God and man

Theological anthropology has to answer questions asked by human person why it happened? It is a human as well as a theological question. It is very difficult to answer. Develop strong convictions about human person, to understand these questions. To be human means to be a saint and to be a sinner simultaneously. Become a compassionate pastor is our aim. So pastorally this course is important. Persons are called to be loved and to love is the basis of this course. Be a person of love is the root to build up as a compassionate person (pastor). Search for meanings for the things happening around us is the pastoral significance of this course. Secondly in the person life this course is important. Why have you chosen this way of life to become priest? Search for meaning of our life. Vocation of human person is to be divine. Iraneus “God became human so that human may become divine”. We become fully human that is to become divine we have a choice to be in the ground as chicken or to fly high as eagle. We have to situate this course because theology is not the only subject that studies human person. There are Biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, genetics, and history etc. what is the difference? Biology studies human person as a living organism, how difficult organs functions. Psychology studies mental aspects of human person and so on. But theology of human person does not negate the discoveries made by other sciences and disciplines. But theology studies human persons from a faith perspective. So Christian theology studies human person from a Christian faith perspective our paradigm is a christic paradigm, and we look at everything by wearing this glass (perspective based on the Christ event). So our study of human person is different from other disciplines. But other sciences or disciplines are used to enrich our studies. Mystery that is being revealed is the inner life of God. When we understand this inner life of God, we also understand that human life is also part of and intimately linked with God’s life itself. We are intimately linked with the mystery of God “aham brahmasmi” we are an integral part of Brahman itself. So when we understand this, the intimate link between man and God is universal to all religions. Christian understands it in a unique way as it is related to Christ. So in our dialogue with other religion, we share our understanding with other to we enriched. We do not write off the understanding of other religions. The mystery of incarnation is God becoming a human person. What does it mean to be a human person? If we don’t understand who is a human person, we cannot understand Christ and in turn who God is. Who is a human person? A human person is an embodied being that is body. 1) Essential dimension of being human person is having a body. The opposite of body is corpse (dead body), not soul. Body and soul are integrated together that is soul is the spiritual part of body and body is the material part of soul.2) dimension of being human person is to be in the world or to be within the world. We are worldly beings. 3) Dimension is that be a human person is to be in history (time). We are historical beings. 4) Dimension of human person is to be in society. We are essentially social beings. Therefore God becoming human means, to become an embodied being in time, space and in a social set up. We are related to our body. Human person has an intimate relation to the body. We are all related to the world. So we are called ecological being. Relationship with history shows that we are in complete, not perfect (e.g. Jesus was born a child so Jesus had to grow). Since we are incomplete, we have to create ourselves. We are responsible to ourselves, what we are and what we become. Social relationship is also necessary. Mother child relationship is the first such relationship. Then other relationship like father child neighbours etc. thus this one relationship with its mother widens inot a social relationship. So there is a multiplicity of relationships. To be human means to be related. It is essentially to be related. Essentially to be human mean is to be in relation. This we forget in the modern world. We, the incomplete beings, through our relationship we grow into complete beings. There is one more relationship that is our relationship with God. To be human means to be related to a transcendental being. That is what inspires and motivates us to live. A transcendental reference is the motivation factor for us to live as human. According to K.Rahner human beings is transcendental, constantly transcending our selves. This existential relationship gets its deeper dimension when it is referred to its transcendental level. To be a human means essentially relationship with body, world, history, society and God. So when God incarnated, God enters into a multiplicity of relationship with world and us. Human person is a multiplicity of relationship. This relationship has a part. The significance of this past is expressed in creation account in Genesis. It points to the future is what we call eschatology. Present can be understood in relation to past and future. So we begin with creation and end with eschatology but our focus will be in the future. Human beings are body beings, ecological beings, social beings, historical beings, and transcendental beings. These five aspects imply five levels of relationship. Human beings are relational. Relationally is essential dimension of being human and becoming human. Human beings are body beings. Body beings we need our eyes to see, we need our ears to hear, mouth to eat and speak etc. body beings implies that very structure of human body I meant for relationship. With various organs we are able to enter into relationship with others. Though relationally we become human persons. Ecological being environment is there and we are in relationship with nature. In order to live we need to enter into relationship with nature. Then only we become human person.
To become human person, we need the presence of other people (e.g. A child brought up by the wolf). We need a society (a small community of family) to help us to develop our personality. They teach us how to relate with others. At one particular time we never existed. But now we live for some period of time. Our existence is limited to a one particular time and space. We relate to the past and the future. Our existence in time is a necessary condition to become humans.
