LSB 359 Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

LSB 359 Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming 

Traditional Choir

Solo Piano Arrangement

God promises one new beautiful rose, 

a single Branch of Jesse's line. 

Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
As prophets long have sung,
It came, a flow’ret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half-spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it,
The rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright,
She bore to us a Savior,
When half-spent was the night.

This flow’r, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness ev’rywhere.
True man, yet very God,
From sin and death He saves us
And lightens ev’ry load.

O Savior, child of Mary,
Who felt our human woe;
O Savior, King of glory,
Who dost our weakness know:
Bring us at length we pray
To the bright courts of heaven,
And to the endless day.

Public domain

Lovers give roses to show how much they care.

The Creator God gave us a rose. His very own precious rose. 

At the start, He made us in His image to image Him for the rest of creation. Every person was to reflect God's love to one another, to the creation, and back to God as a great and marvelous circulatory system of love. The Lover and the beloved in perfect harmony.
Ever since we willfully disengaged, God has been administering cosmic CPR. 

Isaiah promises that, in spite of the course of human events, God is not going to be put off fulfilling his promise to be with us.

Out of the wreckage of a failed attempt to set up the Kingdom of God by force, by the edge of a sword, with a kingship “like all the other nations”, God promises to grow one new beautiful rose, a single Branch of Jesse's line. A Savior born to rescue humanity from its true enemies has to come from somewhere.

God is so particular. 

He's concerned about the earthy details. God saves humanity by becoming human. God saves people by becoming a person, a real person with a real birth. 

God could not do that in a general sense. God couldn't do that by being born of all humanity in all times and in every place. That kind of “Universal birth” of God would be another round of mythology like Athena springing out of Zeus' head.

No, Jesus the Savior and Son of God is Son of Mary of Nazareth, a refugee in Bethlehem, at a particular time and in a particular place. Taking on a true human nature comes with the location problem.

Jesus is there and then.

Fascinatingly, in order to be there and then we needed Mary, Joseph and all their ancestors leading back to the first. So along the way God binds Himself to the ancestors of Jesus in order to encourage them to reflect His image the best they can until the Savior comes. 

Until God presents humanity with His bouquet.  

With His single long stem Rose, the Father brings beauty, life, and light back to the world – again, not in a general spiritualistic way, but by being the first one to lick death in single combat. 

This beautiful rose dispels the darkness, saves from sin and death, carries our burdens, feels our woe and weakness, and ushers us across the threshold of heaven. 

So, maybe we should gives roses for Christmas... 

Song of Songs 2:1
I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.


Jeremiah 23:5
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.


Jeremiah 33:15
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.


Zechariah 6:12
And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.


Isaiah 11:1-5

The Righteous Reign of the Branch
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.


Matthew 1:1-25 (selected verses) Jesus' Ancestry

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,...

and Jesse the father of David the king...,

and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

LSB 358 From Heaven Above to Earth I Come

From Heaven Above to Earth I Come

Carols teach the faith and still provide a cultural link to my neighbor

Herald angels sing. Bubbling, joyful shepherds can't keep still.  Mary ponders the Word made flesh. The babe in the manger coos, "Follow Me."
The cultural noise blares its distractions.

Fa la la la la -- Cha-ching

From Heaven Above is the first Christmas carol included in my new hymnal Lutheran Service Book and it is my intention to provide a reflective devotion on each of the Christmas hymns included in LSB as a portion of my personal focus on Jesus during these days.

Some will denounce the jump to Christmas as “too soon”; the church is still celebrating Advent. "Some" are right. It is too soon. I have championed that point of view each year of my ministry. In fact if you were worshiping in my congregation this past Sunday morning Advent hymns held sway, perhaps to the dismay of "others". So why not stick with the Advent hymns here on Gleanings? 

Several reasons:

1. By December 24, I have lost what opportunity I had previously to set the Christmas Agenda. I have adapted King College's Nine Lessons and Carols to fit my congregation. But if I wait until December 24 to introduce the Christian Christmas Hymns of the Classical Tradition, the world has already framed the argument. Everyone already knows all that, and they are ready to box up Christmas on the 26^th, twelve days or not. I cherish Advent. But these devotions on the Christmas hymns intend to redirect if not over come the Muzak noise of profane “christmas” and return to the sacred. I don't want my children wondering what I would say about these hymns, I want them to know.
   
   
2. Christmas Hymns are still a culturally known commodity. People know Silent Night, while even Easter Hymns well known in the Church remain obscure in the culture. This gives the Church a witnessing opportunity. They're singing our song(s). Granted, most don't know that there is much difference between Silent Night and Frosty the Snowman, but therein lies the witnessing opportunity Christmas Carols provide.

From Heaven Above to Earth I Come  --  Luke 2:10-20

“From heav’n above to earth I come           10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold,
To bear good news to ev’ry home;                  I bring you good news of a great joy that will
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,                       be for all the people.
Whereof I now will say and sing:

“To you this night is born a child                  11For unto you is born this day in the
Of Mary, chosen virgin mild;                           city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
This little child of lowly birth
Shall be the joy of all the earth.

“This is the Christ, our God Most High,
Who hears your sad and bitter cry;
He will Himself your Savior be
From all your sins to set you free.

“He will on you the gifts bestow
Prepared by God for all below,
That in His kingdom, bright and fair,
You may with us His glory share.

“These are the signs that you shall mark:       12And this will be a sign for you: you will
The swaddling clothes and manger dark.           find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths
There you will find the infant laid                       and lying in a manger.”
By whom the heav’ns and earth were made.”

How glad we’ll be to find it so!                    13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
Then with the shepherds let us go                            of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
To see what God for us has done                14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace
In sending us His own dear Son.                             among those with whom he is pleased!”

Come here, my friends, lift up your eyes,    15When the angels went away from them into heaven,
And see what in the manger lies.                  the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to
Who is this child, so young and fair?            Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, 
It is the Christ Child lying there.                   which the Lord has made known to us.”

Welcome to earth, O noble Guest,              16 And they went with haste and found Mary

Through whom the sinful world is blest!            and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

You came to share my misery

That You might share Your joy with me.

Ah, Lord, though You created all,
How weak You are, so poor and small,
That You should choose to lay Your head
Where lowly cattle lately fed!

Were earth a thousand times as fair
And set with gold and jewels rare,
It would be far too poor and small
A cradle for the Lord of all.

Instead of soft and silken stuff
You have but hay and straw so rough
On which as King, so rich and great,
To be enthroned in royal state.

And so it pleases You to see
This simple truth revealed to me:
That worldly honor, wealth, and might
Are weak and worthless in Your sight.

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Prepare a bed, soft, undefiled,
A quiet chamber set apart
For You to dwell within my heart.

My heart for very joy must leap;             17And when they saw it, they made known

My lips no more can silence keep.              the saying that had been told them  
I, too, must sing with joyful tongue              concerning this child.

That sweetest ancient cradlesong:           18And all who heard it wondered at 

                                                                  what the shepherds told them.

Glory to God in highest heav’n,
Who unto us His Son has giv’n!
While angels sing with pious mirth
A glad new year to all the earth.

 Public domain

19  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

20  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Martin's carol reflects his preaching

Ok, Martin's carol is long. 15 verses is enough to send any modern running, much less a post modern. That’s another reason to take … your … time with good things. Suck on a candy cane while you read it through again.

Imagine you're a shepherd. Imagine it's Christmas Night. Imagine your watching your flocks in the fields around Bethlehem. Imagine you are awestruck and experiencing the Christmas proclamation for the first time. Imagine you need to go and see this great sight and that you have to see it right now. You run.

Martin's Christmas sermons and his Christmas carol both seek to appreciate the earthly, human, and surprising experience of the first Christmas.

What was Mary's experience? Joseph's? The Shepherds'? and even the Angels'?

What was in the Father's heart while the Holy Spirit was instilling faith in the humble?

