How do we discern what Christ is doing now so that we can get in on it?
What is Christ doing in the world here and now? How do we discern this and how does knowing what Christ is doing enable us to participate in the ministry of Christ? With Professor Andrew Purves of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, I think the answers to these questions can best be found by examining the work of Athanasius, whose wide view of atonement helps us to more fully understand the work of Christ and, hence, participate more fully in his ministry.
To that end, I will attempt to briefly sketch Athanasius’ thought on atonement and the implications of this view for those who would follow Christ. Based in part on reading Athanasius and drawing heavily on lectures by Dr. Andrew Purves at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, it makes sense to adopt a wider understanding of atonement which sees not only the cross as redemptive but the incarnation, the life and teaching and healing and ministry, and the resurrection and ascension of our Lord as well. Much of the thought and character of this examination of Athanasius is drawn from Purves and his mentor, Tom Torrance.
Incarnation, Word becoming flesh, means that Jesus is both the Word of God to us and the response to the Word which humanity was incapable of making but which Emmanuel, both fully human and fully divine, was uniquely qualified to make on our behalf. In his ministry of obedience to the Father, and in his discernment, teaching, and healing, Jesus demonstrated for us the ministry which he then invited us to be a part of.
On the cross, Jesus demonstrated the depth of God’s love for us, exemplifying the denial of self and the obedience to God to which we can aspire with the help of Spirit and demonstrated the power of living a life powered by Spirit rather than a desire driven by law to do the right thing as best we can in our human frailty.
In His resurrection, God vindicates the life lived in the power of God, ultimately defeating the power of both sin and death to hold sway in our lives and opening up the possibility for an eternity lived in and through God. And in his ascension, Jesus returns to the side of God, carrying into the communion of the trinity our very flesh so that we are no longer separated from God by our flesh but Jesus in the flesh, glorified as the Christ, sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us, dispelling once and for all the Gnostic heresies of evil flesh and true spirit and the existence of a true God of spirit who stands over and against the flawed God of flesh and creation.
In His ascension in the flesh, Jesus proves indisputably that God loves all of Creation, both adam and adamah, the creature created in God’s image from the dust of creation and the creation whose stuff contributed to our substance. God is an earthy God who delights in creation. And now, no longer separated from God, the presence of Jesus’ flesh in the Godhead serves as a concrete invitation for us to participate in the communal interactions of the Trinity. The ascension is, in a sense, the enfleshed invitation through which we are invited into the perichoresis which exemplifies life in the Trinity. And, invited into close communion with the very Trinity, into a mystical union with Christ, we are then called to share in the ministry which Christ is doing in the world. So all of Christian life is sharing in the ministry of Christ and should be entered into after prayerful contemplation and discovery on who Christ is and what he desires to do in the situation which is the context for our ministry.
Calvin’s thought on mystical union is critical here. According to Calvin, as long as Christ remains outside us, all he has done is of no value to us. Dr. Purves points this out with a wonderful bit of scripture--Christ within us, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Since Christ lives within us, we are grafted into his life and work. In other words, living in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are able to receive what Christ has done for us and can truly participate in his life and ministry. If there is no union with Christ, all the work Christ has done on our behalf comes to naught.
So may we seek to know and commune with the Christ who calls us into the work of the Trinity and may we give up any idea of "our" ministry so that we may enter fully into the ministry to which Christ invites us.
To that end, I will attempt to briefly sketch Athanasius’ thought on atonement and the implications of this view for those who would follow Christ. Based in part on reading Athanasius and drawing heavily on lectures by Dr. Andrew Purves at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, it makes sense to adopt a wider understanding of atonement which sees not only the cross as redemptive but the incarnation, the life and teaching and healing and ministry, and the resurrection and ascension of our Lord as well. Much of the thought and character of this examination of Athanasius is drawn from Purves and his mentor, Tom Torrance.
Incarnation, Word becoming flesh, means that Jesus is both the Word of God to us and the response to the Word which humanity was incapable of making but which Emmanuel, both fully human and fully divine, was uniquely qualified to make on our behalf. In his ministry of obedience to the Father, and in his discernment, teaching, and healing, Jesus demonstrated for us the ministry which he then invited us to be a part of.
On the cross, Jesus demonstrated the depth of God’s love for us, exemplifying the denial of self and the obedience to God to which we can aspire with the help of Spirit and demonstrated the power of living a life powered by Spirit rather than a desire driven by law to do the right thing as best we can in our human frailty.
In His resurrection, God vindicates the life lived in the power of God, ultimately defeating the power of both sin and death to hold sway in our lives and opening up the possibility for an eternity lived in and through God. And in his ascension, Jesus returns to the side of God, carrying into the communion of the trinity our very flesh so that we are no longer separated from God by our flesh but Jesus in the flesh, glorified as the Christ, sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us, dispelling once and for all the Gnostic heresies of evil flesh and true spirit and the existence of a true God of spirit who stands over and against the flawed God of flesh and creation.
In His ascension in the flesh, Jesus proves indisputably that God loves all of Creation, both adam and adamah, the creature created in God’s image from the dust of creation and the creation whose stuff contributed to our substance. God is an earthy God who delights in creation. And now, no longer separated from God, the presence of Jesus’ flesh in the Godhead serves as a concrete invitation for us to participate in the communal interactions of the Trinity. The ascension is, in a sense, the enfleshed invitation through which we are invited into the perichoresis which exemplifies life in the Trinity. And, invited into close communion with the very Trinity, into a mystical union with Christ, we are then called to share in the ministry which Christ is doing in the world. So all of Christian life is sharing in the ministry of Christ and should be entered into after prayerful contemplation and discovery on who Christ is and what he desires to do in the situation which is the context for our ministry.
Calvin’s thought on mystical union is critical here. According to Calvin, as long as Christ remains outside us, all he has done is of no value to us. Dr. Purves points this out with a wonderful bit of scripture--Christ within us, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Since Christ lives within us, we are grafted into his life and work. In other words, living in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are able to receive what Christ has done for us and can truly participate in his life and ministry. If there is no union with Christ, all the work Christ has done on our behalf comes to naught.
So may we seek to know and commune with the Christ who calls us into the work of the Trinity and may we give up any idea of "our" ministry so that we may enter fully into the ministry to which Christ invites us.
posted by Frank at 2:00 PM
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