Breaking the Spiral of Violence

This is final part of this set of studies of engaging the powers. It has been based on the works of Walter Wink, John Barton, Kallistos Ware and others including some of the latest discoveries of Archeology . The scripture texts are mostly based on the Jerusalem Bible and NRSV, with some modifications to illustrate the original languages and the meaning.

My thanks to all who have participated in this study over the last weeks. I hope the insights and challenges inspire a hunger for more understanding of our Loving God.

The cross marks the failure not of God, but of violence.

To understand what all this means one has to ask a question just who is Jesus? What is he?

Jesus is the God-man who saves us from our sins and pride. It is precisely because he is God and human at once, that he is able to save. Humans can not come to God, so God has to come to humanity, by making himself human.

God’s ecstatic love for Humanity, united himself to his creation in the closest of all possible unions, by himself becoming that which he has created. Jesus our saviour is a Bridge over the abyss between God and humanity, because he is both at once. The incarnation then is God’s supreme act of Deliverance enabling us into Communion with himself. The incarnation is is part of God’s eternal purpose.

We should not make the mistake that God, taking on our humanity is only an act of restoration, as a response to the Fallen nature of humanity. More fundamentally, it should be understood as an act of love and an expression of God’s nature.