppose reason and makes itself known through the rejection of errors (negative way of knowing).
The teaching of St Gregory the Great refers to Christ's human knowledge: "The Incarnate Only-Begotten, having become a perfect Man, knew the day and hour of Judgment ... by the power of His Deity. The day of Judgment, therefore, is known by God and Man, but because [that] Man is God".
St Pius X, in approving the decree of the Holy Office, the Lamentabili (1907), condemned the modernist theses proclaiming that Christ was not always aware that He was the Messiah and the theses questioning His unlimited knowledge during His earthly life.
Pius XII, in his encyclical Mystici Corporis, emphasised that Christ's knowledge surpasses all the capacity of the human mind. Because of the hypostatic union (union with the Divine Person), our Saviour's knowledge cannot be judged by human ability alone.
On the other hand, in 1918, the Holy Office issued a decree declaring that Christ living on earth cannot be denied that knowledge which the Saints in heaven have [AAS 1918]. This is the so-called knowledge from the vision of God, in which all truths are contained.
As St Thomas [Summa, III q. 103] (and most theologians after him) explained, the knowledge of the Saints in heaven is that knowledge which comes from the direct vision of the essence of God and concerns all things that were, are or will be (past, present and future). Such was the knowledge of Christ.
🔗p.2 and sources
#christology
Christ is true God and true man. This truth can raise many questions about what Christ's knowledge as a man was during His earthly life.
The Church Fathers strongly emphasised that one is Christ, who is both God and a man at the same time. He is not different as God and different as man, and therefore of Christ-God we pronounce human actions and attributes, and of Christ-man, divine ones. The dogma of faith is that in Christ there is only one person and this is the divine person of the Son of God (Word, Logos). The heresy opposing this truth is Nestorianism, which claims that in Christ there are two persons: divine and human, between which there is moral unity.
Christ took His human nature from the Blessed Virgin Mary, as confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon (451). This means that Christ had the same nature that we have, not only metaphysically the same, but physically, because He took it from the lineage of Adam. Therefore, He is co-essential to us as a species.
The soul of Christ had feelings. Christ had a complete human nature, which also includes the feelings of the soul's sensual powers. The feelings in Christ were rightly ordered. In Christ, reason preceded feeling, and feeling never prevented Him from acting rationally.
It is a dogma of the faith that Christ was free from original sin and personal sins. Christ not only did not actually sin, but could not sin. He was also free from the passions- internal temptations. He also possessed all the virtues in the highest degree.
At the first moment of the Incarnation, Christ, as a man, voluntarily chose the path of suffering, although He could also choose the path of joy. Christ, as a man, could prevent his suffering at any time. Christ's human will constantly had the power to work miracles.
Christ had relative omniscience and grace in the highest degree. Therefore, He had no intellectual or moral defects. Christ came to atone primarily for original sin, and therefore took on the shortcomings that are a consequence of original sin. Christ assumed bodily defects to awaken faith in the Incarnation, because if without these defects He assumed human nature, it would seem that he was not a real man. Through the Incarnation, He also gave us an example of patience by bravely enduring human ailments and shortcomings.
The Incarnation is a mystery of faith. Mystery means that without Revelation we are unable to know it with natural reason, and after Revelation we are unable to fully know it in a positive way. The Incarnation does not oppose reason and makes itself known through the rejection of errors (negative way of knowing).
The teaching of St Gregory the Great refers to Christ's human knowledge: "The Incarnate Only-Begotten, having become a perfect Man, knew the day and hour of Judgment ... by the power of His Deity. The day of Judgment, therefore, is known by God and Man, but because [that] Man is God".
St Pius X, in approving the decree of the Holy Office, the Lamentabili (1907), condemned the modernist theses proclaiming that Christ was not always aware that He was the Messiah and the theses questioning His unlimited knowledge during His earthly life.
Pius XII, in his encyclical Mystici Corporis, emphasised that Christ's knowledge surpasses all the capacity of the human mind. Because of the hypostatic union (union with the Divine Person), our Saviour's knowledge cannot be judged by human ability alone.
On the other hand, in 1918, the Holy Office issued a decree declaring that Christ living on earth cannot be denied that knowledge which the Saints in heaven have [AAS 1918]. This is the so-called knowledge from the vision of God, in which all truths are contained.
As St Thomas [Summa, III q. 103] (and most theologians after him) explained, the knowledge of the Saints in heaven is that knowledge which comes from the direct vision of the essence of God and concerns all things that were, are or will be (past, present and future). Such was the knowledge of Christ.
