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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012
Incarnation was not an aim itself, but it was a means of fulfilling
an aim. This aim was humanity. It shows how incarnation expresses
the deepest relationship between God and man. Because God, who
is Spirit, became flesh for us, so his salvation did not remain purely
theoretical—only to be believed in the heart and assented to in the
mind—but physical, to be participated in. Because of this, Orthodoxy,
like Jesus and St Paul, sees no tension between a strong affirmation
of the real, physical rituals of the sacraments as salvific participations
in the Trinitarian fellowship, while also affirming that
salvation is purely gift and grace. Greco-Roman cults had no way
of bringing together these aspects of the human experience—ritual
and faith—because they did not have a way of bringing together the
human and the divine in a man. Orthodox Christianity does.
3 Patristic Testimony And Ante-Nicene Christology
Ante-Nicene Christology 3 was not any different from that of Nicaea,
which is what Pagels suggests. Both are the same and are based on
the Biblical Christology. Two important concepts of this Christology
can be found in the Bible: the concept of Logos (the Word Incarnate)
and the concept of the Son of God.
Here are some relevant verses on the Logos, the Word Incarnate:
Mt 5:37, 28:15, Mk 4:15, Lk4:32, 4:36, 5:15, Jn.1:1, 4:37, Ac
6:5, 11:22, Rom 6:6, 9:9, 1Cor1:18, 2:4, 2Cor 1:18, 10:10, Eph 4:29,
6:19, Co. 3:16, 4:6, 1Thes1:8, 2Thes 1:8, 3:1, 1Tim 1:15, 2Tim 2:9,
Ti 2:5, Heb 2:2, 4:2, 1Jn 1:10, 2:7, and Rev 19:13.
Son of God: the cries of the unclean spirits, and those with evil
spirits, “You are the son of God,” (Mr 3:11, 5:7, Lk4:41) cannot be
considered a pagan influence, but this title reminds us of the texts of
Qumran. For example, codec 4Q246 which is known as Aramaic
Apocalypse (dating back to 25 BC) is of a Jewish origin, and much
older than the NT. The text speaks about a man entitled “son of
God” or “son of the High” and “his rule will be an eternal kingdom.”
The text sees that person as a universal savior, so this apocalypse
3 That is, Christology prior to the Council of Nicaea, which was convoked in 325
AD by the Saint and Emperor Constantine.
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