Introduction:
One
name stands out above all others as the academic thinker par excellence, Thomas
Aquinas. Already in 1323 he was declared a saint. The Roman Catholic hierarchy
awarded him the title Angelic Doctor. In 1897, Pope Leo XII. Aquinas' theology
as the standard for Roman Catholic theology.[1] Aquinas' Christology is
definitely incarnational. Jesus, the incarnate word, is true God, true man; and
that Jesus is the Word and God and man, that is what Aquinas insists is
decisive for human salvation. His view of the incarnation was different because
he assumed that its necessity was hypothetical. In this article we will discuss
the Christology of Aquinas.
Thomas Aquinas Life and Career:
Thomas Aquinas was born in 1224 AD OR 1225
AD in his family castle near Roccasecca.[2] He was a university professor and
teacher, and his works bear the impersonal and purposeful stamp one naturally
associates with writers of his profession.[3] Already in 1323 he was declared a
saint. The Roman Catholic hierarchy also awarded him the title Angelic Doctor.
Pope Pius V awarded him the title of Universal Teacher of the Church in 1567
during the Council of Trent.[4]
Aquinas' best-known works are two
systematic treatises, summa contra Gentiles (Summary against the Gentiles) and
Summa theologica (Summary of Theology). The purpose and goal of the book was to
show that the Christian faith stands on a rational basis and that the
principles of philosophy do not necessarily lead to a worldview that implicitly
or explicitly excludes Christianity.[5]
Theological thinking of Thomas Aquinas:
There are more than sixty actual writings of Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas' most
important work is Dogmatic Theology, which includes the theological summation.
Thomas also made significant contributions to liturgy and hymnology. He
intended the Summa Theologian to adopt Lombard's theorems as a basic
introduction to dogmatic tics.
With Augustine and John Calvin, Thomas
Aquinas shares the distinction of being one of the three major theological
minds of the Western world. Thomas did the great work of the medieval church by
giving theology its perfect form. He knew no Hebrew and little Greek. In
Thomas's thinking, theology and psychology are connected as in sacred science:
"Sacred science is the imprint of God's Knowledge on our minds".[6]
Thomas Aquinas emphasizes important topics
that were discussed by other medieval theologians. [7] Christology in its
simplest definition means the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ. It
is questionable whether Aquinas agreed with such a definition of Christology.
One thing is very clear from his writings, however, that his main interest in his
studies was Jesus Christ. His Christology is indebted to his teaching about God
as creator and trinity. He takes it as the point at which divinity and humanity
come closest to each other. For Aquinas, Jesus Christ is both truly human and
truly divine.
Aquinas deals with Christology very
systematically. One may question the logic of his explanation of the person and
work of Jesus Christ in the third part of the Summa Theologica. Aquinas
preserved throughout his work the pattern of process, a process that flows from
God and involves human beings moving toward the eschaton. His Christology
follows the Aristotelian pattern of naturally grounding actions, first
discussing the theme of connection, the word in Jesus of Nazareth; the
incarnation then leads to the psychology and activities of the prophet who was
to be the universal savior; and thirdly, events in the life of Jesus are
presented. For him, Christ is both human and divine, and in this understanding
it is not a myth, a symbol, a metaphor, or anything else that could mean that
Christ is not both what God is by nature and what men are by nature. There is
also no question of belief in Christ's divinity and humanity, that he is only
an expression of human values.
For Aquinas, Christ is the starting point.
Everything he says about Christ is an attempt to explore the meaning and
significance of what he takes to be the teachings of Chalcedon. Regarding the
biblical quote about Christ as the author and perfecter of our faith, Aquinas
understands it to mean that Christ himself taught Christ's divinity. It assumes
that the New Testament gives us a substantially accurate account of the life
and teachings of Christ. His understanding of Christ is that his Christology
must be understood in the history of salvation. It is a Christology "from
above".[8]
· Suitability of incarnation
According to Thomas, God became incarnate
to redeem the human race and destroy sin. If the human race had not sinned, God
would not have incarnated. The Incarnation was the most convenient, remarkable,
effective, and admirable way of reconciling ourselves to God and his rebellious
children. God became incarnate to take away all sin, especially original sin.
