IntroductionI. Christ the Object of Christology A. Profession of faith

1. The statement that Jesus is the Christ involves exercising reason enlightened by faith in order to discover Christ and repeats the words the first disciples used when they told each other their joy in having found him.

2. Christianity is Christ. The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him.

a. The Church’s mission is simply that of preaching the truth about Christ and changing people into Christ.

3. It is useful to emphasize the radical newness of the Christian religion in the context of the history of religions.

a. Christianity is the following of a man whom one confesses to be the messiah expected by the Jewish people.

b. Christology lies at the heart of all Catholic dogma. c. The identity of Jesus Christ is the key question in all Christian

belief and conduct.

d. Everything is grounded on the identity of this person who proclaims it. The question of who and what Jesus is, is the key question which neither theologians nor believers can avoid.

e. The Church provides such an answer in its creeds.4. It is Christ himself who man searches for and not some image of

him, more or less beautiful, more or less touching.

a. We receive belief in Jesus from the Church and not from some philosophical and textual criticism.

b. Whoever seeks Christ without the Church deprives himself of all possibility of finding the living Christ.

c. without the living Church, the entire New Testament would be literature

and nothing more.

B. Historical Study of Jesus of Nazareth1. Jesus Christ is neither a myth nor an abstract notion. He is a man

who lived in a concrete milieu and who died after having lived his life within the unfolding of an historical process.

a. Historical research is demanded by the Christian faith itself. The research itself can never be totally detached, because it effects every human being..

2. Historical research into the life of Christ is needed for two reasons: a. To keep Jesus from being a merely mythological hero. b. to keep the faith from resting on fideism.

3. It is faith in the Incarnation that leads us to research the life of Christ.

a. The doctrine of the faith refers back to history and also contains as an integral part of its makeup certain clearly documented events.

b. The purpose of the Gospels is to stir up faith. It is conceived as a narrative of Jesus’ words and deeds. It depicts the apostles primarily as witnesses of the death and resurrection, and secondarily as bearers of teaching.

c. The Creeds focus on the life of Jesus and is seen in certain kerygmatic phrases, eg. 1 Cor 15:3b-5. This consists of the key parts that are handed on. “Paradosis” (Tradition)

4. Theology has meditated on the mysteries of the life of Christ from the beginning, because it is that life which is the revelation of God.

a. The words and works of God in salvation history show forth and bear out the doctrine and realities signified by the words. The words proclaim the works and bring to light the mysteries they contain.

5. The New Testament bears witness to Jesus as Christ and Lord. a. Hence the witness gives great respect to what he has seen and

heard concerning Jesus Christ.

b. Profession of faith in Jesus as Lord refers the believer and Christology back to a totally concrete history and the unique destiny of the God-man.

6. Because Jesus is the incarnate Word, his reality has a dimension which is accessible to historical critical analysis.

a. However, in his divine nature, Jesus totally transcends the scope of historical research.

b. Therefore by itself, historical research is never enough to give one sufficient knowledge of the mystery of Christ because true knowledge of Jesus implies believing that he is the Son of God.

c. There is an indissoluble oneness to the Lord, the close connection between the figure of Jesus of Nazareth and the mystery of his personal being.

C. The Jesus of History is the Christ of Faith 1. The divinity of Jesus is a-priori impossible and therefore unhistorical because it contradicts every comparison with experience and destroys the sequence of cause and effect.

a. the absolute newness of Christianity is something that could not be

fathomed or accepted.

2. By splitting the two ideas: a. Jesus of history is the humble rabbi dreamer of Nazareth b. The Christ of Faith is the Apostles’ perception of Jesus, who

created the Jesus “myth.”

3. To resolve this, Jesus must be demythologized so that we exclude the supernatural and accept only the natural.

a. The anti-dogmatic attitude is that Jesus just could not be God. b. Herman Samuel Reimarus (+1768)

4. While this distinction continues, it tends to set up an interesting set of starting points:

a. Jesus of history: his humanity and the way he lived and died. b. Christ of Faith: The God discovered by the disciples’ faith

beneath the fragility of Jesus’ flesh.

5. Research into the life of Jesus is possible to a limited extent, but this study of Jesus is not ordinary because he is God.

a. We cannot secure a full knowledge of Jesus unless we take into account the living faith of the Christian community which sustains this vision of the facts.

b. Because the Christian faith is based essentially on the witness of the Twelve, it would go against the very nature of theology to be suspicious of the validity of the Apostles’ testimony.

D. Ascending and Descending Christology1. For some, descending means emphasizing the rights of Christ’s

divinity, whereas ascending emphasizes the rights of Christ’s humanity.

a. Kung: Descending Christology is that which in its method, is grounded in the very beginning from consideration of Christ’s divinity, whereas ascending is built up on the man Jesus, abstracting from his divinity, which eventually appears only to the extent that it is manifested in his humanity.

2. Theologians accept Christology must be both ascending and descending.

E. Christology and Jesuology1. Christology is the classical approach to Jesus. a. Jesuology is the study of the Jesus of history as the Apostles’

experienced him before the resurrection. It is viewing Jesus just as the disciples saw him.

b. This though raises a distinction between the “Pre-Paschal” Jesus and the “Post-Paschal” Jesus.

F. The Church: Home of faith in Jesus 1. The New Testament originated by divine inspiration in the living

Church. It is the Church who recognizes their authority and explains their meaning.

a. The really basic element in Christianity is not the Bible, but the living preaching of the Church.

b. Outside of the Church, Sacred Scripture cannot be understood.

2. The New Testament is a faithful reflection of the Apostles’ preaching and the life of the early Christian community.

a. For a Christology to be authentic, not only does it have to follow the example and model established by the testimony of the Apostles’

preaching, but that testimony has to be understood in the way that the Church has understood it down through the centuries.

b. Only in the context of the communitarian faith of the Church one can take the bible literally and believe that what it says is true, that it really happened and that it is history.

G. The Christological Faith of the Early Councils1. The Chalcedonian debates: How do we deal with the explicitness

and precision of the early Councils as doctrine grew?

a. Does this add to the simple Gospel message? Is it a process explaining the Gospel preaching? Or is it a Hellenization of the Gospel texts?

b. The theologians who doubt the divinity of Christ argue that this dogma did not come from genuine biblical revelation, but rather as the Hellenization of belief.

2. These doctrines hold that the statement, “Jesus is Lord” is mythology, parallel to pagan divinizations of human beings.

a. However, the Greek Apologists argue that Jesus is not a divinized man, but THE SON OF GOD MADE FLESH.

b. Arianism is in fact a type of Hellenizing Jesus. c. Homoousios expresses not a philosophical view, but the authentic

meaning of the New Testament.

3. The Conciliar decrees of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon add NOTHING to the revealed message. They simply present it in a language to keep it from being interpreted in a way to drain it of its content.

H. Christology and the Mystery of God1. Pre-Existence of the Word: To discover the truth concerning Jesus

Christ,

one needs to have that preliminary understanding of the divine being who created the universe and conserves its being.

a. Without the reality of divine transcendence and God’s active presence in human history, it is not possible to accept so singular a figure of Jesus of Nazareth and to accept so singular a unique relationship with the God who distinguishes him.

2. The Incarnation of the Word took place without affecting his divine attributes in any way.

a. Not only is Christ said to be God, he is the SON of the Father: there is no knowledge of the Triune God except in the knowledge of Jesus Christ himself.

b. Theo-centrism and Christo-centrism denote the same reality.

3. Although it is only the Son of God who becomes man, the Incarnation is the initiative of the Holy Trinity.

a. Jesus reveals to us the Father as Father. b. By this making known through Jesus Christ, we know God above

all in his relationship of love for man.

c. Jesus also shows us that it is the Father who is the goal of our life and salvation.

d. Jesus reveals and sends the Holy Spirit, who pours the divine love into our hearts and makes us children by adoption.

4. The Paschal Mystery is the time of a new beginning of the self- communication of the Triune God to humanity in the Holy Spirit through the work of Christ the Redeemer.

Chapter One: the Expected Messiah A. Introduction

1. Revelation concerning the Mystery of Christ covers both his person and his work of salvation.

a. Jesus is not only the Son of God; he is the promised Messiah. b. He is by his very nature the Mediator between God and man. c. Messianic Truth not only includes the personal history of Jesus of

Nazareth and the mystery of his identity, but also the history of mankind as a whole, particularly its sinfulness and need for salvation.

2. It is in the mystery of the Word made Flesh that the mystery of man

becomes clear. a. This mystery not only involves man’s inner structure and thirst

for the infinite, but also the puzzle of the struggle between Good and evil that man experiences in himself.

b. Man is divided within himself. As a result, the personal and social life of man is a struggle between good and evil. Man finds that he is unable to overcome the assaults of evil successfully.

3. To say Jesus is the Christ: a. Man needs God and suffers from evils of various kinds. b. Man desires salvation and consequently a savior.

4. Christology takes into account the state of man: the Son of God became man in order to redeem man from sin.

a. It also takes into account the desire for salvation and the infinite God planted within man , which points to a savior.

5. The truth about man is a theological truth. Christology shed light on the

definitive nature of man and his destiny. a. The name for that deep amazement at man’s worth and dignity is

the Gospel or Good News; Christianity.