Can the 16^th century believer claim fellowship with a Bethlehem shepherd? Can a 21^st century believer claim fellowship with both of them? Can one speak for another? Can we actually share in their experience?

How glad we’ll be to find it so!
Then with the shepherds let us go
To see what God for us has done
In sending us His own dear Son.

“I believe in the the communion of saints.” - The Apostles' Creed

“With angels, and arch-angels, and all the company of heaven” - The Liturgy

I have fellowship with these people because they are my friends. I eat and drink with them in the ongoing feast gathering every Lord's Day. Because they are my friends, I love them and I cherish their experiences with our Lord. I learn from them while we kneel together.

My heart for very joy must leap;
My lips no more can silence keep.
I, too, must sing with joyful tongue
That sweetest ancient cradlesong.

2 Corinthians 8:9

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich…

1 Timothy 3:16

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,

vindicated by the Spirit,

seen by angels,

proclaimed among the nations,

believed on in the world,

taken up in glory.

Ephesians 1:21-23

²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Expectation

Chancel of Chapel of Sts. Timothy and Titus, Week of Advent 2, Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis

You Look Thirsty

Modern Theological critique of Trinitarian Doctrine asserts the doctrine is aloof from Christian experience, that it is presented only as one more set of propositions about the divine being which are to be accepted along with a variety of other topics with pat answers and descriptions for memorization and recapitulation. Critics claim that these propositions are not only disconnected from Christian experience, but Trinitarian propositions are essentially irrelevant to the remainder of Christian teaching.

In Retrieving Nicaea, Khaled Anatolios counters that, while the modern critique is not without merit with regard to how Trinitarian teaching is presented even by orthodox Christians in these days, the modern correctives suggested have not taken sufficient account of the pervasive manner in which the Trinitarian doctrine is holistically expressed in 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th century patristic theology. For the teachers involved in these discussions, from Origen to Augustine, ones conception of the Triune God (in particular, how one related the primacy of God and the primacy of Christ to the creation) would of necessity further impact cosmology, anthropology, soteriology, scriptural hermeneutics, epistemology, worship, sanctification, and sacramental theology. The point here is that Anatolios shows that all of these teachers recognized the relevance of Trinitarian assertions relative to the entire body of Christian teaching.

The Baptismal formula as the locus for baptismal theology is a good example distinguishing Nicene theology from other formulations. Anatolios demonstrates that the proponents of various theological formulations in these discussions shared a common heritage of presuppositions and practices. He reviews a list of these on pages 36-38. The very first of them is a shared creedal and liturgical heritage in the name of God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The New Testament references to the Trinity, particularly the Baptismal formula from Matthew 28 provided a foundational practical theology with which every Christian was familiar from their own baptism, especially if they had been baptized as adults. The baptismal formula as a common theological heritage not only for the learned and the bishops, but also for all the baptized gave testimony to the practical reality of God’s Trinitarian presence throughout the Church’s life together.

Arius, Eusebius, and Eunomius have nowhere to go in describing the Holy Spirit once they have made the Son essentially subordinate to the Father. As they protect the divine prerogative of the one true God by conceding the Son as essentially separate no matter how united in purpose, the Triune relationship of the Holy Spirit has become exhausted to the extent that they are not able to continue articulating a theology of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is a cursory thought appended as a conclusion, a Spirit greater than all other angelic spirits. The baptismal formula for these is retained as a matter of tradition, but their theological contemplation has not extended to the practical theological soteriological moment when the Triune God saves sinners from death by His name.

By contrast, the pro-Nicene fathers have no qualms about extending their descriptions of the divine essence to the very extent Christ Jesus described in the baptismal formula in Matthew 28. While the anti-Nicene theologians avoid, stumble over, or dismiss the Holy Spirit as to the Divine Essence once they have subordinated the Son, the pro-Nicene theologians employ a robust theology of the Holy Spirit as their argument’s coup de grace.  Athanasius, Gregory, and Augustine all follow up their defense of the divinity of the Son by detailing Jesus’ words and promises regarding the Holy Spirit’s person and work. A primary reason for His ascension is so that the Church may receive the Holy Spirit for her mission. The Holy Spirit will convert, teach, remind, anoint, comfort, vivify, reconcile, and unify sinners into the Body of Christ.

