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Orthodox Theology Of The Incarnation Essay

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1. Introducing the dialogue partners
1.1. An orthodox theology of the Incarnation
Although there are many theological interpretations of the Incarnation throughout history, for limpidity sake, we will attempt to track an orthodox consensus, maintaining relevant creedal affirmations.

Both the Nicene and Chalcedonian Creeds were the result of many direct contact hours with Scripture, rigorous debates, and have been used to establish orthodoxy ever since. Thus it is to these creeds and subsequent orthodox thinkers that we will hold to for this paper.

Throughout orthodoxy we can find six theological areas attributed to the incarnation. These are:

Pre-existence. The Son existed in eternity as the second person of the Trinity before he was ‘enfleshed’ …show more content…

A central discussion at both the council of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451) was Jesus being presented as one hypostasis (substance) between God and human. In the person of Jesus, the fullness of God (Col. 1:15) was met in perfect union with humanity (Jn. 1:1-18). Two complete and distinct persons fully united (Pannenburg, 1968:150).

Humility. Athanasius said, ‘the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world’ (318, 1993:33). So, although ‘Jesus’ greatest temptation was to push the “God button,” to draw on his divine nature in a fashion that obliterated his true humanity’ (Witherington, 2016:125), Phil. 2:5-11 teaches that Jesus, the pre-existent God, humbled himself to both human reality and ultimately death.

Atonement. As human, Jesus was the required sacrifice for the human condition of sin (2 Cor. 5:21). As God, Jesus was able to become both perfect sacrificial lamb (Lev. 16) and mediating High Priest (Heb. 4:14-18), which made his sacrifice eternally effectual. This was a one-time sacrifice for people past and present (Heb. 10:1-18; 2 Pt. 3:18). ‘For Athanasius… Jesus’ death was the purpose of the incarnation; the immortal Son of God needed to become man to die’ (Jeffery, 2007:172. See Athanasies, 318, 1993:35,

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