God is the symbol of human transcendence. When we deny God, we are denying our own transcendence. All our action pertain to the reality we are seeking something more. When we are transcending, we are attaining goal of being human person.
Experiential dimension
Till now we are dealing with the existential dimension, what we experience. We are called to enter into relationship with other persons and things. But in every level we experience that this relationship is neglected or destroyed. The one who destroys and the one who is destroyed is not able to become human being because of this. (e.g. Tribals, dalits etc. Are treated with no human dignity. But these neglect and destruction of our relationship in all these levels make us inhuman. When we break our relationship with nature, nature becomes hard. In the existential level we want to become fully human but in the experiential level instead of loving we hate, instead of building we pull down, instead of creating we destroy, instead of being generous we become selfish.
Then we ask the question why? Why do people hate instead of loving? By hating we lose much of our energy psychologically. Theology of human person is not a fully developed subject. So we try to develop this subject in this class.
Theology of Grace
In Greek language Grace means ‘ a favourable disposition’ it was applied to the appearance of the person. It was applied to the charming way of dealing with the people, way of walking; smiling etc. it was dealt with our day today activities. It was not a theological term, but grace was used in a secular literature as a charmful person. From the secular literature it was taken over and used to mean ‘ the way in which God is dealing with the people in a favourable and charming way’.
In the Old Testament:
1. aheb= unconditional love of God.
2. hanan- from it two words came out. A). hen = a favour done to some one else, but that person does not deserve that favour. So it is called unmerited favour( I have no obligation to give but still I give).
B) hesed = loving kindness. The kindness of God has manifested in the way God loves. We need to do nothing to get God’s love. God’s love will be there in full measure, whether we are good or bad, whether we are sinners or not. God loves all with out measure. We are loved unconditionally, so deeply by God.
It is basically “self giving”. Love is giving oneself when two persons are in love. It is a natural giving and mutual receiving. The nature of love is not demanding. But obviously the response to love is always love. If we do not love God, it means we are not responding to God’s love. In the Old Testament we don’t find any abstract description of God’s love, but it speaks in concrete language. The reality of loving god is expressed in concrete language.( 1.creation: god create us because he loved us. 2. exodus: god liberated us because he loved us.3. law: god loves us so he gave us the mandate they are blue print for a new society. How can Israel live as the people of God, a life based on love and justice. So law itself is God’s favour.4. Exile: people interpreted exile as ‘ we turned away from god. Soothe punishment of exile is for turning away from god. This punishment id god’s favour so that we can come back. Exodus 34:6-7 “ the lord, a god merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousand generation”. This is the best expression of the loving God. Ez. 16: God’s fatherless bride also the prophet’s and their admonitions are loving kindness of God. So the whole testament as a whole is a story of the love of God to the people. This is exemplified in Ez 16. Thus in a way, O.T is a book of the grace of God. Though the word ‘Grace’ is not used in the O.T, there us a reality of ‘Grace’ in the form of love of God to people.
New Testament
The word grace (charis, Gk) is never used by Mt and Mk. but Luke uses in a generic sense of ‘favour’, not in theological sense (8 times). Jn uses it three times in theological sense. Paul uses 100 or more times. Though the synoptic gospels do not use ‘grace ‘ in a theological sense, it uses another term to express the reality of grace as ‘ Kingdom of God’. E.g. Mk. 1/15. Kingdom of God is a core word for the unmerited and unconditional love of God is present in the person of Jesus. The Kingdom is the Love of God manifested in Jesus Christ. The kingdom is not an external and political reality. It is primarily the reality of God’s love present in the person of Jesus Christ. Once we have accepted this unconditional love of God, our attitudes and behaviours will change not in the personal level but also in the social level. The love experience becomes a reality in our social and communal if we experience this God’s love manifested in Jsxt
Therefore ‘repent’ means not to feel sorry for our sins but to turn to the love of god, which is made present in the person of Jesus Christ and accept that love. When jesus asks us to address God as Abba, Father our intimate love relation with God is reflected. is once again an invitation to experience the love of God. It is a way of experiencing the love of god, accepting and loving God and not a way of addressing God.
God as loving father is well expressed in the synoptic gospels. Thus Kingdom of God and Repentance are used to express the Grace in synoptics. Mt. 3:16 the abba experience of Jesus at his Baptism, which is present in a dramatic way of heaven opening etc. the underlying reality of Jesus’ abba experience has a consequence on the social experience i.e. all become the children of God. It has a social consequence of building just, peaceful and loving society. Thus the political reality is a consequence of a spiritual reality.