They are able to bring their argument full circle from the Baptismal formula itself, through all the various theological topics identified previously, right back to the baptismal experience every Christian has had. In this manner, their Trinitarian theology is supremely relevant to their hearers and readers. God the Father’s adoption, God the Son’s salvific work, and God the Holy Spirit’s regeneration are all signed, sealed, and delivered by water and the Word. If moderns have come to believe the doctrine of the Trinity irrelevant to the faith and life of Christians, a return to Scriptural Baptism may well slake their thirst.

A Nicene Way toward Spiritual Formation - Cyril of Jerusalem

Our Lord directed His Church to make disciples of all nations baptizing and teaching. Cyril of Jerusalem considers the moment of Baptism a sharp line of demarcation. Baptism is a liturgical[1], sacramental, pedagogical, and apologetic “line in the sand” for His catechumens.[2] The central sacrament of the Christian initiation into the mysteries of Christian faith is also bound to the central Christian narrative in Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and the Feast of the Resurrection. The act of baptism, while surrounded by mystery within Cyril’s ministry, is still public enough that the newly baptized will face overt challenges to their new life in Christ.[3]

Challenges to reject their new confession, by false teaching or by immoral living, will come from within and without. The challenges from within are construed primarily as moral temptations; special reference is given to violence and sexual immorality.[4] Moral temptations can initiate from the flesh, but significant weight is given the Devil as tempter and so to the benefit of spiritual warfare conducted through the exorcisms awaiting the enrollees during the baptismal liturgy.[5]

Challenges from without will emerge once they enroll themselves for Baptism including heresies from others in the church, Jews[6], and pagans, each posing different arguments against the revelation of salvation by God from sin and death in Christ Jesus incarnation[7], sacrificial death on the cross[8], and resurrection.

Cyril is working to equip lay people with faithful answers to contemporary questions about the nature of biblical faith.[9] His primary concern in these writings is not polemical, but pastoral; though, he cannot completely leave aside warning his hearers of errors they are likely to encounter.[10] He argues forcefully for the truth through some reasoned arguments and many rounds of typological proof texts.[11] While he warns his hearers that these concerns are often simply deceptions and arguments about words, he still provides them basic language for both identifying errors and professing the truth.[12]

Cyril is able to employ philosophical argumentation[13], but when there is a need to elaborate on a teaching, he regularly employs a wide range of analogies.[14]  By means of these analogies, His teaching encourages his hearers to appreciate that their new faith can be illuminated in popular ways, while its truth is affirmed by Scripture.[15] Apologetically and experientially, Cyril gives his hearers scripts which they can effectively use to confirm their faith.

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[1] Mystagogic Catechesis #2 interprets all the baptized’s actions in the baptism liturgy in light of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Cyril wants each Christian to identify with Christ drawing direct lines of teaching between the Passion Narrative and their Baptismal experience concluding that Jesus’ purpose in becoming man was “for us and for our salvation” p. 175

[2] p. 95, no. 15 “For all your misdeeds will be forgiven, even fornication, adultery or any other form of licentiousness. What sin is greater than crucifying Christ? Yet even this can be washed away by baptism.” Cyril goes on to prove this assertion with the Biblical example from Acts 2 as Peter offers forgiveness of sins through Baptism into Christ Jesus to those who had crucified Him.

Mystagogic Catechesis #1 equates the ritual actions with the Biblical narrative

[3] p. 82, no. 10 “You are being given weapons to use against the powers ranged against you, weapons against heresies, against Jews and Samaritans and pagans. You have many enemies…You must learn how to shoot down the Greek, how to fight against the heretic, the Jew and the Samaritan.”

[4] P. 147, no. 34 Cyril concludes catechesis 12 on the virgin birth with an exhortation to chastity.

