[PDF] The Incarnate Purpose eBook

Author : Reinhard Feldmeier
Publisher :
Page : 460 pages
File Size : 14,83 MB
Release : 2021
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781481313872

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The incarnation--the act of God assuming mortal flesh through Jesus Christ--reveals God's radical love for a world marked by the rebellion of the created against their creator. God becomes human to create life and restore the disrupted divine-human relationship. This doctrine is thus the theme of the Christian faith par excellence. However, the incarnation does not begin with its ultimate realization in Jesus Christ; that single event is preceded by a long history of a God who continually reunites with his people to lead them from death to life, from bondage to freedom. God Becoming Human pursues the astonishing arc of the incarnation, chronicling the varying ways Scripture recounts the divide between God and the creatures of his likeness as well as the diverse expressions the text gives regarding the desire for reconciliation. As the expectations of an existing intermediary that can somehow bridge this gap between God and humans dwindle throughout the Old Testament, hope is increasingly placed on new forms of closeness to God. The closeness made possible by Jesus Christ receives a wide range of interpretations by New Testament witnesses and is continued by a rich chorus that culminates in the early church with the theology of the incarnation. Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann invite readers to see that the doctrine of the incarnation, the pinnacle of the scriptural saga of redemption, reveals that God's ultimate purpose in dealing with creation was to become human. As narrated in the story of the fall, if paradise was lost because humanity wanted to emulate God, the one reconciled with God through Christ is now given the opportunity--and challenge--to become a child of God. In accordance with the One who descended from the heavenly throne, one must precisely lower oneself and thus fully embrace one's created humanness. It is through the flesh that the created and their creator are joined; there is no other path to unity.

Author : G. Percival
Publisher : Independently Published
Page : 62 pages
File Size : 40,71 MB
Release : 2020-01-07
Category :
ISBN : 9781657117006

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There exists in certain religious circles the idea that criticism of Christian doctrine is an undesirable thing, because indicative of a spirit of irreverence and faithlessness that is at variance with the fundamental principles of Christianity. According to Catholic teaching, the Church is founded upon divine revelation, to doubt the reality of which is to question the truth of the Word of God. It is not to be supposed that the finite understandings of men can fathom the infinite mysteries of God. Does not the conception that it is possible for the divine truths of religion to be comprehended by means of the same evidential methods adopted in the acquisition of secular knowledge, imply a practical denial of the existence of a supreme God, since the creature would thus be made to appear as equal in wisdom and power with the Creator? Most seekers after the Word of God meet at one time or other with some such argument against the propriety of their endeavours to obtain evidence of the intrinsic truth of Christian teaching. But the charge of irreverence brought against honest inquiry is powerless to affect the belief, held by many educated men and women, that a pure desire to know and to do the will of God necessitates the exercising of intellectual as well as of spiritual faculties, in order that what is true in the teaching offered to them in the name of Christ may be separated from what is false, to the greater glory of God and to the furthering of the divine purpose of Life. Hostility towards criticism of religious doctrine appears to all impartial minds to be not only of doubtful service to the cause of Religion as a whole, but also to cast discredit on the ability of any particular creed to sustain an examination in detail of its articles. In an era when most things touching the health and general well-being of men are subjected to critical inquiry, it would be strange if their spiritual welfare should escape remark. Science has much to say about the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the habits of our daily lives; and we listen to what is said with due respect, because we know the aim of Science to be the improvement of the conditions of life through the elimination of error and harmful prejudice from the paths of progress; and because, by regulating our conduct by the reasonable principles recommended, we may contribute towards the amelioration of those conditions under which future generations of men will enter upon their inheritance of the earth. Is the authority claimed and exercised by the Church over the souls and minds of men to be unquestioned? Is the training of spiritual consciousness less important than the education and nourishment of the body? Scientific criticism may not be perfect, or its judgments infallible; but such as it is to-day, why may not its methods be applied to the elimination of falsehood and ignorance from things religious as well as from things secular? Truth is Truth, whether its unveiling to the understanding be achieved by Science or Religion. Investigation of the evidence of a supposed truth either, by certifying its verity, leads to its surer stability, with proportionate increase of honour; or, by tracing and eliminating error, gives higher value to the remaining purified residue. If the supposed teaching of Christ were found to be consistent with the modern teaching of Science, the mutual endorsement would be a further guarantee of the verity of the question in point, both in its religious and its scientific aspect. But if an examination of Christian doctrine reveals the presence of dogma utterly irreconcilable with known scientific facts, then, if the cry for Truth raised by both teachers is sincere, the rejection of that which defiles Truth is incumbent upon the disciples of Religion as well as upon those of Science.