John expresses grace in terms of life. Jn 10:10,” I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”. In over all economy of God’s grace is expressed in Jn.3/16” God so loved the world that he sent his only son that those who believe in him may have eternal life”. The life is expressed as the gift of God. Another term is light. Jn1: 1-17 “ 3-4, “Life was the light of the world”. V9 “ true light was coming in to the world”. Jesus us the light of the world. Jn5/26 God is the source of light of light. God communicates this light to Jesus and Jesus communicates this light to the believers. Another term is Love. In Jn 3/26, “ God so loved….” Thus three terms Light, Life and Love express the reality of Grace in John. Thus John’s gospel is full of reality of grace, even though he uses only three times.
John’s letters also expresses the reality of grace. In Jn 15:1-8, “ I am the true vine….” We experience the abundance of God’s life by uniting with him. “ Apart from me you can do nothing”. Only grace can save us because we can do nothing to save us. This is the protestant position. But catholic position is different. As it deals with the “cooperative grace”. We also have to cooperate with God for our own salvation Why God gives us life? What is the finality? 1Jn3: 1-15, “ we will be called children of God and so we are through uniting our life with Christ, we become the children of God. th economy of God’s life is given to make us children of God. We become the children of God if we unite with Christ. This view is strongly argued by Paul.
13.01.05
St. Paul’s understanding of grace:
In synoptics, kingdom of god captures the notion of grace. In Mk. 1:15 he begins his kingdom as the call to repentance. Love of god is not abstract, but present in the person of Jesus Christ, as he is the manifestation of the love of god made present in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jn, the notion of grace is communicated as the light, life, and love. Jesus himself is the source of light (I am the light of the world). The notion of life is more important here (I came to give life in abundance).
Paul’s understanding of grace is based on his own experience. Paul is a sincere, honest, committed man who wanted to live acc. to the law of god in full sense. as a Pharisee for him law was the way of life for the fullness of life is through the obedience of the law. Law will take us to god. So he could not tolerate Xtians as they neglected the laws. So he persecuted them. But the Damascus experience was the complete turning point in his life. We have a pictorial presentation in the Acts. He had a direct encounter with the risen lord. This is the core point of his conversion. It was an encounter with the love of god in the person of Jesus Christ. This transformed his life itself. It was not a conversion but it was a vocation. The experience of the love of god in Jesus Christ was a vocation for him. This vocation is actualised in his missionary activities. The core of his mission was that we could by our efforts can never attain the fullness of life. It was a gift of god. It is to be received not to be achieved by our observance of the law. So for him every thing is grace (gift). The supreme gift of god is Jesus Xt. So for him grace is the self-gift of God. This is given in the person of Jesus xt. (Karl Rahner says that Grace is the self –communication of god. this giving of god’s self for us takes place in Jesus xt). By receiving the self-gift of god in Jesus Christ we realise the fullness of life.
Eph1/3ff. v.5, “he destined us…” Here we see Paul’s understanding of the economy of salvation or divine economy or purpose/ plan of salvation. “Even before the foundation of the world……….” the purpose is to become the children that is to enter into ultimate communion with God. Thus the purpose of grace is to make us the children of God. What is our vocation? Our vocation is to become the children of god, because it is the plan of god. God’s plan becomes our vocation. Every has only one vacation (humanity has only one vocation acc. to the xtian perspective) i.e., to become the child of god. This single vocation is actualised in different ways in our lives e.g. Married life, religious life etc. for Paul grace has to function in one positive and not one negative way. The two dimensions in grace 1) it frees us from sin, flesh, law, and death. 2) it incorporates into Christ. A) Sin: Rom3: 23, “we are under the power of sin..” Rom 5:21,” Reign of sin”. Sin has dominion, sin rules our life. Grace liberates us from the power of sin. B) Law: Gal4/4 Grace liberates us from the law. We are under law. Jesus liberates us from the power of law. Law is the human of achieving salvation. But we cannot achieve salvation in human way. Eph 2/5, Rom7/6. C) Death: Rom5/12 death is ruling our life, grace as source of life gives us life. a life under the influence of sin and law is the life of death. We are to be liberated from it. D) Flesh: he is using sarx(flesh) and not body(soma). There is misunderstanding of Pauline notion. It is not the flesh of our body. For Paul human existence with out grace is the life in the flesh. Humanity with out grace is flesh. We have been living a life with out xt (grace) that is in flesh. Rom7/13-25, “nothing good…”the law tells us what is good what is to do, but it does not give us the power to do it. So it becomes the power of sin. But grace gives us the power to do what is good when we observe law, we are saying ‘no’ to god’s offering. The above four are aspects from which we are freed from. By this we are freed for, 2) i.e., it incorporates us into Christ. 2Cor5/15,” if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation”(new= children of god).
