Paul’s Theology of Redemption

Pauls Theology of Redemption

Eph 2:1 And you he made

Eph 2:1 when you were dead

through the trespasses and sins

Eph 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, 1

the course of this world

Jam 1:14-15 but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Jam 1:15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.

the prince of the power of the air, I beheld falling as lighning from heaven - Jesus

Casting Down of the Rebellious Angels by Gustave Dore'

the prince of the power of the air, I will ascend to heaven.I will raise my throne above the stars of God.I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.

the prince of the power of the air, 1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour.

HeavenliesAtmosphereEarth

Atziluth Divine Realm -Archetypal World (World of Emanations) or Divine WorldBriah- Spiritual Realsm Creative World or World of ThronesYetsirah- Mental Realm Formative WorldAssiah- Material Realm Manifest World

DivineSpiritualMentalMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe Unknown

DivineSpiritualMentalMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe UnknownFall of LuciferPrince of the Power of Air

Divine Third HeavenSpiritual Second HeavenMentalFirst HeavenMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe Unknown"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven" (2 Cor. 12:2)

following - the spirit that is now at work in the sons of 2

Eph 2:3 Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,

Eph 2:3 following the 3desires ofBody and mind,

Eph 2:3 and so we were by nature children of wrath,

like the rest of mankind.

Eph 2:4 But God,

Eph 2:4 who is rich in mercy,

Eph 2:4 out of the great love with which he loved us,

Eph 2:5 even when we were dead through our trespasses,

Eph 2:5 made us alive together with Christ

1. SuzoopoieoSun = WithZoo = AlivePoieo = MakeMake alive with Christ. Col 2:13

Eph 2:5 (by grace you have been saved),

2. SunegerioSun = withEgerio = energized, alive, awaken, lifted up

Eph 2:6 and raised us up with him,

Eph 2:6 and made us sit with him

3. SunkathizoSun = withKathiso = cause to sit down

Eph 2:6 in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

DivineSpiritualMentalMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe UnknownChristJoh 1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God

Pauline Theology of RedemptionThe Secret Mystical Teaching of Israel

"They have not known, and they do not understand; In darkness they keep walking about; All the foundations of the earth are made to totter. I myself have said, 'You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High." Psalms 82:5 Psalms 82:5

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo Venetian, 1727 - 1804 Christ Leading Peter, James, and John to the Transfiguration

John 17: 21THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE; EVEN AS YOU, FATHER, ARE IN ME, AND I IN YOU, THAT THEY ALSO MAY BE IN US,21

John 17: 22THAT THEY MAY BE ONE; EVEN AS WE ARE ONE,

2 Peter 1:3YOU MAY BECOME PARTAKERS of the DIVINE NATURE [and] escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion. .

My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is. I John 3:2

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. . . The Weight of Glory

(God) said that we were "gods" and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him-for we can prevent Him if we chooseHe will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 174-5

God said to this hairless monkey, "get on with it, become a god." C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Jesus answered: Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods? So the Law uses the word gods of those to whom the word of God was addressed, and scripture cannot be rejected. John 10:34-35

. . . the Spirit and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory." Rom. 8:15-17

. . the two will become one body. . . This mystery applies to Christ and the Church. Eph. 5:31-32

They (those who love him) are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. Rom

By Christ, God) hath given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature: flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world." (II Peter 1:4) "For whom (God) forknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn amongst many brethren." (Romans 8:29) "We all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory into glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." (II Corinthians 3:18) "We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known." (I Corinthians 13:12) "It hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that, whe he shall appear, we shall be like to Him because we shall see Him as He is." (I John 3:2)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:17-18

I am the light of the world. Jesus, John 8:12 You are the light of the world. Jesus, Matt. 5:14

...if God has made you son, then he has made you heir. Gal. 4:7

"God brings the dead to life as partakers of fire or light. But whether even all shall hereafter partake of God, let it be elsewhere discussed."

Saint Gregory Nazianzen, The Risen Christ "still pleads even now as Man for my salvation, for He continues to wear the Body which He assumed, until He makes me God by the power of His Incarnation" 4.

330390, Cappadocian theologian, Doctor of the Church, one of the Four Fathers of the Greek Church. He is sometimes called Gregory Theologus. He studied widely in his youth and was from his student days a friend of St. Basil the Great. Basil appointed the unwilling Gregory to a bishopric, and Gregory succeeded him as principal leader of the conciliatory party in the church struggle against Arianism. In 379, Gregory was chosen bishop of Constantinople. By his preaching he wrought a great revival of orthodoxy there.