6. Man needs a savior, desires a savior and thus God provides. a. When the Word became man, God enters the history of humanity

as a man and becomes an actor in history.

b. Through the Incarnation, God gave human life the dimension that he intended man to have from the beginning.

B. Account of the Beginning1. The beginning of Genesis speaks about the creation of man in the

image and likeness of God, original sin and the promise of salvation.

2. Man: made in God’s image. a. To say man is created in God’s image refers to the principle of

self- transcendence. Being God’s image implies that he has an obediential potency to be adopted as God’s son through grace.

b. God is one to whom man bears some relationship. Man is endowed with a spiritual soul, intellect and free will ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude.

c. Man alone is capable of knowing and loving God. Man is created with a material structure capable of receiving God’s call to friendship. Man is on a special level because he is a person.

d. Man has a spiritual and immortal soul capable of knowledge and possessing a free will, which allows loving dialogue with God. His personal being also includes his body.

e. Soul and body are co-principles in man; man is the result of the union of

these principles. Death ruptures the substantial union of body and soul- it separates man’s two co-principles.

f. Man is not an object but a subject. Man is not only being, but becoming. He will find his perfection and fulfillment in knowing and loving God.

g. Man possesses a supernatural goal and a sharer of divine blessings that exceed the intelligence of the human mind. God provides man with supernatural grace, which is anew and heightened likeness to God. It brings about a new presence of God in man. Thus God is present in man and man is present in God.

h. Christ restores the image of God obscured in man through sin and it is he who restores to man that original state he lost through sin.

3. Destruction of God’s image through sin. a. At the creation of man, god gave him perfections that were not in

any way required by human nature for its fulfillment. Holiness and justice.

b. Man sinned when he lifted himself up against God and sought to attain his goal apart from God. They chose to serve the creature rather than the creator. This is original sin.

c. As a sign of his love, God put man to the test. Their choice against God was a radical rebellion against the one they knew and whom they had been linked by friendship. The effects were sickness and death.

d. Man loses his spiritual likeness to God and is diminished in his likeness to his Creator and this nature deteriorated, but was not destroyed.

4. Man cannot redeem himself. a. Only god can re-establish the holiness destroyed by sin. The

power to forgive sin rests with God.

b. Sin is more than an action, it is a state of being that man finds himself devoid of supernatural grace with his will distanced from and opposed to the will of God.

c. Salvation is the reacquisition of grace and the corresponding conversion of the human heart to the love of God.

d. There is no natural salvation possible through merely natural effort. There is only supernatural salvation which man cannot attain on his own.

5. The Promise of the Redeemer: Proto-Evangelium a. Genesis 3:15 refers to a promised savior who will strike at the

head of the serpent.

b. By foretelling the crushing of the serpent’s head, Genesis is announcing and promising that the Evil one will cease to have dominion over man. The human race, the offspring of the woman, will be redeemed.

C. Preparation for Israel1. God has willed to save people not as individuals, but rather to make

them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness.

a. The entire history of Israel is a preparation for and a foretelling of the Incarnation of God. God acts upon the Israelites by establishing a special presence among them.

b. This presence becomes perfect and definitive in the Incarnation. God’s

revelation to the people of Israel through the Patriarchs and Prophets was specially designed to announce and prepare for the coming of Christ.

2. The Covenant and Expectation of the Messiah a. A covenant is an alliance with God in god’s presence that gives

rights and duties on both sides.

b. There was a covenant with Noah and Abraham. Abraham was promised many descendants and a new land and eventually bless all the nations through this people.

c. God’s conditions were the Worship of him alone and circumcision as the sign of the covenant.

d. Moses would be given the final form of the covenant. The Exodus makes Israel a people and marks their adoption by God. God makes his will known to Moses and the people by the Tablets of the Law. The Law marks the path, the way of life to full communion with God. The Law is not a tool of oppression, but a path to freedom.

e. Nathan’s prophecy of Davidic kingship announces that there will come from him a king who will rule over every nation. The covenant establish a people from whom the Redeemer will come.

f. The covenant is a prophetic “type” or “figure” of the Redemptive Incarnation, because it is in Christ that the perfect and definitive covenant is established between the believer and God.

3. The poems of the Servant of the Lord (Four Servant Songs) a. The First song (Isaiah 42:1-2). The Messiah is the chosen one in

whom

God takes delight. He is a suffering and meek prophet who will bring salvation to all the nations.

b. The Second song (Isaiah 49:1-9). The Servant identifies himself with the entire people. There is solidarity between the people and the servant, who reveals the opposition and persecution he will receive from his own people.

c. The Third song (Isaiah 50:4-9). The persecution and opposition to the Servant is spelled out. Though innocent, he will be declared guilty.

d. The Fourth song (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). The figure of the Messiah emerges as the prophet who comes into the world to bear testimony to the truth, and precisely because of this truth he will be rejected by the people. His death will serve as a justification for many.