[5] p. 82, no. 9, after describing the process to purify gold by fire, Cyril relates that purification process to liturgical exorcisms in the Baptismal rite.

p. 170-172, Mystogogic Chatechesis #1 details the right of Exorcism making plain that the baptized is removed from the kingdom Satan and into the Kingdom of God just as certainly as the people of Israel under Moses departed Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and arrived at Mt. Sinai in order to focus the biblical narrative through Christ and to the newly baptized.

[6] P. 122, citations from Exodus 33-34 and Psalm 110 are united to Luke 2:10-11 by common use of the term “Lord”

p. 125, no. 14, “The Jews accept that he is Jesus, but do not yet accept that He is Lord…” yet, he then goes on to cite Hebrew Prophets and Jewish New Testament believers as evidence that Jewish unbelief is not cast in stone.

[7] Catechesis 12 sets the purpose for the incarnation squarely on the foundation of God’s mercy, and the forgiveness of sins. Cyril recounts sections of the OT which testify to sin and prophetic words anticipating God’s mercy and immanent presence with His people.

[8] In Catechesis 13 the cross provides an open door to several OT/NT prophetic moves: First Adam/Second Adam, Tree of the Garden/Tree of the Cross, Day of Atonement lamb, and Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The cross also provides Cyril an opportunity to connect with his audience regarding his hometown; he is able to recount the passion narrative and Jesus’ way of sorrows as though he was an eye witness.

[9] p. 141, no. 5, “So because of the strength of this opposition [questioning the virgin birth] and the many forms the resistance takes, listen, and by Christ’s grace and with the help of your prayers I shall answer each of these difficulties.”

p. 161, no. 37 “If you ever get into a controversy and have no arguments to put forward, let your faith remain unshaken.”

[10] p. 131-134, nos. 7-13

p. 136, no. 18, “To make the point more precisely, we must not separate, we must not make a compound [of God]. Nor should you say that the Son was ever alien to the Father, or listen to those who say that the Father is at one time Father, at another Son. These teachings are outlandish and blasphemous, and not the teachings of the Church.”

[11] p. 91, Cyril identifies instances of water in the OT narrative typologically with Baptism to elucidate various baptismal motifs and promises: Regeneration, New Creation, defeating spiritual enemies, death and resurrection, crossing from earth to heaven, uncleanness to purification – implying prospective admission into the presence of God. John the Baptizer, the transitional figure, prophesies to the distinct Spirit-giving work which Jesus’ Baptism initiates for the Church at Pentecost. All of these are narrative biblical arguments which rely on the Scriptural text for Baptism’s theological significance.

p. 123-4 Jesus is typologically compared with Aaron as High Priest, Melchizedek the priest of God Most High, and Joshua the son of Nun

[12] In Catechesis 11, Cyril incorporates the philosophical/disputed terms into a running commentary on biblical texts distinguishing between Jesus’ Sonship by nature and the believer’s sonship by adoption. This distinction between nature and adoption is easy to grasp, affirms the truth, and gives hearers a script that they can use outside the church to explain their faith. Distinguishing between nature and adoption translates the technical terms into popular, yet biblical, terminology.

[13] p. 130, no. 4, “begotten”, “inscrutable”, “incomprehensible”

[14] p. 138, no. 22, the illustration of the King and the King’s son who exercises authority in the name of the King

[15] For an example of Cyril’s flexibility in moving from one mode of argumentation to another, p. 121, nos. 5-7 shows Cyril relating the biblical titles of Christ to pastoral concerns including analogies between Christ and various other human helpers; Biblical evidence for the divinity of Christ from Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 19; followed by citing Paul’s analogous use of the Wilderness Wandering Rock that was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10.

Sunday Morning Ministries Cross Cultures

This morning, I preached God's word to God's people from God's text in God's house.


I did it only by God's grace.

I know it was only by God's grace because I am getting to appreciate again the insurmountable barriers each one of those moves demands. They are insurmountable by any human measure; still, the homily goes out and God condescends to act through it.