He has called men gods that are deified of His Grace, not born of His Substance. St. Augustine

354-430 ADBy 396 he had become bishop of Hippo

Souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to others. Hence comes . . . abiding in God, the being made like to God, and, highest of all, the being made God. St. Basil the Great, On the Spirit.

Greek bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia after A.D. 370 and a vigorous opponent of Arianism.

The Word became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature: (2 Pet 1:4) For this is why the Word became man, [1265, 1391] and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. (St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses. 3, 19, 1: PG 7/1.939)

St. Irenaeus (A.D. 125-202) was born around the year A.D. 125, a native of Asia Minor. While very young, St. Irenaeus became the pupil of St. Polycarp in Smyrna. St. Polycarp is one of the Apostolic Fathers, having been a pupil of the Apostle St. John. St. Irenaeus became a priest of the Church of Lyons during the prosecution of Marcus Aurelius.In A.D. 177, Irenaeus was sent to Rome. St. Irenaeus returned to Lyons to occupy the vacant bishopric, by which time the persecutions had ceased. Almost all of writings of St. Irenaeus were directed against Gnosticism,

For the Son of God became man so that we might BECOME GOD. (St. Athanasius, De inc., 54, 3: PG 25, 192B)

ST ATHANASIUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH the great champion of orthodoxy during the Arian crisis of the 4th century.

[God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine [460] nature [...] For this reason, THOSE IN WHOM THE SPIRIT DWELLS ARE DIVINIZED.(St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1, 24: PG 26.585 & 588)

The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might MAKE MEN GODS. (St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 57: 1-4).12251274. Italian Dominican friar, theologian, and philosopher. The most influential thinker of the medieval period,

Redeemed

"The main tenet of the Orthodox faith is the belief that salvation is by being united with Christ who is Isvara incarnate. By being united with Him, we are to grow into God's image by becoming more and more god-like in character, in love, in goodness and in wisdom. This process of transformation is called theosis or divinization."Paulos Mar Gregorios

DivineSpiritualMentalMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe UnknownLet us make Man in our own image. Gen 1:26-28

DivineSpiritualMentalMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe UnknownLet us make Man in our own image. Gen 1:26-28

Psa 8:5 thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.

DivineSpiritualMentalMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe UnknownGen 3:24 He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

After the fall A Cherubim protected the tree of life until Man was ready to enter and partake of it.


Heb 2:7 Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor,


Gal 3:23 Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed.

DivineSpiritualMentalMaterialTrinityCherubim & SeraphimArch angelsAngelsZoologicalsThe UnknownChristJoh 1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God

Rom 8:14-17 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?

The Tree contains ten centers called sephiroth, individually sephira, which are connected by 22 paths.

Eph 2:7 that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

The real anthropological meaning of deification is Christification. Christ as "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation" (Col 1:15), "every man" to become "mature in Christ" (Col 1:28), "have come to fullness of life in Him" (Col. 2:10). "to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13), to acquire "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16), the heart of Christ (cf. Eph 3:17)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of His fullness we have all received..." (John 1:14, 16).

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich" (II Corinthians 8:9).

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus... But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Romans 8:1

"it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is," (I John 3:2).

When we unite ourselves unto Christ we become "transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18). "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man" (I Corinthians 15:49).

The Purpose of Being is to Become

After Darwin, people came to realize that God has not finished the creation of the world. He is still creating. Tilhard DeChardin, the great anthropologist, believed that the destiny of man is to rise toward spiritual perfection until at last he is united with God.

Bishop Maximos Aghiorgiussis writes, "The fathers make a distinction between the image of God in man, and his likeness to God; image is the potential given to man, through which he can obtain the life of theosis (communion with God). Likeness with God is the actualization of this potential; it is becoming more and more what one already is: becoming more and more God's image, more and more God-like. The distinction between image and likeness is, in other words, the distinction between being and becoming."

Theosis in no way means that human beings "become God" in a pantheistic sense. God is by nature unknowable in His essence. He becomes knowable through His energies, which are the ways by which He, in His grace, has opened Himself to us. "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:18). Although not capable of knowing God in His essence, we are capable of knowing Him through His energies, since He is present in each of His energies.

The New Age lie

St. Basil "We know our God from His energies, but we do not claim that we can draw near to His essence, for His energies come down to us, but His essence remains unapproachable.Man's knowledge of God can be only of His energies, not of His essence.

Humanization"We are not human beings; we are human becomings" M.M.Thomas

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Paul’s Theology of Redemption