Christological Focus the Study of Christian Divinity
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Added on 2020-04-21
Christological Focus the Study of Christian Divinity
Added on 2020-04-21
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Running head: CHRISTIAN IDENTITYCHRISTOLOGICAL FOCUS OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITYName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor Note
1CHRISTIAN IDENTITYChristological focus is the study of Christian divinity and it is mainly concerned about theontology of the Jesus. These things are recorded in the Canonical Gospel, which is known as thetrinity of Christianity, and in the epistles of New Testament, which was written after the OldTestament1. The prime consideration in the ontology of Jesus includes his relationship with theGod the father, details of his ministry, his teachings and actions, his role in salvation and hispersona as a person2. Paul’s Corinthian plays an important role in this scenario as his centraltheme included the presence of Christ and his worship as Lord. The foremost contribution madeby the apostolic age is the contribution of Paul. According to this, Jesus is referred as Pre-existedlord3.The scripts of Paul identify Jesus with the word Lord almost 230 times and expresses thata true Christian will always confess Jesus as the true lord. Furthermore, the identity of Christianis determined with complete surrender to the God or the pre-existing Lord. This Apostle Paul’sDoctrine of union with God is very central to the identity of Christians and upon understanding;it provides proper framework for the pastoral ministry4. This essay is going to describe thetheological formation of Christian identity with reference to its worship, ministry, communityand mission. After that, it will discuss the use of Corinthian correspondence in Christian identityand testimony. Later the essay will discuss the epistemological and hermeneutical issue arising inthe interface between Paul’s Corinthian writings and Christian identity. To understand the identity of Christianity through the lens of theological understandinghas a far-reaching implication for the Christian living. It needs proper and complete1Kirk, JR Daniel.Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of PaulineChristianity. Baker Academic, 2012.2Baker, Coleman A. "Social identity theory and biblical interpretation."Biblical Theology Bulletin42.3(2012): 129-138.http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/01461079124522443Anderson, Paul N., Felix Just, and Tom Thatcher, eds.John, Jesus, and History, Volume 2: Aspects ofHistoricity in the Fourth Gospel. Vol. 2. Society of Biblical Literature, 2015.4Longenecker, Richard N.Paul, Apostle of Liberty. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2015.
2CHRISTIAN IDENTITYdetermination to God, however, the modern churches are only eager to produce ‘instantChristians’5. The Paul’s Doctrines are the scriptures of Christianity and the entire Christianitydepends on these scriptures heavily as according to many, it is first one of the Christian trinityand the teachings of Jesus has been mentioned in the Pauline Christianity. The concepts ofsalvation and resurrection was understood by the Paul correctly which is reflected in his writings.Modern Christian worships, culture, mission and ministry are completely inspired withthe Pauline Christianity and the effects are visible evidently. The theological formation ofChristian identity is implied by several factors that prove that Christianity is not something,which can be acquired by birth; it can only be acquired through devotion, compassion and lovetowards the humankind6. Christian identity surpasses all natural bonds. The identity of aChristian is not determined by his cast creed, Jewish or Greek origin, gender or state, but therelation of the individual with the church defines it with incorporation of baptism (Gal 3:28). AsJesus said that if someone is worshiping Jesus alone without his brother, sister, wife, father ormother then he cannot be the descendants of Jesus. In Christian identity, people cannot thinkalways about their family or their rights, they have to think about the humankind first, then theirchurch community, their family and finally for themselves7. Hence, the Christian identity ismuch bigger than that of the individual identity in Christianity. People still follow these sayingsof Jesus and their worship skills define that. The cultural influence of Christian identity isevident through their believe in the love of God. The concept of love of God mentioned in thenew testament of the Bible and it states that love of God is the ultimate form of the compassionfor humankind. People love their family, friends, relatives and other is a limited form of love.5Klink III, Edward W., and Darian R. Lockett.Understanding biblical theology: A comparison of theoryand practice. Zondervan, 2012.6McGrath, Alister E.Christian theology: An introduction. John Wiley & Sons, 2016.7Doohan, Helen.Paul's Vision of Church. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2016.
3CHRISTIAN IDENTITYThis love is not described as the love for god. Patriotism, Filial piety, ethnic pride is differentaspects of the human identity and these factors of human aspects need to be comprehended withthe love of god. This describes the Christian culture as mentioned by the Jesus in the Bible8.Mission and Ministry are different aspects of Christian identity related to the church.According to the writings of Paul, the mission and ministry are the ways to spread the statementsof Jesus throughout the world. the Jesus accepted death to remove all the sorrow, and evil of thehumankind and demonstrated that each person living on the earth are his descendants andtherefore, to make every ethnic background his disciples, the mission and ministry of Jesus wascreated. The earthy ministry of the God is continued through the missionaries. God wanted tobring every person on the earth closer to him and therefore he send Jesus Christ to send people tothe church, which the ministry of god. This ministry has been mentioned in the PaulineChristianity and states that the God loves the way people worship him with unity and shows lovetowards one another9. Furthermore, Ministry also decided about the environment of church anddescribes that the environment should be spiritual edification and in this environment, thedisciples are taught, believers are grounded and taught about the Christian practices (Rom. 12:6,1 Cor. 12:14-31). The Corinthian correspondence of Paul’s study is one of the important parts of the newtestament of the bible and deals with several central issues, which is related to the Christianidentity and Christian faith. Therefore, these facts can help to understand the theological andpractical aspects of Christian identity10. Corinth was one of the prosperous and major cities back8Banks, Robert J., Bernice M. Ledbetter, and David C. Greenhalgh.Reviewing Leadership (EngagingCulture): A Christian Evaluation of Current Approaches. Baker Academic, 2016.9Schreiter, Robert J.Reconciliation: mission and ministry in a changing social order. Orbis Books, 2015.10 Gardner, Paul Douglas.The Gifts of God and the Authentication of a Christian: An Exegetical Study of 1Corinthians 8-11: 1. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
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