In our previous video, we examined how the Orthodox Church understands and approaches the discussion of Soteriology, which is the theology surrounding salvation. In today's video, we discuss how the different events of the ministry of Our Lord Jesus Christ each contribute to the salvation of all human beings. Let's take a look together.
Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
How does the Lord Jesus Christ’s incarnation save the human being? How is it that somehow we as humans are saved because of the Lord’s becoming man and sharing in our human condition? If you have watched our previous video which was the first of this series on salvation, you know that we’ve been speaking about the mystery surrounding God divine economy of salvation. We’ve also spoken how there is no one single event in the Life of Christ that is responsible for our salvation, but rather the culmination of the entirety of Christ’s life that brings healing and restoration to humanity’s fallen condition.
Now in today's video, we will attempt to dissect just a few of the many events in Christ's life that directly point us to how the incarnate Word of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, brought about salvation to humanity through His becoming human. Today we will choose to examine the Lord Jesus' nativity, the Lord's baptism and His fasting for us for 40 days and 40 nights and how He was tempted at the end of that fasting.
How does the birth of Christ contribute to our salvation? As we've discussed in another video, the celebration of Christ's nativity is not simply a desire for us to come together and wish Jesus a happy birthday. But rather this is where we see extreme humility, how our Saviour was willing to come down and take on the very form of his creatures in order to save us. St. Paul explains this divine mindset in his letter to the Philippians. He says the following in chapter 2:
'' 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.'' (Philippians 2:5-7)
St. Paul is pointing to the divine plan, the divine economy of salvation and how the only begotten Son did not hesitate to empty Himself out by taking on human nature for our sakes.
His nativity therefore is the very expression of His desire to become one of us in order to bring forth salvation. This is the manifestation among us of His incarnate form. This is what we pray in the liturgy of St. Gregory, Theologian, listen:
''You, the Infinite, being God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but you emptied yourself and took on the form of a servant and you blessed my nature in yourself and fulfilled your law on my behalf.''
Again, in the liturgy of St. Basil the Great, we read of how the Lord's coming in the flesh would bring about our salvation. We pray the following:
''You have destroyed death by the life-giving manifestation of your only begotten Son, our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.''
You see, His nativity is therefore His way of self-emptying by taking on human form and becoming all that we are, he introduces the possibility of saving us by allowing us to become all that He is.
Let's now explore how the Lord Jesus Christ's baptism also contributes to our salvation. Now this event is especially important for us to understand as Christians. You see, in the early Church, the Lord's baptism was celebrated as the feast of theophany long before they even began to celebrate the Lord's birth. And this was because of the revelation of God when the Lord Jesus was baptized, where we witnessed the three persons of the all-Holy Trinity manifested before us. The Father's voice is heard declaring this is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased, the Holy Spirit descends upon the Lord Jesus in the form of a dove, and of course, the incarnate Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, stands in the Jordan and is baptized by John the Baptist. And so right there is revelation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: theophany!
This event is especially significant to us, because salvation is facilitated through the Lord's act of baptism as He receives for us the Holy Spirit, which had been separated from man ever since the fall. Now this was made clear in Genesis 6 where the Lord clearly says:
'' 3 ... My spirit shall not abide with man forever, for he is indeed flesh...'' (Genesis 6:3)
The early Church always understood this statement as humanity, which received the Holy Spirit when the Lord God breathed Him into us in creation, had now lost the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, because in the fall, we alienated ourselves from God. And having been cast out of paradise, and now separated from God, the Holy Spirit can no longer dwell in us.
But the Lord Christ, in becoming human, reconciles us back to God and becomes the first human being since Adam to welcome again the Holy Spirit. He makes us capable and worthy again to also receive the Holy Spirit if only we participate in His very own life. St. Athanasius
summarizes this for us beautifully by explaining that it is us who benefit from the Lord's baptism, because in reality, the Lord had no need to be sanctified for His own sake. Let's read the word of St. Athanasius:
''If then for our sake, [Jesus] sanctifies Himself, and does this when He is become man, it is very plain that the Spirit's descent on Him in Jordan was a descent upon us, because of His bearing our body. And it did not take place for promotion to the Word, but again for our sanctification, that we might share His anointing, and of us it might be said, ''Know ye not that ye [you] are God's Temple, and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you?'' 1 For when the Lord, as man, was washed in Jordan, it was we who were washed in Him and by Him. And when He received the Spirit, it was [us] who by Him were made recipients of It'' (St. Athanasius, Discourse 1 Against the Arians, 47)
What we see here, through St. Athanasius' teaching, is that through his willingness to surrender Himself and undergo the events that he Himself has no need of, such as incarnation, such as baptism and the reception of the Spirit, the Lord Christ participates in all of these things for us and for our salvation.
The final event we will study today is how the Lord fasted forty days when entering into the wilderness and then was tempted by the devil. We read the account as follows:
'' 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him...'' (Matthew 4:1-3)
And this continues on. We all know the rest of the passage of how the Lord is tempted at three different occasions by the devil, and every time the Lord Jesus overcomes temptation. Now at first glance, it may seem like we are tempted to ask: how does the Lord's fasting and His being tempted have anything to do with us? And this is precisely where the mystery of the divine economy can be witnessed. For even the Lord's fasting for forty days and His victory over temptation plays a part in how it is that the Lord Jesus Christ brings about salvation to all of humanity. Let me remind you of what it is that we recite in the Coptic Orthodox Church every single day throughout the entire period of Lent:
''Jesus Christ fasted for us, forty days and forty nights.''
Why would we say that His fasting was for us? Well again, it's because the Lord Himself is in no need to abstain or to fast or prepare for temptation. In His divine essence, the Lord is in need of nothing. But for the healing of our humanity and to equip us with the grace that is provided in fasting to overcome temptation, He endures all things in His humanity so that we
1 This refers to 1 Corinthians 3:16
can be the recipients of grace and victory. It is for this reason that St. Paul is capable of saying:
'' 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.'' (Hebrews 4:15)
Our Saviour therefore gives us the very model of what a victorious human being looks like. He endures all of these things to set the example, and in the process, heal the brokenness of the fall so deeply ingrained within our fallen human nature. St. Cyril of Alexandria explains this by highlighting how the first Adam gave us an inheritance of sin and brokenness, while the second Adam, which is Christ, makes us heirs of victory and eternal life. Listen to what St. Cyril says:
''For [Christ] is to us the Second Adam come from heaven, according to the Scripture. Just as then we have borne the image of the earthly, according to its likeness falling under the yoke of sin, so likewise also shall we bear the image of the heavenly, that is Christ, overcoming the power of sin and triumphing over all the tribulations of the world; for Christ has overcome the world.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John)
What then have we realized here? That truly, there is no such thing as a haphazard event in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. All that he endures in His incarnation was directed to us and our salvation. And so again we reiterate: we cannot limit salvation to a single event like the cross, but rather the Orthodox Church teaches us that within the mystery of salvation, the divine economy of salvation encompasses many of the events that the Lord endured with us in mind.
In the next video of this series, we will take three more examples of how the Lord saves us: through His death on the cross, through His resurrection, and His Ascension into the Heavens.
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