By any human measure, the level of noise which disturbs the transmission of any heavenly word to any human ear (to say nothing of heart, mind, soul, or the rest of the body) would make any reasonable person not only doubt that such a thing is possible, but likely stand back and respond like Bill Cosby's Noah, "Yeah, right!"

First off, there is the Biblical Event itself - this concern begins with narratives from the history sections of the Bible. The Old Testament history, the Gospels, and Acts are all given from God's point of view. The details we want to be there often aren't and the questions we want answered are left hanging. Instead of providing a complete account as we would imagine it, God shares what saves.

Gospel writer, John, freely admits that he hasn't written everything down, but has written down what promotes faith, hope, and love in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. (John 20:31) So we know from the start that we don't have everything that happened, but we are promised that we have everything that we need for God's purpose.

So the biblical event in history contains details that are not given in the text, now what are we to do with that? We can judge that the text is worthless, because it is obviously not a complete record. On the other hand, we can judge that the details we have been given are the ones that matter. Even more to the point, they are the details that matter not just for me, but that there is actually something in this book for everyone. (This is something to keep in mind when we read something we don't understand)

So I am totally dependent on God's grace for the text I read to begin working on my sermon. 

Thank God for the text.


In later posts in this series, I will take up

• the author
• the audience
• the Pastor as hearer and reader in his own culture
• the contemporary hearer, and
• the worship setting

each with its own part to play as the sermon moves from heaven to earth and through culture to culture.

Biblical Event <noise> Author <noise> Author's Ideal Hearer <noise> Pastor <noise> Contemporary Hearer <noise> Worship Context

Theology: Nice or Nicene, Do we have to choose?

Creeds and Confessions

Gregory of Nazianzus – The Theological Orations – A Nicene Way of Doing Theology

Arguments from Philosophy

In the oration on the Father, Gregory poses many scenarios that move our minds to inquire into mysteries that our observations cannot penetrate. Gregory argues (p. 157) that scientific description provides a mechanical type of knowledge, but cannot claim to provide Wisdom.[1] In order to enter into Wisdom, a more sublime level of reflection is necessary. Gregory’s discussion implied that if we cannot penetrate the mysteries of creation by observation, we will certainly find ourselves frustrated if we attempt to understand heavenly realities through the same kind of simplistic use of observation and reason. Scripture informing reason is the approach he advocates.

Gregory also points out several false dichotomies in his opponents arguments. For example, the question of how the term “Beget” should be understood when used of the Father and the Son. Is the Son begotten of the Father as a matter of “essence” or as a matter of “action?” Eunomius seems to posit that in either case the divinity of the Son is discounted. If a matter of essence, then God is divided and therefore must in fact be something less than God; if a matter of action, then the Son is a creation and not eternal – there is a when when the Son was not. To this point, Gregory points out that these are not the only ways the term “Begotten” must be understood, in fact the best way is the Scriptural way of “relationship”. Begotten describes the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son. Even so, Gregory also postulates ways that even essence and action both may be understood piously, and this portion of the argument hints at a Nicene way of doing theology. The terms are not necessarily the essential issue, but what is meant, implied, included, and excluded about God in the terms. We saw this with the term homoousius in the previous discussion, when originally introduced it was used to promote Saballianism, but was incorporated into the Orthodox Nicene Creed under a new interpretation.

In fact, Gregory cites an extensive list of terms which have entered the Christological controversies to this point and essentially sweeps them all into the summary statement:

“What is lofty you are to apply to the Godhead, and to that nature in him which is superior to sufferings and incorporeal; but all that is lowly to the composite condition of him wo for your sakes made himself of no reputation and was incarnate—yes, for it is no worse thing to say—was made man, and afterwards was also exalted. The result will be that you will abandon these carnal and groveling doctrines, and learn to be more sublime, and to ascend with his Godhead, and you will not remain permanently among the things of sight, but will rise up with him into the world of thought, and come to know which passages refer to his nature, and which to his assumption of the human nature.” (173)