🔗p.2 and sources
#christology
thedivinityofchrist.pdf
2.2 MB
The Divinity of Christ
Rev. Joseph Rickaby
Rickaby offers a scholarly case for the Divinity of Christ from a Biblical and historical perspective. It's rare to find a work that can soundly refute Arian heresy and forcefully defend the truth in a way which is so succinct and digestible. Originally a part of the Westminster Lecture series in 1906, this short theological treatise is among one of the most potent defenses of Christ's divinity written in the 20th century.
#christology
Rev. Joseph Rickaby
Rickaby offers a scholarly case for the Divinity of Christ from a Biblical and historical perspective. It's rare to find a work that can soundly refute Arian heresy and forcefully defend the truth in a way which is so succinct and digestible. Originally a part of the Westminster Lecture series in 1906, this short theological treatise is among one of the most potent defenses of Christ's divinity written in the 20th century.
#christology
Ecce Verbum
The attributes of God 4.The will of God The power by which rational nature relates to good is called the will, therefore every rational being has a will, including God, hence Vatican Council I refers to Him as 'the will of the Infinite'. How does God's will…
Various aspects of Redemption
Christ is the only mediator between men and God in the strict sense, and as this mediator He redeemed us. He is a moral mediator (like prophets, apostles, priests, Mary and saints) and a natural mediator, because he combined the divine and human natures.
All other mediators are such only by grace, not by nature, therefore all their effectiveness comes from the mediation of Christ. Christ's mediation included the priestly, teaching and royal offices. The most important was the priestly office - making a sacrifice.
Christ redeemed us through his passion and death. It includes: substitutionary atonement, strict redemption, reconciliation with God and merit. He made satisfaction vicariously, i.e. He did not formally take upon Himself our guilt or punishment, but the suffering that compensated for the punishment due to us.
Christ, as a priest, made a true and voluntary sacrifice on the cross, which was accepted by God. The one making the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself was Christ, not through His divine nature, but by His human nature. It was in human nature that He suffered a voluntary death. (the divine nature is immortal, and the divine nature did not suffer during the death of Christ. However, we can say that God died on the cross for our sins when we mean the person, not the nature itself. The validity or truthfulness of a statement depends on the context in which it occurs.)
Redemption in the strict sense is the act by which someone is restored to freedom. Christ, having paid God what was due to Him, redeemed us from the slavery of sin, Satan and death. He provided us with supernatural means (grace) through which we can rise from sin and not fall again.
Christ freed us from death in the sense that He merited resurrection for us. Resurrection does not happen immediately, because in this respect we must become like Christ, who first died, rested in the grave, and only then rose from the dead.
Redemption, in addition to satisfaction and strict redemption, also included merit. Atonement is the repair of an offense done, and merit is a good deed worthy of reward. Through his sacrifice, Christ atoned for sins and honored God, meriting grace for us.
Christ merited for people all the graces that are given to them. Eternal reward for our works comes only through the merits of Jesus, and all the merits that a justified man collects during his life are gained through the grace of God and the merit of Christ.
We must distinguish Christ's atonement according to its sufficiency and according to its effectiveness. Christ died for all in terms of sufficiency, i.e. He gave sufficient remuneration for all to be saved and prepared to receive all the means necessary for salvation.
Man must apply the merits of Christ to himself in order to be saved, otherwise he will not experience the effectiveness of Christ's atonement. The application takes place by receiving the Sacraments, by faith and perfect contrition for sins, by cooperation with the received grace, etc.
The atonement and merits of Christ are like a universal cause which, in order to have an effective impact on individual people, must be applied to them through their cooperation. The spring contains water for everyone, but only those who draw it from the spring will drink it.
People living before Christ's coming also had sufficient graces in view of Christ's future death. Even the damned had sufficient means of salvation while they lived, because of the merits of Christ, but they did not use them and therefore condemned themselves.
It does not detract from the merits of Christ, nor does it prove their insufficiency, that everyone must make reparation and deserve heaven, because our merits are born from the merits of Christ and are based on them. It is not a disgrace to the vine that its branches bear abundant fruit.
Outline of Catholic Dogmatics, fr. dr. M. Sieniatycki
#dogma #christology
Christ is the only mediator between men and God in the strict sense, and as this mediator He redeemed us. He is a moral mediator (like prophets, apostles, priests, Mary and saints) and a natural mediator, because he combined the divine and human natures.
All other mediators are such only by grace, not by nature, therefore all their effectiveness comes from the mediation of Christ. Christ's mediation included the priestly, teaching and royal offices. The most important was the priestly office - making a sacrifice.
