Here is our final installment on Christology:
Our Lives in Christ: Who Christ is and what Christ has done has direct bearing upon creation, the human community, and especially upon those of us who claim to be his followers. While most of this will be addressed in the sections on soteriology and eschatology, there are some additional comments that are necessary before proceeding.
First, we must remember that no matter how high our Christology is, Christ is not God alone. Jesus tells Thomas that, “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him" (John 14:7). Christ exists in community with the Father and the Holy Spirit. By embracing Christ in our lives, we are embracing the Triune God of which Christ is a part and of which Christ continually points us towards. This passage of Scripture reminds us that when we have encountered Christ, we have encountered the One from which he is begotten. As God’s ultimate self-revealing act, Christ grants us the privilege to experience the very heart of God in our faith in and relationship with him.
Second, our encounter with Christ calls us to reexamine reality because in Christ humanity is “gripped by a new reality” (Herzog, 92). This is because Christ points us towards reorientation; an orientation that brings Christ-likeness to us by directing us towards those that Christ was directed to—the poor and the outcasts (Herzog, 93). In such an encounter, humanity is invited to respond in faith to what God has done for them in Jesus Christ. It is also an invitation for us to participate in the divine life through the “indwelling spirit of the crucified and risen Christ” (Musser and Price, 251).
Finally, everything that has happened has been a willful and loving act of God. It has happened for our greatest good and without our deserving it. All that is of Christ is of the one holy Triune God, who put on flesh, dwelt amongst us, and took on the fullness of humanity that we may be fully reconciled to God. All of this comes to us as a gift of God, freely given to all. This gift requires our acceptance in faith. By accepting God’s gracious gift in Christ, we are committing to accepting his mantle for the entirety of our lives as our Prophet, our Priest, and our King. This commitment in faith is one that will radically alter our very existence, now and forever, as we bear the marks of his disciples and live radically reordered lives.
What do you think; how does the nature and work of Christ define our relationship with Christ?
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