Arguments from Scripture in the Fourth Oration

Along with the discussions of Proverbs 8 and Philippians 2 familiar from Athanasius’ treatment, Gregory takes up passages which use the term “until” with relation to the Parousia, as though Christ’s Heavenly Reign would end at that point, but as other Scriptures assert and the Nicene faith affirms, Christ’s Kingdom is “without end”; therefore, the term “until” should not be understood as excluding Christ’s continued reign after the Parousia, but simply to affirm that the Son of God will not be conducting continued post resurrection appearances as He did during the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension, instead He must remain to reign in heaven until the Parousia. Nicene theology guides the understanding of the term “until” and provides teaching on what type of Real Presence Christ’s disciples should expect during the interregnum. 

Proposal for a Nicene approach to theology

In the first oration, Gregory speaks of the faith channeling the flowing water of the thought implying that the Nicene theology provides banks within which Orthodox Christian teaching flows. To that end, the teaching of individual passages will affirm the Triune Godhead. Each person of the Godhead is distinct, yet all share the essential unity of God. Further, the Son takes into the divine Godhead the human nature received from His mother, Mary, whereby it is proper to refer to her as the theotokos. References to the Son which indicate any type of subordinate position or work do not subordinate Him as regards His divinity, but instead relate to the human nature for our sakes and for our salvation. These references indicate Christ’s unity with us men, in our human nature, bear our sins willingly and innocently, be our Savior, earn for us and deliver to us eternal life.

Further Considerations

In the introductory oration, Gregory elaborates on the question of theology stemming from impiety. True Theology is only possible under certain idyllic conditions. For the theologian’s thoughts to be aligned with the Truth, such thoughts must be free of sin (“pure”); they must originate from a serious mind; theology requires deliberate, thoughtful reflection; finally, it must seek to give honor and glory to God and to His Word. This opening description made me consider the many pastoral, evangelistic, and apologetic conversations I have had with people who seemingly took great delight in positioning themselves as scoffers – modern scientific people who had no intention of being taken in by superstitious Christianity. It appeared that they were getting much of their material from Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins by way of Bill Maher.

More recently, this past weekend, another college Biology professor published an opinion piece on Evolutionary Biology and Religious Faith.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/opinion/sunday/god-darwin-and-my-college-biology-class.html?_r=0)

I bring this up simply because it is a very common conversation in our congregations and Gregory’s discussion presents a few thoughts.

A simplistic reading of his list of questions might lead an empiricist to equate Gregory’s mode of argument with a “God of the gaps” approach. Empiricists love this approach because it puts the question of God within the realm of the creation. “If we can fill in the gaps,” they argue, “we can eliminate the consideration that God exists.” There will essentially be no more reason to need God in order to explain the way things work. While this is an exceptionally poor theological or philosophical argument, it is a very effective pragmatic argument because, by and large, Lutheran Teenagers are ill equipped to think through the shallowness of this argument. Scoffers get them to buy into the God of the Gaps argument by citing it as a classic Christian argument and then posit that all or most of the gaps are now gone based on improved modes of observation through technology. However, if we were to grant that everything about creation could be described by means of observation, how would that actually prove the non-existence of God who stands outside of creation? Such an argument still assumes that we are expecting to leave earth’s orbit and find God in space; yet, Christians still allow this kind of argument to “make them squirm.”

Further, however, is the question how to conduct ourselves in relation to scoffers. On the one hand, if we are remotely dismissive we come communicate arrogance; on the other hand, if we are too lenient, we give credence to their arguments, especially as people who may be close by generally have very short attention spans and may only listen in until the first verbal blow is struck.

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[1] Hardy, p. 157, “For, granted that you understand orbits and periods,… and all the other things which make you so proud of your wonderful knowledge, you have not arrived at comprehension of the realities themselves, but only at an observation of some movement,… But if you are very scientific on this subject, and have a just claim to admiration, tell me, what is the cause of this order and this movement?” Gregory then does touch on “First Cause” considerations on the following pages.