Thinking About God: Orthodox Theology; Christology

1. Thinking About God
(Book 4)
Unit 3 – Lessons 1, 2, 3

2. Purpose
• To consider the person and work of
Jesus Christ.
• To understand NT attempts to
explain the P&W of J.C.

3. How did the disciples come to know that
Jesus is Lord, the Son of God?
• Through a reflection on Scripture after the
Passion.
• 1 Cor 15:3-5 – “3 For I delivered to you
first of all that which I also received: that
Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen
by Cephas, then by the twelve.”

4. Example John 12
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
John 12
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and
went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna![d]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[e]
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey‟s colt.”[f]
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was
glorified did they realize that these things had been written about
him and that these things had been done to him.
“Hour of glory”
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be
glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the
ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds.

5. Opening of Scriptures & Breaking
of the Bread
•
“the disciples came to recognize the Lord as the one
whose passion is spoken of by the scriptures and
encountered him in the breaking of bread. It is these
two complementary ways, the engagement with the
scriptures and sharing in the Lord‟s mean,
„proclaiming his death until he comes‟ (1 Cor 11:26),
that Paul specifies he had received (from the Lord
himself in the case of the Eucharistic meal) and then
handed down, or „traditioned‟, to later generations
(cf. 1 Cor 11.23, 15.3).” p. 27 Behr, J “Mystery of
Christ”
• They devoted themselves to the apostles‟ teaching
and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer. – Acts 2:42

6. Lesson 1 – Israel‟s expectations
• Are you the messiah? – Mk 14:61; John 10:24;
• Term Messiah (Christos) in OT
• House of David
– Prophecy of Nathan – 2 Sam 7:15-16
• Royal Psalms – ex. Psalm 2:7; Psalm 110:1 – fulfillment of
Davidic promise
• Prophets
– Amos 9:11; Isaiah 7:13 (Immanuel), rod out of the stem of
Jesee (Isiah 11:1-10); Ezekiel – Messiah as good shepherd;
– Suffering Servant – Isaiah 53;
- how it influences the
life of a Christian –
• Insights from Book of Genesis – “Protoevangelion”
• Meaning of Exodus

7. Lesson 2 Life and teachings of
Jesus
• Suetonius , Tacitus, Pliny to Trajan, Josephus
• What is gospel? – it is its own genre- purpose
– (Jn 20:31)
• Preparation for his ministry
• Period of his ministry
• Training of the Apostles
• Relevance of Miracles –
• Wide Horizon of Gospel Truths – the salvation
brought in the person of Christ. “Divine Plan”

8. New Testament Interpretations of
the Person of Christ
• Synoptics
–
–
–
–
Son of Man
Lord
Ebed Yahweh
Son of God
• St. John
– „I am‟
– Logos
• St Paul
– Kenotic – Phil. 2
– Cosmic – Colossians 1:15-20
– Hebrews
• Mediator
• Eternal High Priest
• http://catholicresources.org/Bible/Christological_Titles.htm

9. Synoptics
• Term – Christology
• Son of Man
– Daniel 7:13-14 – exalted figure
– Most often used by Jesus – but the suffering
one; (Mk 9:31; 10:45; 14:41)
• Lord – Kurios
– Basic Christian confession – 1 Cor 12:3;
Romans 10:9; Phil 2:11; Rom 1:3-4
• Ebed Yahweh – Servant of Yahweh
• Son of God
– Relationship to the Father; (in essence and in
obedience)
– OT background – King;