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INTRODUCTION TO THE ORTHODOX CHURCH SERIES
Session 2:
BELIEFS – a
INTRODUCTION
1. Knowing Anything: a. the
importance of knowledge; b. the means of knowledge -
Intuition, deduction, inference, experience, experiment and
revelation; c. there is no absolute human knowledge;
d. that our knowledge of the things of God are also
dependent on the same means to knowledge, but revelation is most
important.
Knowing About God: Intuition, deduction, inference,
experience, experiment. The seeds of the knowledge of God in
Creation: "The Spermatic Word."
2. Knowing God Through His Self-Revelation:
Scriptures - The experience of God and the Hebrew
People.-(Old Testament) and in Jesus Christ and His Church (New
Testament) Holy Tradition =Paravdosi~
- “Paradido” - "I hand over." Scripture informs
Tradition; Tradition interprets Scripture. God-knowledge =
mystery and paradox, by necessity.
3. One God: The attributes of the one God. God is
a Spirit (immaterial, invisible conscious power) a."Physical"
Attributes: Eternal, All-powerful, Everywhere present. b.
"Intellectual"attributes: All-knowing, All-wise. "Ethical
Attributes": Good, Just, Pure, and Love.
4. God, a Holy Trinity of Persons: The Monotheistic
Religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Christian
difference-1. One God in three divine persons. A community of
divine persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Difference only in
relationships. Holy Trinity. Christian difference-2. Of the
three monotheistic religions, only Christianity has the Savior.
5. God the Father: In the Trinity-the
"Source" of the Divinity. Regarding the World: Creator
and Sustainer.
6. God the Son: In the Trinity-forever
"Born" of the Father. Regarding the World: Incarnate
Savior and Redeemer of humanity and of Creation.
7. God the Holy Spirit: In the Trinity-forever
"Proceeding" from the Father. Regarding the World: Sanctifier,
and Restorer of humanity and of Creation through the Son.
8. What Has God Done?: The Creation Out of Nothing."
Our creating, and God's creating.
jEk tou mhdenov~ (ek
too meedenOS) - "ex nihilo." “Out of nothing.”
Science and Creation.
9. The Creation of Humanity: Body and Spirit/Soul -
"In the image and likeness of God" - The Image: The
givens of human existence. Intelligence, sense of right and
wrong, creativity, inventiveness, social nature, etc. The
Likeness: the potentials of human existence. Goal of human
existence is God-likeness = Theosis or Divinization.
Evolution and the Creation of Humanity.
10. The Human Condition of Sin: The Adam and Eve
Story. Sin as Pride - seeking to achieve fullness without God,
Sin = Breaking of relationship with God. Sin = Distorted Life,
Spiritual Death, Incomplete and inauthentic human existence. The
corruption of physical nature.
11. God's Answer to the Human Condition of Sin: The
Incarnation of the Son of God: "In the beginning was the Word
(logos –lovgo~ ) and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God (the Father). . . . In him was light and the
light was the light of men. . . . And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-2, 4, 14)
12. Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer: Jesus Christ
- Fully human and fully divine in one person. Many false
understandings. 4th Ecumenical Council: "We confess one and
the same our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect (complete) in
Godhead, the same perfect (complete) in humanity, truly God and
truly man, the sum of a rational soul and body, acknowledged in
two natures, without confusion, without change, without
division, without separation, the difference of the two natures
being by no means taken away because of the union but rather the
distinctive character of each nature being preserved and
combining in one person ("provswpon"
– “prosopon,” in Greek), or entity (uJpovstasi~
- hypostasis, in Greek and English). Or, in brief, "Two natures
in one person." Qeavnqrwpo~
("Theanthropos" in Greek; God-man in English).
13. The Saving and Redeeming Work of Jesus Christ:
a. Christ as Teacher of Truth (The Prophetic
Role); b. Christ the Guide for Life (The Kingly
Role); c. Christ the Redeemer of Humanity and
Creation through His Death and Resurrection (The High Priestly
Role). Christianity is about Jesus Christ; Who He Is;
What He did; How you and I participate in His saving and
redeeming work for us. All in the plan of the Father, and made
effective in the grace-filled presence of the Holy Spirit in
Christ’s Church.
Conclusion
Question and
Answer Time
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