14/1/05
It is fourfold liberation, from sin, flesh, law and death. These are stages of people with out Christ. When we are liberated from this we attain a new status. The new status concerns our identity. This identity is expressed in terms of new being and new creation. 2Cor5/17 “ every thing has be come new…..” in Christ we be come a new creation. We have been re-created; a new identity is given to us. Gal6/15 “ A new creation is every thing”. A new creation is to become a new-human person as we take a new life in Jesus Christ. This new life has been specified in different ways. Gal4/4-7 “ n o more a slave. We are free and children of God”. This ‘child’ is a metaphor because we are not the natural children of God. But as a child we receive life from god that is divine life. So we can call god as “abba, father”. So we are a new creation. We are indeed called to act as children of god. Thus new life has implication in all what we do. But often times we act as the children of the devil. There the notion of sin comes in. our priestly and religious ministry is that we experience ourselves as children of God and communicate to others. We are not natural children of god, but adopted children of god. We become children of god in Christ( in christo, Gal 4/4) so we become heir.Gal 3:26ff,” for in Christ you are children of god through faith”. in other words we are becoming another Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. this is what a new creation means. Now which is this Christ? Church is also body of Christ. so it can also mean that in church we become the children of god. So in Christ= in the church. Christ lives in us and we are in xt in the context of the church. Col 1:15ff we are created in the image of god. 2Pet 1:3ff, v.4 we become participant in divine life. By sharing in divine nature, we become children of god. We by ourselves cannot share in the divine nature. We become children of god when we god shares his life with us. This is called ‘Grace’. Then we become brothers and sisters as we share in the same life. Grace makes us; we don’t achieve this status of the children of God.
17.01.05
The biblical understanding is the authentic way of understanding. But in the bible we do not have the fully developed notion of Grace.
Development of the doctrine of grace in history: the doctrine of grace is well expressed in Jn3: 16 that is God gave his self to us (God gave his son). This is called the self-gift of god (self-communication of God acc. To Rahner). This self-gift is what is meant by Grace. This God giving his self to us is the heart of Christianity. Grace is the heart of Christianity. So this dimension has to be found in every dimension of Xty. So grace in a way is a comprehensive way of stating what Xty is. Xty is a religion of grace. It is a religion where God gives his self to us. There are sacraments. Sacraments are further elaborations of grace. E.g. Eucharist is a god giving his body. So study of sacraments is a study of grace. Ecclesiology is a study of the people who have accepted the grace of God. Study of scripture is a study of grace. Missiology is the study of the self gift of god, because in mission we are proclaiming the self gift of god. In all dimension, xty is the religion of grace. It is based on Jn.3/16. Acc. To xty, every human person exists in the presence of god. In other words, every human person is graced being i.e. Human existence is graced.
Human person is the one who encounters the self gift of god in the person of jesus xt. So human person is open to god who is the self communication and human person is a transcendental being.( open to the self communication of god as acc. To Rahner.). the sting that ties together the various dimensions of the theology if the human person( sin, death etc) or theology itself( xtology, missiology) is called grace. Grace is very important in the understanding of xty. Thus there are two different types of understanding Grace.
1) Eastern understanding of grace:
In the east, they did not spent more time in analysing and speculation on grace, they were first enjoying the grace in a mystical way. The central concept in eastern understanding of grace is ‘theosis’ that is divinisation. This is clearly expressed by God becoming human so that human become divine(Ireneus). Grace meant by east is a process by which god draws human person in to his divinity. Human person is not divine but it is the process of divinisation. 2Pet1/3ff,” we may become participants in divine nature”. It is god who draws us to his divinity, god’s own Trinitarian life. It is through the holy spirit, god draws us into the participants of divine life. So grace and spirit are intrinsically linked in eastern understanding of grace. therefore grace is basically a single phrase, that is human participation in divine life. Thus it is not by human effort but by divine power, helped by the holy spirit.
2) western:
but in the west, we had a lot of controversies regarding grace. these controversies allowed the theologians to deal with it and sharpen the understanding of grace.
