Jesus Christ: the Sacrament of God

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Jesus Christ The Sacrament of God
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Jesus Christ the Sacrament of God

• What is a sacrament?
• An outward sign instituted by Christ to give
  Grace.

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Origin Meaning

• Greek mysterion meaning mystery
• Example
• Baptism
• Visible sign flowing water with the words of
  Baptism
• Invisible grace washes away our sins and
  configures our souls more closely to Christ
• Jesus Christ
• Visible sign became man
• Invisible grace SALVATION

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Why do we need to properly understand?

• Omnipresence of God
• We are charged to guard the Faith
• O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.
  Avoid profane babbling and the absurdities of
  so-called knowledge. By professing it, some
  people have deviated from the faith. (1 TIM
  620-21).

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Christology

• Christology is the study of Christ
• 2 Dimensions
• His person (who He is)
• Christology per se
• His purpose (what He does)
• Soteriology (soter in Greek means salvation the
  study of salvation)

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Council of Nicea (AD 325)

• Deals with the Natures of Jesus Christ
• Same nature with God
• Begotten not made
• Not an angel
• Not a first-born creature but divine with the
  same personhood and power as Almighty God
• Affirms that only God can save us, if Jesus saves
  us then Jesus is God
• Nicene Creed (Apostles Creed)

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? ? ?Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?
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Council of Chalcedon (AD 451)

• One Person, 2 Natures (hypostatic union)
• Like us in all things but sin
• It is not in our nature to sin
• Sin is a corruption of what it is to be human
• Saint Athanaius
• What is not assumed is not saved!
• Catholics confess
• Jesus Chris is TRUE MAN and TRUE GOD

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? ? ?Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?
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Atonement

• Saint Anselm
• Why do we need to be saved?
• Original Sin turns us away from the love of God
• Lack of devotion dishonors God
• Justice demands restoration and payment
• How can humans who are born in sin, pay the
  penalty of a sinless death?
• We cant, but one who is of God (sinless) can do
  that and one who is of humanity ought to do that.

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Why did God become man?

• 4 Principle Reasons
• To save us and reconcile us with God (1 John
  410)
• That we might know Gods love (1 John 49)
• To be our model of holiness (Matthew 1129)
• To make us partakers of the Divine Nature (2
  Peter 13-4)
• God became man so that man might become like
  god. (Saint Augustine)
• Bottom Line
• The Son of God assumes human nature in order to
  accomplish our salvation in it.

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? ? ?Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?
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The Paschal Mystery

• Its the central mystery of our faith because our
  salvation rests upon it the life, death, and
  Resurrection of Jesus Christ
• St. Paul tells us in his letter to the
  Corinthians that the resurrection is the
  principal and source of our future resurrection
  (1Cor. 1520-22)
• At the end of the world, on Judgment Day we will
  definitely recognize once and for all the victory
  over evil and the dignity of the Human race
  because of the Paschal Mystery

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Life of Jesus

• Sacred Scripture the Gospels
• 4 Gospels 1 story
• Extra-Biblical Evidence
• Roman Writers
• Jewish Writers
• Heterodox Christian Writers

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Historicity

• Cardinal John Henry Newman
• Sancta Mater Ecclesia (1964), para. 3
• The teaching the life of Jesus have not been
  recounted simply to preserve his memory, but were
  preached in order to give to the Church the
  foundation of the faith the basis of morals.

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Back to the New Testament

• NT writings, in particular the 4 Gospels DO NOT
  present to incorporate all the objective data
  about Jesus Christ
• Not biographies of Jesus, but TESTIMONIES

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? ? ?Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?
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How does Christ bring Meaning to Our Lives

• Christ lives a real human existence
• In becoming man the eternal Son assumes the full
  human condition
• The teaching of Jesus is fundamental to the sign
  of His person and life
• Unique authority Matthew 729
• Christ presents Himself as the full realization
  of all the qualities necessary for the full moral
  development of mankind
• In Christ the suffering and pains of human
  existence find meaning

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Why is it important to know understand who
Jesus Christ is?

• H E R E S I E S
• A false statement or lie (usually contains some
  element of truth).
• Chris does not want our relationship with Him to
  be based upon a lie!

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A Few Heresies(There are literally THOUSANDS)

1. Ebionitism
2. Adoptionism
3. Docetism
4. Gnostism

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? ? ?Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?
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• Important Figures

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Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 202)

• Very careful in all his refutations of heresy to
  remain faithful to Sacred Scripture and the
  Traditions of the Apostles themselves
• Affirmed Christ was true man and true God
• Doctrine of Recapitulation

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Tertullian (AD 220)

• Basically Jesus is NOT a composite of a Divine
  Person and a Human Person but a single Divine
  Person
• His apologies refuted 3 of the greatest
  Christological errors
• Apollinariansism
• Nestorianism
• Monophysitism

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Origen of Alexandria (AD 250)

• Makes it clear that the Son proceeds from the
  Father not by division, but by a spiritual act of
  agape love the Son has no beginning
• Succeeded in refuting the Arian heresy which
  clearly stated that the Son had a beginning

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? ? ?Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?
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Nicea I (AD 325)

• A very important Church Council that came to
  discuss the Divinity of Jesus Christ
• Condemned the Arian Controversy as heresy
• Arius Opinions
• He used Sacred Scripture as a method to proof
  text
• Ardent foe Alexander
• Saint Athanasius

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Saint Athanasius

• One of the greatest defenders of the faith of
  Nicea
• Did not proof text, but used John 114

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? ? ?Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?