Incarnation was not postponed until the end of the world to prevent things from
getting worse.
The
unification of the incarnate Word
Thomas asks about the connection between
God and man in the incarnation. By virtue of his divine nature, Jesus Christ is
equal to his Father and acts as God, creating, sustaining the universe, and
glorifying his allotment creatures. In his human nature, Jesus Christ is
similar to us in everything, he was born of Mary, grew up, suffers and dies.
But it is the divine person, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity,
who is the subject and responsible for the actions of both natures. Thus,
Thomas emphasized the connection incarnated in a personal, substantial
connection, in which the person is not caused by the connection, but rather
exists before it. This union of two natures in one divine person is a hypostatic
union.
· The Most Holy Eucharist
Thomas is known for the doctrine of the
Holy Eucharist. He explained the doctrine of 'transubstantiation'. This matter
began at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 AD There were three views
Consubstantiation, Annihilation and Conversion.
a) Consubstantiation – that the essence of
bread and wine remains alongside the essence of Christ's body and blood.
b) Annihilation – that the substance of
bread and wine is destroyed and replaced by the substance of Christ's body and
blood.
c) Conversion – that the essence of bread and wine changes into the
essence of Christ's body and blood.[9]
When the Fourth Lateran Council advocated
the term "transubstantiation", it was not understood to be deciding
between these three views as it changes into Christ's body and blood. But the
undeniable fact remains that the sanctified elements look, feel, taste and
smell just like bread and wine. Thomas developed a philosophical theory using
Aristotle's philosophy to explain this. Using Aristotle's philosophy, Thomas
argued that in "transubstantiation" the substance of the bread and
wine is completely transformed into the substance of Christ's body and blood,
while the accidents of the bread and wine remain. Thus Thomas expounded the
Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation[10]
Free will
According to Thomas, man has the faculty
of free will as something distinct from reason. Free will is the faculty that
allows us to follow any of the paths opened up by the intellect. Free will
needs the grace of God to incline it to the right choice. It was through the
abuse of free will that Adam lost his integrity, freedom, and error. Free will
is nothing but the power of choice, which is the faculty of the will. When the
will becomes a slave to Jesus Christ, it can choose the will of God and it can
also choose things that are good. Thus, Thomas sees freedom as: freedom of
action, freedom of object, freedom of goal. One is free to choose the best.
Predestination:
Predestination in general is a necessary
attribute of God's will. The Greek Fathers and Tertullian, Ambrose, Jerome, and
Pelagius taught a conditional predestination that depended on man's fee. Thomas
develops his concept of predestination from Divine Providence as a point of
departure. Guilt is replaced by the elect. The doctrine is therefore derived
from Augustine in a purer sense.[11]
The concept of original sin:
Thomas Aquinas accepts Augustine's
creationist theory. He says that the soul is the inner man. The beginning of
man is a generation, it is like that of animals, for they are made of the
earth. And in this sense, the human soul is corruptible. Thomas says that
original sin is a disorder of the moral constitution and manifests itself in
concupiscence, which is an irrational desire. The cause of sin was unregulated
self-love. It is disability and disability. Original sin is the loss of the
balance of nature and integrity in which God created Adam. It is a certain
weakness of nature that allows sin to dwell in man. Original sin is not the sin
of an individual person unless that person receives nature from a parent. So
each soul is a new creation for its own body. [12]
Sacrament:
Sacraments are visible signs of invisible
things. Thomas arouses as much rebellion in the Christian theology of this age
as the teaching of the future property of unbaptized children who die in
infancy. He agrees to deny them all the hope of future bliss. They are detained
in hell for the sin of Adam. The sacrament of faith, which is baptism, does not
apply to them, they are lost forever. Baptism frees from original sin and
without baptism there is no salvation. Faith and sacraments are never
separated. Sacraments are things of sense: and without them religion is not
Christian. The sacraments are necessary for salvation.[13]
Conclusion:
Aquinas affirmed the necessity of the hypostatic union and thinks
that it is necessary for man to believe. The union of man and God is the work
of incarnation. In the Incarnation we find love and forgiveness. Thomas has
interesting things to say about Christ's knowledge from the New Testament
onwards, that there was a tendency to ascribe supernatural or even divine
knowledge to Jesus. He believed that Jesus enjoyed the full beautiful vision of
God and had infused or revealed knowledge, including knowledge of his
Christianity. He also mentioned whether the Father or the Holy Spirit could
incarnate rather than the Son. It appears that after the incarnation the Son
has the power to assume another human nature different from that which He
actually took.
4.2 John Calvin
INTRODUCTION
John Calvin (Jehan Cauvin) was born on July 10, 1509 in Noyon,
northern France. He was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva
during the Protestant Reformation. His influence in the theological field led
to Calvinism.[14] He was a leading French Protestant reformer and the most
important figure of the second generation of the Protestant Reformation. Calvin
was a tireless polemicist and apologetic writer who caused much controversy. In
addition to his key institutes of the Christian religion, Calvin wrote
commentaries on most of the books of the Bible, confessions, and various other
theological treatises. Calvin began his work as a humanist lawyer. Around 1530,
he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. After religious tensions erupted
into widespread deadly violence, Calvin fled to Basel, Switzerland, where he
published the first edition of the Institutes in 1536. In the same year, Calvin
was recruited by the Frenchman William Farel to join the Reformation in
Geneva.[15] He planned to stay only one night, but a leading Protestant leader
came to him and begged him to stay and help complete the reformation of the
city. So he decided to stay and help the reformation work in Geneva, where he
regularly preached for a whole week and in 1541 he was invited back to lead the
city church. He died at the age of 56 on 27 May 1564 AD.[16] ]
Institutes of the Christian Religion: Calvin's Institutes of the
Christian Religion was "a masterpiece, a compendium of biblical theology
that became the normative statement of the Reformed faith." The entire
project took 23 years to complete and complete. Calvin first published the
first edition in 1536 and it spread like wildfire across Europe, especially in
Protestant circles. This work is what eventually led to his staying and working
in Geneva because of the fame he secured from it. His main reason for writing
the Institutes of the Christian Religion was to state the French Protestant
beliefs, but to be directed against the King of France, Francis I. King Francis
unjustly persecuted the Protestants, and it was Calvin's work to refute his
actions. The work consisted of six chapters dealing with topics such as the
Sacraments, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. This work not only
influenced Protestant faith and theology, but also changed the game in French
literacy and prose.[17]
John Calvin's Christology: Calvin's teaching on the person and
work of Christ is both Catholic and Reformed, and his Christology is purely
based on the Orthodox. It focuses primarily on the doctrine of the early
ecumenical councils and the early church. However, it also focuses on some
important themes about Christ. We discuss these Christological topics below:
i. Jesus Christ the last revelation
Calvin strongly asserts that Jesus Christ is the final revelation
of God. Jesus Christ as the Redeemer came and revealed God's revelation, and
since God Himself knows Himself, He should be known only through Himself. Only
through Christ have we come to know God as he is for us. Although He is
unlimited, Christ came in the form of incarnation and through Him we came to
know God as Father. He also says that Christ cannot be clearly known except
from the Bible. Christ is no longer with us in the flesh, but he has left his
words. As God was in Christ, so is Christ in his words or in the Bible. If we
seek God in Christ, we must seek Him in the Bible. The Bible bears witness to
the life, work, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and Christ is the
center and goal of the Bible. Therefore, we must find Christ in the Bible, the
essence of the Bible, where the Holy Spirit will enable us to find Christ.[18]
It has often been argued that Christology is central to Calvin's thought. God
and men can be reconciled through Christ, in whom the satisfaction of God's
justice and the manifestation of his mercy are united. And it is interesting
that faith in Christ is identical with faith in God.[19]
ii. The work of Christ
Calvin explains the work of Christ in relation to Christ in the
three offices of prophet, king and priest. All these functions are contained,
he claims, in the very name Christ.[20] In the Old Testament, each figure was
inaugurated by anointing with holy oil, which foreshadowed the fulfillment of
the "anointed one," the Messiah himself.[21]
As a prophet, Christ was anointed by the Spirit to be a herald and
witness of the Father's grace. He fulfilled his prophetic office not only with
his teaching service on earth, but also with constant preaching of the Gospel
and fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament[22]. Christ's prophetic
office is extended not only to His mouth, but also to His whole body, so that
the power of the Holy Spirit can be seen in his every action and in the current
preaching of the Gospel.[23]
Christ not only proclaimed God's rule as a prophet, but also
bought it with Him as King.[24] As a king, he ruled over a spiritual kingdom
that is eternal. He exercises his spiritual rule in the church through his Word
and Spirit. Christ is the king of the church and of individual believers[25]
and even in the midst of humiliation and death the penitent thief worships
Christ as king.
Christ fulfilled the priestly task when, as a pure and sinless
mediator; He appeased God's wrath and made perfect satisfaction for man's sins.
Through Christ's atoning act, God the Father removes all causes of enmity and
reconciles believers and erases all evil in us by setting out on the path
through Christ's death..[26]
iii. The
presence of Christ in Lord’s Supper
Calvin considered the sacrament to be an external sign with which
the Lord seals our conscience, a promise of the Lord's will towards us. His
understanding of the sacrament can be seen as a "sign of the
covenant". According to him, words and external signs are in the
sacraments, and therefore without the word and sign they have no meaning.
Through the word, the word is given a spiritual gift, and so the sign lost its
meaning. Calvin emphasizes the presence of Christ in the elements. He says that
Christ is fully present in the sacraments by the power of his Spirit. He sees a
relationship between the Old and New Covenants. The Old Covenant was sealed by
the presence of God, and so the sacrament is sealed by the presence of the Holy
Spirit. For Him, presence is spiritual presence. He denied Luther's view of
Christ's bodily presence in the elements, yet affirmed the uniqueness of the
sacrament by saying that the Holy Spirit is present. Therefore, everyone who
receives the sacrament is transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in the
element.[27] So he called the bread the body of Christ, and in that it is a
symbol or sign by which "the Lord offers the true eating of his
Body." Calvin summarizes his view in the simple and moving statement that
Christ “Invite me to eat and drink his body and blood as a sign of bread and
wine. I have no doubt that he himself really presents them and that I accept
them.' But acceptance always depends on faith.[28]
Conclusion: Calvin's
Christology is considered orthodox because his doctrines did not deviate from
the early church fathers. However, his theological ideas are based purely on
Scripture. In his Christology, he defined Christ's divinity. Although Calvin
was actively involved in the Reformation movement, his understanding of Christ
is not always the same as that of the other Reformers. Especially on the
question of the sacrament, Calvin's view is quite different from that of Luther
and Zwingli.
[1]Moang Lemtur, Christ in a Changing Context (Dimapur:
TDCC., 2008),48.
[2]
Lemtur, Christ in the changing Context…,
29.
[3] F.C
Copleston, Aquinas (England, Viney
Ltd : 1955), 9.
[4] Lemtur,
Christ in the changing Context…, 48.
[5]
Copleston, Aquinas…, 10-11.
[6] Rev. Amit
Thomas, Christ in Multidimensional
Context An integrated presentation of Articles, (New Delhi: Christian World
Imprints,2015), 17-18.
[7]Lemtur, Christ in a Changing Context…, 49.
[8]Samuel George, Christology (Kolkata: ESPACE,2016),
37-38.
[9] Lemtur,
Christ in the Changing Context…, 50.
[10] Lemtur,
Christ in a Changing Context…, 49-51.
[11] Thomas, Christ
in Multidimensional Context An Integrated Presentation of Articles…,
23-24.
[12]Thomas, Christ in Multidimensional Context An
Integrated Presentation of Articles…, 19-20.
[13] Thomas, Christ
in Multidimensional Context An Integrated Presentation of Articles…,20-21.
[15]https://www.britanica.com/biography/John_Calvin>accessed on
6/11/19.
[17]https://www.academia.edu/8379083/John_Calvin> accessed on
6/11/19.
[18] Bernard M. G. Reardon, Religious Thought in the Reformation
(New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995), 182
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