Augustine: like st.paul, Augustine also had his own tragic experience and attempted to achieve God by his effort. But it failed. So he understood that human being is helpless. This led to the understanding of the original sin. Human nature is corrupt. So we can not do any thing to save our selves. J.15/8,” with out me you can do nothing”. Augustine emphasised this. His understanding is precisely Pauline understanding( I do what India do not want to do)this he said by his own personal experience. Thus we can achieve god and save ourselves by the gratuitous gift of god. Augustine context is a moral context of human helplessness because of sin. So he is using the concept of grace in a moral context. He understands grace as a transforming power. Our corrupt nature is transformed by grace. These are the many powerful concepts of Augustine.!) human being has a natural ordination or goal of life. So we need a transforming power to realise the natural ordination. ( this is in the context of Piligianism that says that humans can save themselves by their own merit).
b) Aquinas(13th century died in 1275)
in theology there was a great change with Aquinas, because he followed Aristotle instead of Plato. He was using the Aristotelian structure of thought to explain xtian religions. There was an understanding of nature as a self enclosed system. Nature functions acc. To its own rules. There is also another system that is super natural order. These two orders are separate realms. Human beings belong to the natural order and grace belongs to the supernatural order. Then how can human being come into relation with God who is in supernatural order. Aquinas said, “grace is something that comes and raises humans from natural to supernatural order” so grace is that which transforms nature, because human nature needs a transformation to relate with God.
Aquinas is speaking from an ontological or philosophical ( metaphysical)context. Human beings belong to natural order ontologically. So there should be a transformation of nature( being). Grace is the power that transforms our nature so that we can relate with God. In fact Aquinas does not make a division of two worlds here. But those scholastics who came after him separated this realm into two. In Aquinas there was a close relations between these two realms. Aquinas used the Augustinian notion of natural ordination of human person( natural ordination or natural desire of human person for God). Humans are naturally oriented towards supernatural. This is called transcendence. This transforming power is grace. Grace elevates us. It does not mean that we become supernatural being, but we can respond to the supernatural realms (call) by grace.
18/01/05
Martin Luther:
In order to understand the position of Martin Luther, we need to understand what happened between Aquinas and Luther to the theology of Grace. Aquinas used metaphysical language and he used ideas from Augustine. This grace is a transforming power, natural to supernatural. After Aquinas, there was a big gap between the natural realm and the supernatural realm by Thomists. But in Aquinas it was not separate.
Theology of extrincism: that is, grace is something out side the nature. So from out side grace comes in to nature. To explain the various dimensions of grace, there is classification of grace after Aquinas by Thomists.1) uncreated grace: that is God in God’s self or the indwelling of god in us. 2) Created grace; it is the consequence of this indwelling in us (uncreated grace is central to Rahner’s understanding). In the middle ages, created grace was only given importance and the uncreated grace was neglected. Another divisions are: Elevating grace (elevating nature to supernatural level). 2) Sanctifying grace (participation in divine life). 3) Habitual grace (it is something that is infused into us. It dwells in us, it is part of us). 4) Prevenient Grace (it is divine initiative). 5) Cooperative grace (human freedom cooperating with the grace of god. It is our response to god’s initiative. Unless god takes initiative, we cannot cooperate). 6) Actual grace (that transforms the human will and mind) (Semi- pelegianism: we take initiative and god responds to it).
Because of these classifications, the biblical understanding of grace( loving presence of god in xt) was distorted and was confusing. Luther was fed up with this ans so he abandoned all these classifications and returned to the biblical understanding of grace. This he founf in St. Paul. Earlier he was very much afaid of hell and he used to go 3to4 times a day for the confession. And also he was confused with the theories of Augustine that we are helpless and we can only cry out to god passively. God in his good measure will bless us with is love.
Grace is an interpersonal relationship between God and Human. We can only passively cry out to god. It is passive waiting for god’s love. We still remain sinners and saints at the same time. (Simul Justus et percator). We are justifies at the same time we are also sinners. We are justified sinners( catholics also use this now when it says that church is holy at the same time it is sinful) Karl Rahner takes up this and says,” Grace is the self-communication of god. Grace is nothing but our relationship with God”.
Trent: the council of Trent had made some corrections to Luther and confronted the heresies. 1) God’s justification does not mean covering of sin, but it is actual removal of sin that is the remission of sin. 2) Ours is not a passive crying, but an active cooperation. 3) Luther said, “ We are certain that we are justified”. But the church said, “ We can not know whether we are justified”.