Christ redeemed us through his passion and death. It includes: substitutionary atonement, strict redemption, reconciliation with God and merit. He made satisfaction vicariously, i.e. He did not formally take upon Himself our guilt or punishment, but the suffering that compensated for the punishment due to us.
Christ, as a priest, made a true and voluntary sacrifice on the cross, which was accepted by God. The one making the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself was Christ, not through His divine nature, but by His human nature. It was in human nature that He suffered a voluntary death. (the divine nature is immortal, and the divine nature did not suffer during the death of Christ. However, we can say that God died on the cross for our sins when we mean the person, not the nature itself. The validity or truthfulness of a statement depends on the context in which it occurs.)
Redemption in the strict sense is the act by which someone is restored to freedom. Christ, having paid God what was due to Him, redeemed us from the slavery of sin, Satan and death. He provided us with supernatural means (grace) through which we can rise from sin and not fall again.
Christ freed us from death in the sense that He merited resurrection for us. Resurrection does not happen immediately, because in this respect we must become like Christ, who first died, rested in the grave, and only then rose from the dead.
Redemption, in addition to satisfaction and strict redemption, also included merit. Atonement is the repair of an offense done, and merit is a good deed worthy of reward. Through his sacrifice, Christ atoned for sins and honored God, meriting grace for us.
Christ merited for people all the graces that are given to them. Eternal reward for our works comes only through the merits of Jesus, and all the merits that a justified man collects during his life are gained through the grace of God and the merit of Christ.
We must distinguish Christ's atonement according to its sufficiency and according to its effectiveness. Christ died for all in terms of sufficiency, i.e. He gave sufficient remuneration for all to be saved and prepared to receive all the means necessary for salvation.
Man must apply the merits of Christ to himself in order to be saved, otherwise he will not experience the effectiveness of Christ's atonement. The application takes place by receiving the Sacraments, by faith and perfect contrition for sins, by cooperation with the received grace, etc.
The atonement and merits of Christ are like a universal cause which, in order to have an effective impact on individual people, must be applied to them through their cooperation. The spring contains water for everyone, but only those who draw it from the spring will drink it.
People living before Christ's coming also had sufficient graces in view of Christ's future death. Even the damned had sufficient means of salvation while they lived, because of the merits of Christ, but they did not use them and therefore condemned themselves.
It does not detract from the merits of Christ, nor does it prove their insufficiency, that everyone must make reparation and deserve heaven, because our merits are born from the merits of Christ and are based on them. It is not a disgrace to the vine that its branches bear abundant fruit.
Outline of Catholic Dogmatics, fr. dr. M. Sieniatycki
#dogma #christology
Ecce Verbum
Various aspects of Redemption Christ is the only mediator between men and God in the strict sense, and as this mediator He redeemed us. He is a moral mediator (like prophets, apostles, priests, Mary and saints) and a natural mediator, because he combined…
Redemption through the Incarnation
The human race was absolutely incapable of recovering from the fall. Therefore, on the part of man, redemption was necessary. The ultimate goal to which man is destined and which he lost through sin is supernatural, so it transcends his nature and powers.
The first goal that God absolutely wants from creation, i.e. glory, would be achieved even if all people condemned themselves. Human happiness is a secondary goal, achieved conditionally. Therefore, the Redemption of the human race is a voluntary act of pure love and mercy of God. This should make us realize how great God's love is for each of us, that even though He does not need our salvation, He willingly decided to redeem us in the most humble way to enable us to receive eternal happiness.
Atonement means "returning to God the honor that sin has deprived". If the moral value of an act is as great as the insult caused, it is complete. If it does not counterbalance the insult, but the insulted accepts it, it is incomplete.
Redemption by the Son of God was necessary to fulfill the full atonement. The offense increases in proportion to the dignity of the offended person. For this reason, the offense against God through sin is infinite. So only satisfaction of infinite value can offset the offense against God.
The value of reparation is measured by the dignity of the person making reparation, and no human being's dignity is infinite. For infinite satisfaction it was necessary that the dignity of the atoner be equal to God, and therefore the Son of God had to make satisfaction in human nature.
Redemption corresponds to justice and mercy. Justice, because the Son of God made ample satisfaction in human nature, and mercy, because the Son of God, by willingly suffering, showed his infinite mercy towards people who could not make reparation.
Redemption through the Incarnation reveals: 1) goodness, because God did not despise His creation; 2) justice, because when man fell, God raised him up through God-man; 3) wisdom, because God found a way to make the most difficult payment; 4) power, because the Incarnation is the most powerful work.
