- What is Christian holiness?
- What are three new things you learned from the Athanasian Creed?
- How does the reality that God has “wed Himself to His own creation” (Kinlaw p.72) impact your understanding of the “Basic Message of the Bible”? (from the Kinlaw readings)
1. What is Christian holiness?
a. Christian holiness is the Triune God’s own life of holy love shared with us in Christ by the Spirit, so that—freed from sin—we are reoriented to love God and neighbor. It is not merely separation from evil, but alignment to God’s purposes.
2. What are three new things you learned from the Athanasian Creed?
a. Considering I have never heard of, or at least read the Athanasian Creed, pretty much everyone was new.
3. How does the reality that God has “wed Himself to His own creation” (Kinlaw p.72) impact your understanding of the “Basic Message of the Bible”? (from the Kinlaw readings)
a. If God weds Himself to us, the Bible stops feeling like rules from afar and reads like a love story. God comes calls us to be with Him; He has a commitment to us; and understands what we go through. In Jesus’ birth and cross, we see the depth of His love for us; in the resurrection and Spirit, we experience the lifelong marriage He promises.
So good. God has a specific purpose for every single one of us.
Good thoughts, Michael. Can you iist three specific things that stood out to you from the Athanasian Creed? Personally, I enjoyed his more thorough discussion of the Trinity, and its more plain-sense approach.
I found the following to be particularly interesting; it made me really think about what it was saying and what it truly meant.
1. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
2. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
3. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
4. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
5. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
6. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
7. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.
What is Christian holiness?
-Christian holiness is the imitation and replication of God’s personal holiness and love. This can only be accomplished in the Holy Spirit and is entirely and solely dependent on one’s relationship with God and willingness to cooperate with Him.
What are three new things you learned from the Athanasian Creed?
-Having been familiar with the Athanasian Creed beforehand, I was familiar with much of the “but yet there are not three ___ but one ___” format and contents. What I did notice this time is the emphasis in the Athanasian Creed on the orthodox understanding of the Nicene Creed and that the catholic faith by definition holds to the Trinity for salvation.
How does the reality that God has “wed Himself to His own creation” impact your understanding of the “Basic Message of the Bible”?
-God joining Himself to His creation is what elevates Christianity past any other religion as truth. The incarnation revealed God to be a God who loves us, who wishes for us to be with Him, and is willing to go to the farthest reaches to get us back to Him. It is the fulfillment of the promises of God through the Old Testament and His love to all people which the groundwork for all Christian understanding is based.
I like that you mention it is the imitation of God. It reminds me of the book titled “The Imitation of Christ”. We must do as Christ does to follow Him and not what we want.
Good thoughts, Jackson. Christian holiness begins with a full surrender, one that is beyond our first step of faith leading to righteousness. Romans 6 talks about the order of salvation – 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Romans 6:22
That means:
Set free from sin – our justification by grace through faith in the redemption of Christ Jesus
Becomes slaves to God – our full surrender to God as Lord
The fruit you get leads to sanctification – the process of being made holy as God is holy, which happens by the Holy Spirit through our full surrender
And its end, eternal life – We call it “glorification”, our own resurrection to a new imperishible form and ascension into God’s presence.
Many stop at justification, and do not carry through to the full transformation in Christ. Justification takes away our past sins, but something must replace it. Holiness is the formation of us into the image of God again, which is more specifically “holy love”.
Jackson,
While I was not familiar at all with the Athanasian Creed, I agree that the “but yet there are not three ___ but one ___” format and content were very interesting and really made me think about what it said and meant.
1. What is Christian holiness?
Christian holiness is crating a personal relationship with God. As we get closer to God the further away we are from sin. The new covenant that we get to be part of, tells us that we are made new and born again. This gives us connectivity with God through his Triune nature.
2. What are there new things you learned from the Athanasian Credd?
a) the Father is the source of the other-oriented self-giving love. It’s because of this love that we are created.
b) That the three “persons” exist together.
c) That there is also a dependency within the Triune. Jesus draws life from the Father. The Spirit does the work for the Father and Son.
3. How does the reality that God “wed himself to His own creation” impact your understanding of the “Basic Message of the Bible”?
When God wet himself to his creation, he was saying that he wanted the most sacred and deeply connected relationship he could have with his people. The nuptial relationship was important because the way it bound us to him. It is a choice we have to receive and be committed to each other. It’s through agape laugh that we see selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love without expecting anything in return.
I like your statement, “As we get closer to God, the further away we are from sin.” I heard this saying, “Just because you can resist the devil doesn’t mean you should hang out with him.”
Thank you Michael, and I agree with the statement you heard as well. I may issue that lol. I’ve told our youth that when you’re wanting to be in a relationship with someone….you will want to be with them as much as possible. “Spending Time” with them. We got to be careful who we spend our time with. When we are talking about the things that we put in us from the world.
Good thoughts, Cory. Being made holy is both an “instance” and a “process”, beyond our initial salvation. The rebirth gives us a new start and a new relationship with God, but we often find we still sin, and often. Eventually, we see we need a full surrender to God, not only as Savior, but as Lord. It is then that we are sanctified and then enter a process of sanctification in which God continues to conform our nature to His, pulling out what is rebellion and replacing that with His perfect love.
I find that people make too much of what sanctification is because they do not like the term “perfect”. But the Bible uses the term “prefect” in the sense of “wholeness”, and it is a wholeness of heart to the Lord. It never intends a sinless perfection, but it is simply a restoration to what God intended for us – to love HIm and love others, without a divided loyalty. His level of perfection for us is only in the area of our love, and not an absolute perfection. And only He can give that to us as we surrender to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to do His work.
1. What is Christian holiness?
Becoming spiritually mature and living in God’s will and by His standards He sets for us. We are called to live differently from how the world does and look more like Jesus every day. We were created in His image. We must honor God with how we live; the things we say and watch.
2 What are three new things you learned from the Athanasian Creed?
a). Jesus gives us the definition of what it means to be human.
b). His relationship with the Holy Trinity is the perfect example given to humans as to how their relationships should look.
c). The Holy Trinity is completely equal in roles; one is not greater than another.
3. How does the reality that God has “wed Himself to His own creation” impact your understanding of the “Basic Message of the Bible”?
God loved his creation so much that He wanted a close, intimate relationship with it and then sent His perfect Son to die for our sins so we could forever be with Him.
Good work, Tiffany. Thinking about the idea that God has “wed himself to his own creation”, I think the best way he did this is through the Incarnation. God is transcendent, and the world was created by him and is separate from his being. There is no continuity between God, humanity, and nature. But God takes humanity into himself through one person – Jesus Christ. And it is through Him that the creation is forever connected to God. So those who accept Christ and his salvation are his “bride”, forever connected through Him to the Father.