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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. St Francis Magazine is a publication of Interserve and Arab Vision 444
St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012 affirms that the concept of “son of god” in the New Testament is not derived from some pagan origins. The Biblical theological vision closely identifies God and his Christ, the Word Incarnate. This is the faith we find among the Apostolic Fathers and the Ante-Nicene era. The Epistle of Barnabas (likely written after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and before rebuilding the city by Hadrian – 132- 135 AD) refers to Christ as the Son of God who will execute the final judgment: “he will execute judgment…he revealed himself to be God’s Son.” (5.7-9) Barnabas repeats this idea in several places: in 7.2 he says: If, therefore, the Son of God, who is Lord and is destined to judge the living and the dead, suffered in order that his wounds might give us life, let us believe that the Son of God could not suffer except for our sake. The Didache is a catechism written in Greek and is dated around 60-80 AD 4 . This manual quotes from Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Thessalonians, and 1 Peter. It quotes more than 22 times from the book of Matthew 5 . Concerning baptism, the Didache says: As regards baptism, baptize in this manner, having first given all the preceding instruction baptize in the name of the father, and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and immerse 3 times in running water. The second epistle of Clement is the oldest complete Greek homily 6 still existent outside the New Testament; it is likely that the epistle was written between 100 and 120 AD: “Brothers and sisters, we 4 Randy Nelson, The Jesus Seminar's Quest for the Historical Jesus, Evangelical Theological Society Regional Conference (3/17/96), p.13; O'Loughlin, T. (2010). The Didache: A Window on the Earliest Christians (26). London; Grand Rapids, MI: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; Baker Academic. 5 Did. 1:2 vs Mat 22:37ff & 7:12; Did.1:3 vs Mat 5:44ff; Did. 1:4 vs Mat 5:39ff; Did.1:5 vs Mat 5:26; Did. 10:5 vs Mat 24:31; Did. 10:6 vs Mat 21:9, 15 …etc. Aaron Milavec, Synoptic Tradition in the Didache Revisited, Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Victoria, p.4 6 Holmes M.W., The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, 2nd ed., Baker Books, Grand Rapids 2004, p. 102 St Francis Magazine is a publication of Interserve and Arab Vision 445
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