4. The Son of Man: The prophet Daniel announces the coming of the Son of Man on earth to establish his kingdom forever. He speaks about “One like a son of man.”

a. In Daniel, the Son of Man is an outstanding person who mysteriously transcends the human condition and restores the messianic kingdom irreversibly at the end of time.

b. Jesus frequently refers to himself as the “Son of Man.” There is a connection between the Glorious Messiah and the Suffering Servant. The mission of the Son of man is the same as the servant of the Lord.

5. Savior, King, High priest a. The OT highlights the royal nature of the Messiah. There has

been a general unfolding of this mystery from the time of Adam and Eve. This king will be king of all the nations and all will find salvation in him.

b. The combination of the Messiah in terms of kingly and priestly power show that his kingdom will not be an earthly one. It is a kingdom of salvation.

c. The link between priest and king is reinforced by the connection between the king and the sanctity of the Temple. The Messiah is seen as the eschatological Temple.

d. His priestly and kingly messiahship is expressed through the humility and sufferings of the Servant . There is a priestly and transcendent aspect to this messiahship.

e. What is being preached in the New Testament is that Jesus is in fact the Messiah and the one awaited by Israel. Jesus gives the Law and the prophets their fullest meaning.

f. There is a continuity and discontinuity present in this relationship: the continuity is the fulfillment of God’s promises. The Discontinuity is that these promises are kept by a New covenant.

D. The Preparation of the Gentiles1. In the world, mankind always found a way to recognize its creator

and in its heart the desire for and inclination to the good.

a. Religion is universal and an expression of the fact that man is hard-wired

for God. Every religion has salvific elements in it that are concerned with freeing people from evil and suffering.

b. Divine Providence gave the Gentiles a more or less conscious sense of the need for redemption.

E. Christ: the Center and Goal of history1. The purpose of the Incarnation a. God became man to save men and he did in fact save them.

(Mission) b. If man had not sinned, would the incarnation have happened?

Revelation does not answer that question. Duns Scotus argues for the Incarnation even if there was no sin because the Incarnation was then willed for its own sake as the apex and highest perfection of creation.

c. Aquinas argues against the Incarnation if there was no sin since all we have to go on is revelation, which clearly says he came to save sinners. However, he does NOT mean to say that sin was the cause of the incarnation.

d. Also, the incarnation should not be presented as something necessary. If it was necessary, the transcendence of God would be denied and the result would be a form of pantheism.

2. Christ, God’s greatest gift to man a. The incarnation is best proof of God’s love for us and the greatest

expression of love is the greatest gift. b. Christ is also God’s gift because he is salvation. c. It is also the greatest gift a human nature can receive, which is

the benefit of all who possess that human nature.

d. He is God’s greatest gift because he is the maximum degree of God’s nearness to man.

e. The Incarnation is a gratuitous action by God. It was the outcome of God’s free choice.

f. Infinite divine justice did not require that in order to redeem man satisfaction had to be made which was suited to the gravity of the sin, for the justice of God is infinite mercy and he could forgive sins without any atonement.

g. It would not have gone against justice for God to forgive the sin. Also, God could have accepted any satisfaction offered by man or any other creature.

h. The Incarnation, though, was the best way to effect redemption. God in the freedom of his love for man wanted to give him the grace of being redeemed in the most perfect way. Thus, the Incarnation is hypothetically necessary, on the hypothesis that a totally perfect redemption is desired.

j. Perfect redemption can only be achieved by the God-man, so only Christ could make such an atonement.

3. Christ and Time a. Jesus and his “Hour.” Jesus is the key, the center and the purpose

of the whole of man’s history.

b. Despite the great diversity of times and cultures, man is always a spiritual and material creature who can attain happiness and fulfillment only through knowing and loving God.

c. Christ is the center of history, the Incarnation takes place in the “fullness of time.” It is the Incarnation itself that is the cause of that moment being the moment when time had fully come.

d. The Incarnation bestows on time and history a transcendent characteristic- that of being the whole past, which possesses salvific value solely by means of Christ and being the foundation of the future.

e. As the center of human history, Christ brings about the fulfillment of the Old Testament which finds its full meaning in him, and he establishes a new covenant and a new human history that looks to the active presence of Christ.

f. Salvific contemporaneity with the mysteries of his life, death and resurrection truly present sacramentally in the lie of the Church.

g. Only in union with Jesus Christ can each person attain his true goal and true fulfillment.