Karl Rahner: he takes up Augustine’s natural ordination of human person which became natural desire in Aquinas. Both these were taken up by Rahner. He emphasises the dynamic nature of human person. He calls this dynamic nature as transcendence. He defines human being as transcendental being, that means human beings have the openness to the infinite horizons, divine being. Every person is dynamically oriented towards transcendental, divine being. He takes up grace as interpersonal relationship of Luther. He combines both these ans says, “ Grace is god’s self-communication”. Human being is open means he is open to the self-communication of God. This openness is a correspondence with the self- communication of god. God responds to our openness by giving his self to human desire(openness) and god’s self gift make sup god’s self communication possible( grace) thus he calls it transcendental existential. This mean that the innate openness of human person to receive god’s revelation. Since human beings are intimately open, God’s revelation is made possible. He also gave importance to uncreated grace that is the indwelling of god. So Luther and Rahner gave primary to the indwelling of God, which is more biblical.
Social dimension of grace:
It is the contribution of Latin American Liberation Theologians. According to Luther, Rahner, grace was understood in an individualistic way( I and my God- an interpersonal between these two). But Latin American theologians said though this aspect is there human being as a social being, god’s love is also social. God’s love calls us to commit ourselves to the cause of others in the society. Grace must be active with in the structures of society. Economic/ political institutions in the society should work for the justice and betterment of the society. My relationship with God must become a social reality in our day-to-day life.
19.01.05
Being human means being in relationship. We have relationship with society, environment, body, and God etc. thus the relationship God is explained as grace. Grace is not only in personal level. It also has to be manifested in our relationship to society, environment, history, and body etc. though grace is spoken as the interpersonal relationship with god; it is operating in every level. It is not an isolated aspect, but an underlying reality. Social context is necessary for us to be human. But this aspect has been affected by injustice, violence, denial of rights etc. so this is the denial of grace in the society. What is reality is not the violence of the enemy but the silence of the bystander. We become the promoters of grace in the society. We become instruments of grace in the society. Pollution in the environment is also the denial of grace to the poor people. What is the personal significance of the doctrine of grace for me? Love others and bring justice in the society.
Theology of freedom
Freedom also operates in these levels. Freedom is also personal freedom as grace is interpersonal relationship. Still it operates in other dimensions, as above. Freedom is the fundamental aspect in human life. In the early church lower structure of people joined xty more because they were given freedom. They have been oppressed by the mainstream society and were not given any chance to come up. So the poor in xty saw an openness and freedom. So they were attracted to xty. As it gave them chance to love as humans. But it is a distortion in xty to have discrimination with in the church. Caste system in the society is a crime. As official spokes men in the church, we have to do away with it. Also discrimination against women is also found in xty.
Why xty a religion of freedom? We have to go to the experience of Jesus, to answer this question. It can be seen in the baptism of Jesus. Jesus’s personal relationship with god is the crucial point here. Althrough out his life Jesus experience god in an intimate way. the nature of Jesus’ experience of god is communicated in his expression of god as abba. This experience was the underlying principle in his whole life, not only at baptism. This experience of god as abba can be experienced by you and me. God’s experience of Jesus/me was that ‘ you are my beloved son’. That is when god is abba for Jesus that is the source of Jesus’ freedom. Only god can make us free. Here others become brothers and sisters. The above experience becomes source of Jesus’ freedom and the consequence is that others become brothers and sisters. Jesus also gives atmost importance to the human persons. The centre of Jesus’ freedom is the human person (Sabbath is for man and not man for the Sabbath). His religion is the religion of the human person and not god. (Can we make Jesus’ religion our religion?). It leads to Jesus’ social relations. Relation with tax collectors, lepers etc, because that person is also the child of Abraham. Social freedom from religious rituals: Jesus stood against every thing that was against the human person. (E.g. Religious leaders forced them with rituals). Freedom form social oppressive systems. (E.g., freedom from caste consciousness in our context)
This ‘freedom from’ is freedom for- for the healing mission for the promotion of life.
To summarise: the origin of his freedom is the experience of god as a loving father. So also the xtian freedom is the experience of god as abba. This freedom is for a mission- for the promotion of life. This same understanding is seen in the letters of Paul. Acc. To Paul it is freedom from 1. Law. Sin, 3. Death, 4. Flesh. The love of god frees us form all these slaves manifested in the person of Jesus xt. This freedom is for a life acc.to the spirit. This is the new status of the xtians. A xtian is a new being, a new creation and a child of god, to use paul’s own form, “ we are slaves of god and one another”. Gal. 5/13, this is the paradox of the xtian freedom, “ we are called to be free, but precisely become slaves in love to one another”. This is the finality of freedom.