Although Redemption was not necessary on God's part, it was appropriate, because: "It belongs to the nature of the highest good to communicate itself in the most perfect way to creation" (St. Thomas). The culmination of God's communication of himself to human nature is its acceptance by the Son of God.
Redemption through the Incarnation aims to strengthen faith in supernatural truths. Therefore, the one who teaches about them must have infallible authority to be sure that he is not misleading. Therefore, God personally taught these truths in human form.
Redemption through the Incarnation raises hope that despite our distance from God, we can achieve eternal happiness in heaven. This is what the Incarnation is for, as it proves that God has raised our nature to the highest dignity, and therefore we can also achieve eternal happiness in heaven.
Redemption through the Incarnation moves us to love. Through the Incarnation, God as if embodied for us His attributes worthy of infinite love and drew our souls to love Him: "If it was difficult to love, now at least it won't be difficult to love in return".
Redemption through the Incarnation gives us an example to follow: A man is drawn to virtue by word and example, and he is drawn all the more effectively the greater he is certain of the infallibility and holiness of the one giving the example. So God became man, taught and gave us an example to follow.
Redemption through the Incarnation removed evil from man. Man was liberated from sin by the complete atonement of God-man: "If he were not true God, he would not give medicine, if he were not true man, he would not set an example" (St. Leo).
Outline of Catholic Dogmatics, fr. dr. M. Sieniatycki
#christology #dogma
The human race was absolutely incapable of recovering from the fall. Therefore, on the part of man, redemption was necessary. The ultimate goal to which man is destined and which he lost through sin is supernatural, so it transcends his nature and powers.
The first goal that God absolutely wants from creation, i.e. glory, would be achieved even if all people condemned themselves. Human happiness is a secondary goal, achieved conditionally. Therefore, the Redemption of the human race is a voluntary act of pure love and mercy of God. This should make us realize how great God's love is for each of us, that even though He does not need our salvation, He willingly decided to redeem us in the most humble way to enable us to receive eternal happiness.
Atonement means "returning to God the honor that sin has deprived". If the moral value of an act is as great as the insult caused, it is complete. If it does not counterbalance the insult, but the insulted accepts it, it is incomplete.
Redemption by the Son of God was necessary to fulfill the full atonement. The offense increases in proportion to the dignity of the offended person. For this reason, the offense against God through sin is infinite. So only satisfaction of infinite value can offset the offense against God.
The value of reparation is measured by the dignity of the person making reparation, and no human being's dignity is infinite. For infinite satisfaction it was necessary that the dignity of the atoner be equal to God, and therefore the Son of God had to make satisfaction in human nature.
Redemption corresponds to justice and mercy. Justice, because the Son of God made ample satisfaction in human nature, and mercy, because the Son of God, by willingly suffering, showed his infinite mercy towards people who could not make reparation.
Redemption through the Incarnation reveals: 1) goodness, because God did not despise His creation; 2) justice, because when man fell, God raised him up through God-man; 3) wisdom, because God found a way to make the most difficult payment; 4) power, because the Incarnation is the most powerful work.
Although Redemption was not necessary on God's part, it was appropriate, because: "It belongs to the nature of the highest good to communicate itself in the most perfect way to creation" (St. Thomas). The culmination of God's communication of himself to human nature is its acceptance by the Son of God.
Redemption through the Incarnation aims to strengthen faith in supernatural truths. Therefore, the one who teaches about them must have infallible authority to be sure that he is not misleading. Therefore, God personally taught these truths in human form.
Redemption through the Incarnation raises hope that despite our distance from God, we can achieve eternal happiness in heaven. This is what the Incarnation is for, as it proves that God has raised our nature to the highest dignity, and therefore we can also achieve eternal happiness in heaven.
Redemption through the Incarnation moves us to love. Through the Incarnation, God as if embodied for us His attributes worthy of infinite love and drew our souls to love Him: "If it was difficult to love, now at least it won't be difficult to love in return".
Redemption through the Incarnation gives us an example to follow: A man is drawn to virtue by word and example, and he is drawn all the more effectively the greater he is certain of the infallibility and holiness of the one giving the example. So God became man, taught and gave us an example to follow.
Redemption through the Incarnation removed evil from man. Man was liberated from sin by the complete atonement of God-man: "If he were not true God, he would not give medicine, if he were not true man, he would not set an example" (St. Leo).
Outline of Catholic Dogmatics, fr. dr. M. Sieniatycki
#christology #dogma