Author : G. H. Percival
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 21,15 MB
Release : 2023-04-05
Category :
ISBN : 9781805479246

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G.H. Percival in the book "The Incarnate Purpose" brings to light essays that discuss the influence of the spiritual trinity on the fundamental principles of Christianity. These essays discuss the concept of the spiritual unity of life in terms of its history, core beliefs and doctrines, and the rights and responsibilities of its faithful. This book contains titles including the spirit of truth, the evidence of things unseen, the alchemy of love, and more.

Author : Edwin Christian van Driel
Publisher :
Page : 214 pages
File Size : 29,68 MB
Release : 2008-08-21
Category : Religion
ISBN :

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This book raises in a new way a formerly central but recently neglected question in systematic theology: what is the divine motive for the incarnation? Throughout Christian history theologians have agreed that God's decision to become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ was made necessary by humanity's fall from grace. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, the incarnation would not have happened. This position is known as "infralapsarian." In the 19th and 20th centuries, however, some major theological figures championed a "supralapsarian" Christology, arguing that God had always intended the incarnation, independent of "the Fall." Edwin van Driel offers the first scholarly monograph to map and analyze the full range of supralapsarian arguments. He gives a thick description of each argument and its theological consequences, and evaluates the theological gains and losses inherent in each approach. Van Driel shows that each of the three ways in which God is thought to relate to all that is not God DL in creation, in redemption, and in eschatological consummation DL can serve as the basis for a supralapsarian argument. He illustrates this thesis with detailed case studies of the Christologies of Schleiermacher, Dorner, and Barth. He concludes that the most fruitful supralapsarian strategy is rooted in the notion of eschatological consummation, taking interpersonal interaction with God to be the goal of the incarnation. He goes on to develop his own argument along these lines, concluding in an eschatological vision in which God is visually, audibly, and tangibly present in the midst of God's people.

Author : Stephen J. Wellum
Publisher : Crossway
Page : 475 pages
File Size : 33,31 MB
Release : 2016-11-16
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1433517868

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Nothing is more important than what a person believes about Jesus Christ. To understand Christ correctly is to understand the very heart of God, Scripture, and the gospel. To get to the core of this belief, this latest volume in the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series lays out a systematic summary of Christology from philosophical, biblical, and historical perspectives—concluding that Jesus Christ is God the Son incarnate, both fully divine and fully human. Readers will learn to better know, love, trust, and obey Christ—unashamed to proclaim him as the only Lord and Savior. Part of the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series.

Author : Matthew Y. Emerson
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 13,49 MB
Release : 2019-12-24
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0830870539

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The descent of Jesus Christ to the dead has been a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith, as indicated by its inclusion in both the Apostles' and Athanasian Creeds. But it has also been the subject of suspicion and scrutiny, especially from evangelicals. Led by the mystery and wonder of Holy Saturday, Matthew Emerson offers an exploration of the biblical, historical, theological, and practical implications of the descent.

Author : Edward Irving
Publisher : Lutterworth Press
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 40,42 MB
Release : 2023-08-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0718896661

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In The Doctrine of the Incarnation Opened, an abridgement of Edward Irving's (1792-1834) sermons, readers have fresh access to and insightful comment on Irving's distinctive views regarding the person of Jesus Christ. The book follows the sermons in a logical progression: the goal and method of the incarnation, the events of the incarnate life and the death of Christ, and the effects of the incarnation. For Irving, God the Son's assumption of a fallen human nature was of the upmost importance, and garnered most attention. This view also dominates Irving's soteriology, according to which the incarnate Son takes over the human will, reforming the very origin of sin, and offers obedience to the Father as a sacrifice of praise. Irving's radical Christological thought informed the thinking of notable theologians such as John McLeod Campbell, Thomas F. Torrance, and Karl Barth. With an introduction by G. McFarlane and a critical response by J.D. Cameron, The Doctrine of the Incarnation Opened provides an accessible format to engage with Irving's influential thoughts and ideas.