20/01/01:
What is freedom for me? “Freedom is the ability to respond to the situations is life with out fear and prejudice”. Gal 5/13 is considered as the Magna Charta of xtian freedom. Paul’ understanding
1) Freedom from the oppressive forces (class discriminations)
2) Freedom for- freedom is not something that we enjoy ourselves. It is the service of the community. That is where we live a life acc. To the spirit. Ultimately xtian freedom is a freedom to live as the children of god. Freedom is essentially for the fullness of life.
Something is missing here.
1) Freedom of choice: (liberiam arbitruim)
If there are two things I can choose one. It implies three things: a) it is voluntary (action is willed). B) It is deliberation. C) It is intentional. That means we have chice between two actions. E.g., study or games. If I choose to study that means I will to study. The action should be determined by deliberation. There is a deliberation by thinking why should I do. Then I have a reason to study. This is called intentional. Freedom of choice is not to do what I want to do.
2) Freedom for self-realisation (liberation): liberation is the best reason that I have my freedom of choice. What are best reasons? Best reason for Aristotle and Aquinas is to attain happiness. Highest good for Aquinas is friendship with god. For Aristotle is happiness. Liberation determines my freedom of choice (supreme goal). E.g. Lara data wanted to become the miss universe at the age of three and she made every choice for it. Her freedom of choice was determined by her goal (liberation).
3) 21.01.05
Lara data- desire- goal (miss universe). To attain that goal she had to avoid some things and do many things. We also have goal. So our exercise of freedom implies that we have to choose to do something and abstain from some thing. But this abstaining is in conformity with our freedom. That is one is free to give up certain things and one is free to choose certain things. All need education, health etc. to attain their goal. Other wise it will be a denial of freedom. Society must see to it that all are able to attain their goals. If there are elements like poverty, lack of education, ill health etc. it will not foster freedom in our society. Concept of freedom has service implications for our personal life and also for our social life. Amartya Sen has defined development as freedom. Education, health etc are needed to bring freedom in social sphere. For xtians, freedom is a freedom for that is a life acc. to the spirit and freedom for the disciples. This we actualise by expanding our freedom in serving others, in communion with the others.
Xtian understanding of freedom: the origin of Jesus’ freedom is the experience if god as abba. In Paul also the same is explained as basic trust in god. For Paul it is freedom from the oppressive forces like law, flesh, death and sin and freedom for the service of the others (Gal 5/13). In this way we actualise our freedom. This is a manifestation of being a child of god by exercising freedom. The xtian freedom is for the service of the discipleship. This is concretely manifested in service for the other. ‘ Cross is the signal of xtian freedom’. I am ready t give up my life for the other so that they may have life. “ Into your hands, I commend my spirit”. Freedom is basically saying ‘Yes’ to the ultimate goal that is to be child of god, to experience the fullness of life. That is freedom is the ability to say ‘yes’ to grace that is god’s self giving to us.
Ultimately our freedom is to say yes or no to god’s offer of himself. Acc. To Rahner it is the fundamental option when we say yes to god we are saying simultaneously yes to oneself and yes to life. We are incomplete being and so we have to build ourselves by interacting and cooperating with god and others. Freedom is the ability to self-realising in the context of the community.
1. What is the significance of saying that human persons are graced beings? - Personal or pastoral significance? What is the challenge of freedom? It is not enough to know that concept, but we have to move to answer these questions.
24/1/05:
Mystery of sin
What does grace speak about me? For knowing this significance of grace there are two aspects. Grace: 1. Personal level (what does grace say about me as a human person). 2. Social level (what does it say to me as social beings). Freedom also has these levels of understanding. Freedom is an essential condition for us to be come human. Liberation theology is focused on the concept of freedom. Freedom is not something of self-realisation for me; xtian freedom is always a freedom for me.
Sin also has personal and social significance. There is a misunderstanding about sin. Probably the word sin is not appealing but the reality of sin is operative very much in our lives. We can substitute the word sin with alienation, brokenness or separation or darkness (Jn).
Fundamental misunderstanding about sin.
First of all sin is understood as something that we do. But sin is not what we do. What we do is only manifestation of our brokenness. It is not so much the list of sin that matter but the acknowledgement that we are sinners, we all need to reconcile with god and others. This is what we do in the confession, not saying the list of what we do and what we don’t do.
