The Way of Christ: Spiritual Formation Series

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. - Hebrews 1:1-4

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed.

7 But we speak God’s wisdom, a hidden mystery, which God decreed before the ages for our glory 8 and which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. - 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. - 1 Corinthians 8:6

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. - Colossians 1:15-20

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it…14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth…16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. - John 1:1-5, 14-18

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name, 10 so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.- Philippians 2:5-1

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
That is why, since we are meant to enjoy the truth which is unchangeably alive, and since it is in its light that God the Trinity, author and maker of the universe, provides for all the things he has made, our minds have to be purified, to enable them to perceive that light, and to cling to it once perceived. We should think of this purification process as being a kind of walk, a kind of voyage toward our home country…Of this we would be quite incapable, unless Wisdom herself had seen fit to adapt herself even to infirmity such as ours, and had given us an example of how to live, in no other mode than the human one, because we too are human…So since she herself is our home, she also made herself for us into the way home.”   - St. Augustine, On Christian Teaching, I.10-11 

 

“Man and God blended. They became a single whole, the stronger side predominating, in order that I might be made God to the same extent that he was made man. He was begotten—yet he was already begotten—of a woman…He was wrapped in swaddling bands, but at the Resurrection he unloosed the swaddling bands of the grave…He was laid in a manger, but was extolled by angels, disclosed by a star and adored by the Mag…As man he was baptized, but he absolved sins as God…As man he was put to the test, but as God he came through victorious—he Hungered—yet he fed thousands. He is indeed “living, heavenly bread.” He thirsted—yet he exclaimed: “Whosoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”...He was tired—yet he is the “rest” of the weary and the burdened…He pays tax—yet he uses a fish to do it; indeed he is emperor over those who demand the tax…He is stoned, yet not hit; he prays, yet he hears prayer. He weeps, yet he puts an end to weeping…” He is sold…yet he buys back the world at the mighty cost of his own blood. A sheep, he is led to the slaughter—yet he shepherds Israel and now the whole world as well…He is weakened and wounded—yet he cures every disease and every weakness. He is brought up to the tree and nailed to it—yet by the tree of life he restores us…He surrenders his life, yet he has the power to take it again. He dies, but he vivifies and by death destroys death. If the first set of expressions starts you going astray, the second set takes your errors away.”  

- St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 29.19-20 

 

If it cannot be said that God died for us, but only a man, we are lost; but if God’s death and a dead God lie in the balance, his side goes down and our side goes up like a light and empty scale. Yet he can also readily go up again, or leap out of the scale! But he could not sit on the scale unless he had become a man like us, so that he could be called God’s dying, God’s martyrdom, God’s blood, and God’s death. For God in his own nature cannot die, but now that God and man are united in one person, it is called God’s death when the man dies who is one substance or one person with God.” - Martin Luther, “On the Councils and the Church” in Luther’s Works, Volume 41 

 

“Christology is the touchstone of all knowledge of God in the Christian sense, the touchstone of all theology. ‘Tell me how it stands with your Christology, and I shall tell you who you are.’”  - Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline 

 

 

“God is so great as to be able to humble himself to the point of a human death for our salvation, and the unity of God with our fallen condition not only does not contradict or threaten God, but it is precisely in God’s character to do this.”  - Christopher Beeley, Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of God 

 

 

You temper your justice with mercy. In mercy you cleansed us in the blood; in mercy you kept company with your creatures. O mad lover! It was not enough for you to take on our humanity: You had to die as well! Nor was death enough: You descended to the depths to summon our ancestors and fulfill your truth and mercy in them. Your goodness promises good to those who serve you in truth, so you went to call these servants of yours from their suffering to reward them for their labors…O mercy! My heart is engulfed with the thought of you! For wherever I turn in my thoughts, I find nothing but mercy! - St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue