son_of_god - Discipleship.Network - The Reimagine Network2024-03-28T20:25:20Zhttps://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/forum/topics/feed/tag/son_of_godThe Temptation of Christ and Lenthttps://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/forum/topics/the-temptation-of-christ-and-lent2023-02-19T01:00:30.000Z2023-02-19T01:00:30.000ZSalvatore Anthony Luisohttps://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/members/SalvatoreAnthonyLuiso<div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The Temptation of Christ and Lent</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Since the days of the Early Church, Lent has been associated with the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness: the period of forty days at the beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus in which he fasted alone in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> In my experience, and in my opinion, even though this key part of the Lord's life in this world is commemorated in Lent, and Lenten fasting is connected with His fasting of the Temptation, it receives too little attention outside of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent).</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> The Temptation of Christ is recorded in three passages of the Gospels:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Matthew 4:1–11</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Mark 1:12–13</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Luke 4:1–13</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> The following spiritual disciplines are fitting for observing Lent:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">1. Reading one, two, or all three of the accounts of the Temptation of Christ</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">2. Memorizing one or more verses of the accounts of the Temptation of Christ</span></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">3. Memorizing one or more of the verses of the Scriptures which the Lord quoted during the Temptation</span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">4. Studying the Temptation of Christ</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;">5. Meditating on the Temptation of Christ</span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">6. Singing one or more songs (such as hymns) which tell about the Temptation of Christ</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">7. Thanking and praising the Lord Jesus for what He did in the Temptation, e.g. His fasting, His being alone in the wilderness, His suffering temptation by Satan, and His overcoming of that temptation</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Ten years ago I observed Lent by reading one account of the Temptation of Christ every day: the first day Matthew, the second day Mark, the third day Luke, and then back to Matthew. I recommend this practice.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> When I did it, I read the same translation of the Scriptures every day. Another way to do it is by reading the accounts in a cycle of more than one translation. For example, reading three translations in a nine-day cycle, with the first translation the first three days, the second translation with the next three days, the third translation with the next three days, and then returning to the first translation.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> This is easy to do if one has access to the Internet, where dozens of translations in English, and translations in many other languages, are accessible for free.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> As I read the accounts of the Temptation, I thought about them, and made notes of things I noticed and learned about them. I recommend this practice, too. One may well be surprised at what one may notice for the first time, even if one has read and heard these accounts many times before—especially if one asks God to bless one's reading.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> I also recommend that if one does this, that one share with other one or more other Christians what one notices and learns about the Temptation of Christ. That could be edifying for both oneself and with whomever one shares.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> I have also observed Lent by memorizing the verses of the Scriptures which the Lord quoted when He was tempted by Satan. These are:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Deuteronomy 6:13 and/or 10:20 (the two verses are similar)</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Deuteronomy 6:16</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Deuteronomy 8:3</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> As one would expect, through the ages much has been said about the Temptation of Christ. One can read some of it in study Bibles, Bible commentaries, poems, songs, and other works of literature. Some of it can be read, and some of it can be heard, on the Internet. (If one would like learn of hymns which tell about it, I suggest one look in the Lent section of a hymnal, and search the Internet with the search terms "Lent" or "Lenten" and "hymns".)</span></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> I further recommend that one observe Lent by thinking about the Temptation of Christ every single day—even better, multiple times a day every day. I recommend that if one fasts during Lent, that whenever one has a desire to break the fast, one think of the Temptation. For example, if one fasts by abstaining from snacks, then whenever one feels a desire to eat a snack, one responds by thinking about the Temptation.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Whenever and however you think about the Temptation of Christ, always bear in mind who He is.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> It was no mere man who fasted for forty days in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> No: it was He who, to be sure, is the Son of man, but who is also the Son of God. He is the Word made flesh, who in the beginning was with God, and was God (John 1:1).</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> As the Apostles' Creed says: He is the one who, after His Temptation, and after His Passion and Resurrection, ascended into heaven, and who now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, "from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead".</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> The more we know about who Christ is, the more we will know the truth about what he has He done for us: not only during His Temptation, but before and after—and also about what He is doing for us now, and will do for us in the future.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> And the more we know that truth, the more appreciative we will be of it, the more grateful we will be for it, the more joyful we will be about it, and the more awed we will be by it.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> And the more appreciative we will be of, the more grateful we will be for, the more joyful we will be about, and the more awed we will be by: <strong>HIM</strong>.</span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> In conclusion: Whether or not one observes Lent, I recommend one read about and meditate on the Temptation of Christ.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong><u>Questions for consideration</u></strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">1. Do you think you give enough attention to the Temptation of Christ? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">2. Would you like to observe Lent by giving special and sustained attention on the Temptation of Christ? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">3. Would you like to observe Lent by practicing spiritual disciplines involving the Temptation of Christ? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">4. Would you like to learn more about the Temptation of Christ? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">5. What are some other spiritual disciples one could perform that involve the Temptation of Christ?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">6. Would you like to pray for knowledge and wisdom with respect to the Temptation of Christ? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">7. Would you like to thank and praise the Lord Jesus for what He did in His Temptation? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div></div></div></div></div>Seeing Ever More of Christ Evermorehttps://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/forum/topics/seeing-ever-more-of-christ-evermore2022-02-05T09:00:38.000Z2022-02-05T09:00:38.000ZSalvatore Anthony Luisohttps://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/members/SalvatoreAnthonyLuiso<div><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> While searching in Google Books for a certain remark of the ancient Church Father <strong>Gregory of Nyssa</strong>, I came across the following words of Hans Boersma on page 77 of his book <em>Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition</em> (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018):<br /> </span></div><div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>I will argue that, for Saint Gregory, human souls find their telos when in union with Christ they become ever purer, in an ever-increasing growth in the beatific vision. Gregory was a theologian always in search of Christ, and though he was convinced that he had indeed found him, his desire to see Christ impelled him still further. For Gregory this theological longing was grounded in his understanding of the beatific vision: the eschatological future of perpetual progress (<em>epektasis</em>) within the life of Christ means that already in this life Gregory set his desire on seeking the face of God in Jesus Christ.</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Some readers may find re-reading this excerpt with the following definitions to be helpful:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">telos: "an ultimate object or aim" (Oxford Languages)<br /> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">beatific vision: "the direct experience of God by those in heaven" (Oxford Reference)<br /> </span></div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">eschatological: "relating to death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind" (Oxford Languages)</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Attend especially to this sentence:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Gregory was a theologian always in search of Christ, and though he was convinced that he had indeed found him, his desire to see Christ impelled him still further.</strong><br /> </span></div></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Of course, the sense in which Gregory sought to "find" and "see" Christ in this world was not physically, but mentally and spiritually. Through knowledge and understanding, he sought to have a greater and greater perception of the Son of God. (During His earthly ministry, thousands of people saw the Lord physically, but relatively few saw Him spiritually: that is to say, relatively few who saw that He is the son of a woman also saw that He is the Son of God (Matthew 11:25–27 and 16:13–20; John 9:39–41 and 12:37–41; I Corinthians 2:6–16).)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Note that Gregory believed that all Christians—those who have found Christ and are in union with Him—should do the same: not just theologians, such as himself.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Gregory knew that purity is related to the ability to see God because the Lord Jesus taught that in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed <em>are</em> the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). He desired to seek "the face of God in Jesus Christ" because the Lord Jesus taught that to see Him is to see God (John 12:44–45 and 14:7–11): a vital truth which he also knew from passages of the Epistles, such as II Corinthians 4:3–6, Colossians 1:15 and 2:9, and Hebrews 1:3.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> These other passages of the Scriptures are also related to such seeking, seeing, knowing, understanding, and perceiving:<br /> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Psalm 27:4 and 8<br /> </strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Psalm 63<br /> </strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Psalm 105:4</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Jeremiah 9:23–24</strong></span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Jeremiah 31:34 (quoted in Hebrews 8:11)</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Hosea 6:1–3</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>John 17:3</strong></span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Philippians 3:7–11<br /> </strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> How can we seek and see Christ now?</span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> The following ways are fundamental:</span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">1. Listening to, reading, studying, and meditating upon the Scriptures (John 5:39)</span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">2. Listening to, reading, studying, and meditating upon scripturally-sound texts (e,g, books, articles, sermons, lectures, poems, hymns, and prayers) about Christ</span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">3. Prayer</span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">4. Living with Christ as one of His disciples, which entails following Him, listening to Him, learning from Him, trusting Him, and obeying Him</span></div><div dir="ltr"> </div><div dir="ltr"> </div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong><u>Questions for consideration</u><br /> </strong></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">1. Do you desire to seek Christ to see Him more and more? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">2. If you do desire to seek Christ to see Him more and more, how do you desire to do this?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">3. Do you seek Christ to see Him more and more? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">4. If you do seek Christ to see Him more and more, how do you do this?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">5. Do you agree that "Blessed <em>are</em> the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8)? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">6. Do you desire to become purer in union with Christ? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">7. Would you like to ask God to purify you? If so, why? If not, why not?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;">8. Do you desire the beatific vision? If so, why? If not, why not?<br /> </span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Note:</strong> One good book about Christ is <em>Christ Is All!</em>, by David Bryant. You can learn about it from the article "Free book offer: Christ Is All!", which is accessible here: <a href="https://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/profiles/blogs/free-book-offer-christ-is-all" target="_blank">https://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/profiles/blogs/free-book-offer-christ-is-all</a></span></div></div></div>Gregory of Nyssa and Christhttps://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/forum/topics/gregory-of-nyssa-and-christ2022-01-10T10:00:19.000Z2022-01-10T10:00:19.000ZSalvatore Anthony Luisohttps://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/members/SalvatoreAnthonyLuiso<div><div class="bi6gxh9e"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql b0tq1wua jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" style="font-size:12pt;">Hans Boersma says the following about the ancient theologian and Church Father <strong>Gregory of Nyssa</strong> (c. 335 – c. 395) on page 77 of his book <em>Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition</em> (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018):</span></div><div class="bi6gxh9e"><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></div><div class="bi6gxh9e"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql b0tq1wua jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>I will argue that, for Saint Gregory, human souls find their telos when in union with Christ they become ever purer, in an ever-increasing growth in the beatific vision. Gregory was a theologian always in search of Christ, and though he was convinced that he had indeed found him, his desire to see Christ impelled him still further. For Gregory this theological longing was grounded in his understanding of the beatific vision: the eschatological future of perpetual progress (<em>epektasis</em>) within the life of Christ means that already in this life Gregory set his desire on seeking the face of God in Jesus Christ.</strong></span></div><div class="bi6gxh9e"> </div><div class="bi6gxh9e"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql b0tq1wua jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" style="font-size:12pt;">Sounds good, no?</span></div><div class="bi6gxh9e"> </div></div>