O.T Understanding
1. It is a moral failure. There are purity codes (Laws) in Lev.15. If we fail to observe these laws, it is called amoral failure. It is essentially missing the mark
2. It is the breaking of the personal relationship with that is covenantal relationship
3. It is a rebellion. They rebelled against Yahweh Moses explains that “ it is stiff neck people” and they persecute prophets. Rejecting Yahweh and going after other gods is a rebellion.
N.T Understanding
This state of being lead to sinful acts. Mt.15/19 “ what comes out of heart…. That is core of ones being. What comes totality of ones being defiles, that is it is state of being. In this there is a contrast between light and darkness. Light came into this world, but people preferred darkness. It is our personal responsibility of being in sin.
Paul’s’ understanding
He is the one who had a profound understanding of human nature. (Rom. 1-8)
Acc. To him all are in the condition of sin or sin surrounds us or we are influenced by sin. The power if sin has been overcome in Jxt. So now we can live as children of god. This is the basic concept of Paul about sin.
Before xt, there was a condition of non-salvation. Now we are in the state of salvation. Therefore salvation has been offered to us by jxt. Rom.5/12-21 (this is the same text for the original sin. Here Adam and t are compared) 5/12-20 “when sin increased, grace abounded all the more”. Through one person, entered sin all are called sinners and thorough xt, all are offered salvation”. This is the basic argument of Paul. 5:12- this passage was strongly interpreted by Augustine and it continued. Enquo = was translated by Augustine= in him (that is in Adam we all have sinned, transmission of sin to us. But this is not true. It is not a sin by heritage. It is not a biological heritage. But it is not an inheritance, not biological inheritance)
25/1/05
Mystery of sin
Mystery= we will never be able to grasp it completely, even though we experience it deeply in our life.
Paul
For him sin has a number of dimensions) It is wickedness= in 1Cor, 2Cor we have many list of sin mentioned. 2) It is a power that is contrary to the will of god, the power that keeps us under its grips. Rom 7/13ff (verse says,” I do not do what I want, but do what I hate. It is because of sin that dwells in me”) this is that power which is inside and out side of me. Sin reigns= sin reigns both inside and out side of us. It is easier to see sin out side of us, injustice, war, suffering, poverty etc. in a phenomenological analysis; it will manifest that sin is everywhere. But in actuality we see people destroying others. Why? It s not I do, but the power of sin, because I am in side the grips of sin. We cannot extricate (free) ourselves. Our freedom itself is in bondage, it has to be liberated. If sin reigns with in us and it affects our freedom, then how can we choose the highest good, God? So all three (sin, freedom, grace) are interlinked.
3. The root of all these is idolatry
For Paul it is not only worshiping of statutes but it is choosing any thing other than God as ultimate. It is not choosing god as ultimate (some choose money, power, or a credit object as ultimate) this is the root of sin. This tendency of choosing is with in all of us. No body is free from this tendency. This is known as the notion of original sin. Original sin is the tendency to choose any thing as god. It eventually leads to the alienation from God, nature, and human beings. At first we alienate from god, this alienation spreads to other human beings and nature. Sin is something that surrounds us and that is with in us( inside and out side us ).
Original sin
There is a great danger to consider original sin as a single sin done by Adam and Eve. One sin of Adam and Eve is passed on to the progeny. This original sin is transmitted infinitely and we inherit it. 1. thisis not the right understanding of original sin. But it is the condition in which we find our selves, by which the power of sin surrounds us and with in us. 2. It is not necessary to use” original sin” at all. But sin itself is sufficient, no need of original sin. (E.g. sin of the world). Rahner uses another word “ originating sin” for it. We mean by original is that: this human condition has a beginning. it is not definitely god who created this condition. This condition affects all human beings. All are under the power of sin and this condition is not created by God. Humans are responsible. So all need god’s salvation. Gos offered this salvation in the person of Jesus Xt. And inspiteof that we contribute our contribution to the sin of the world by our personal sin. This is the sore of the theology of original sin.
Transmission/ inheritance has crated a lot of problems in history. In the 4th century, Pelagious said that we have free will and we can choose to do good or evil. We often choose evil. This is done by imitating others. This sin comes into the world by imitation. But Augustine opposed to by saying,” we cannot choose or good, because humans’ free will itself is in bondage. This is inherited through generation that is by sexual intercourse and not through imitation, but through generation.
But it was understood in a narrow sense. But we have to understand in a broader sense. A man comes into this world and he is influenced by all elements of social, cultural, political etc. (historical determination). This is the catholic understanding of the original sin.
It is natural for human to sin. It is natural for human freedom to choose evil= this is true.