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Modern
man tries to be god himself
The Oregonian - Thursday,
August 8th, 2002
One of
the fundamental dogmas of Christian faith is the incarnation.
As Saint Athanasius of the fourth century said, “God
became a man that man might become like God.” The classical
Christian belief that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man in
one person is precisely the result of the incarnation. God, in the
person of Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son, has assumed the
fullness of the human nature that we might have the possibility of
being completely and wholly redeemed by our union with Him.
During
August, the Orthodox Christian Church celebrates the event of
Christ’s transfiguration on Mount Tabor. This is a significant
event in the ministry of Jesus.
It takes place two-thirds of the way though His three-year
ministry. Jesus’ disciples were struggling to grasp His
identity. Jesus knew
that the success of the Church depended on a proper understanding
of His identity as both God and man in one Person.
For this reason, the Lord took with Him His closet
disciples, Peter, James and John to the top of Mt. Tabor. There,
He opened the eyes of their hearts, and they were able to see the
uncreated light of His divinity shining from His face and His
clothing. This light
of Jesus’ divinity shone brighter than sun, yet only Peter,
James and John perceived it.
This
was a great mystery. The
holy Church Fathers throughout the centuries of Christianity have
consistently understood the uncreated light as always emanating
from Christ, but not always perceived by those around Him.
On Mt. Tabor, Jesus willed His disciples to perceive Him as
He truly is. The
spiritual eyes of their souls were opened to see Jesus as God.
Christ’s
transfigured appearance and His disciples’ ability to perceive
the uncreated light of His divinity are extremely significant for
our own day. AT a
time when many are casting the identity of Jesus Christ as God
into doubt, His transfiguration serves as proof of His divinity.
He remained fully God, even while taking on the fullness of
our humanity. This
proper understanding of God’s incarnation is vital to
understanding our own salvation.
Man is incapable of saving himself form sin and death.
Only God has the power to create life from nothing, sustain
that life and renew it. Only
God has the power to forgive sins and destroy both the power of
death and death itself. He has chosen to save and re-create mankind by assuming the
fullness of our human nature.
Only if Jesus is truly all that God the Father is can He be
worthy of the title Savior. At
the same time, our human nature can only be healed and redeemed if
Jesus in His birth from a Virgin assumed the fullness of our human
nature, with the exception of sin.
In a
similar way, as modern man has brought Jesus down to his own
level, his own understanding of human anthropology has become
severely limited. As
the image of the prototype (Christ) becomes debased and
compromised, so follows those (humanity) who are to be in His
image and likeness. Consequently,
humanity’s expectations of itself are at an all-time low.
The ultimate human vocation is no longer to become like God
as He has revealed Himself to us through Scripture and the
Spirit-filled life of the Church.
Modern universe, seeking to become a god himself based on
whatever limited potential science ad technology promised or the
passion and desire of his flesh drive him to.
It is
not simply significant that Christ revealed His divinity to the
world, but it is equally important for us to realized that His
disciples would not have been able to apprehend that uncreated
light of His divinity if the Son of God had not made them able to
also participate themselves in His divinity. In other words, the
divinity that was Jesus’ by nature, His disciples were able to
participate in by grace. This
is also the calling of every human being: “that they may all be
one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they
also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that Thou has
sent me. The glory
which Thou hast given Me I have given to them, that they may be
one even as We are one.” (Jn.17:21-22)
The
Gory that is shared between the three Persons of the Holy Trinity
is meant to be our gift. The
event of Christ’s transfiguration reminds us that we are all
called to “become partakers of divine nature.” (2Pet.1:4)
What worth we must therefore have in the eyes of God!
As the Beloved Apostle, St. John the Evangelist once said,
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called
children of God; and so we are!” (1Jn.3:1)
The Rev. Theodore Dorrance leads
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, 10144 SW Park Way in
Cedar Hills. He can
be reached at 503-292-3737
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