incarnation

• In the beginning was the Word (John)


  This echoes Genesis 1 and links back to the beginning of creation that Jesus was a part of creation as God's words.
• The word was with God


  Jesus was with God and were united but not the same. They co-exist with the Holy Trinity. This was before Jesus was fully human and that everything that exist depends on God including Jesus.
• The Word was God


  John is saying that the word of God was inside God - God's nature.

  So the Son of God was sent in order to reveal God's mind to the world. Jesus as the Word is the expression of God the Father so that he is incarnate.
• a father's only son, full of grace and truth - Catholic doctrine


  grace shows God's love on earth. Grace is God's love, guidance and faith and is a gift. This gift can be accept or rejected by the individual as they have free will.
• He taught as one who had authority (matthew)


  Jesus is a source of moral authority as he was the closest source to God on earth and that him being the Word means that therefore containing God's words and ideas.
• "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." - Matthew


  Jesus doesn't cancel out the old teachings as they come from God however develop a stronger understanding carefully so to change the way they view the law and let it influence actions ( e.g. Beatitudes)
• eye for an eye - matthew


  Jesus teaches that we must be open to love each other no matter how they 'persecute'. As God's love is unconditional and so should us as we have His qualities (link to genesis)
• similarities between luke and matthew's account for jesus' birth

  (Luke 1:26) and (matthew 1:18)

  - Jesus' birth announced by an angel

  - Born of a virgin called Mary

  - Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit

  - Mary's son had to be called Jesus

  - Mary and Joseph had to consent to God's plan
• differences with Luke


  (wrote for non-Jews [gentiles] )

  - tells mary's side of the story

  - calls Jesus 'Son of the Most High'

  - Jesus is the 'Eternal Son of God
• differences with Mark


  (wrote for Jews)

  - Tells Joseph's side of the story

  - refers to Jewish prophecy

  - Jesus is 'Emmanuel' = 'God is with us
• The Beatitudes


  "Blessed are the poor in spirit,

  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  
  

  Blessed are they who mourn,

  for they shall be comforted.

  
  

  Blessed are the meek,

  for they shall inherit the earth.

  
  

  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

  for they shall be satisfied.

  
  

  Blessed are the merciful,

  for they shall obtain mercy.

  
  

  Blessed are the pure of heart,

  for they shall see God.

  
  

  Blessed are the peacemakers,

  for they shall be called children of God.

  
  

  Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,

  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. The second is love your neighbour as yourself - matthew


  It is a generalisation of the 10 commandments/ 613 laws. Jesus can't say one law is above another so that summary shows that all the laws are important as it is centred around relationships with humanity and God
• when i was hungry you gave me food' - matthew


  we have a duty to care for the poor of needy as everyone

  has human dignity and that all lives are sacred regardless of social class. This is known as Preferential Option of Poor which is where the poor comes first which CST.
• just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me' - matthew


  when we help a fellow human being we are helping God, as God is within each person
• these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life' - matthew


  When we ignore the needs of a fellow human being we are ignoring God and will be damned - judged badly and be punished (to hell)
• with the clouds of heaven... there came one like son of man' - daniel


  Jesus uses the Son of Man as a way to highlight how he has dominion over humanity as He is from the Father. Daniel's prophecy talks about a human who is taken up into the heavenly court and has power all over the world.
• for the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands on men' - luke


  This is unclear but this can refer to Jesus' human nature or someone who has special authority from God
• the son of man must undergo great suffering' - mark


  Jesus would refer to himself like this to highlight the suffering he must endure as he was human and this pain bothered him (e.g. garden of gethsemane) and used this to warn his disciples about his death and how that will bring about the renewal of humanity from sin (link to incarnation)
• are you the messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? Jesus said ' I am ' '' - Mark

  Jesus was asked directly if he was the Son of God. To this Jesus replied 'I am' are a translation of the phrase that God used to reveal himself to Moses (exodus 3:14) - 'i am who i am
• In Jesus, God really became one of us and thus our brother - Youcat


  In the resurrection, Jesus was raised to a new life and sat at God's right hand. This means that he took his place as God. Nobody can be God and God is eternal.
• Jesus "worked with human hands, he thought with a human mind, he acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved - Gaudium et Spes

  Jesus was a human who had feelings, chose to obey God from his freewill. His total obedience lead to the redemption of humanity and his omnibenevolence to individuals who were outcasts for society (e.g. people with leprosy)
• Docetism


  A first-century heresy that taught that Jesus only seemed to be human

  - Jesus only appeared to be human but in fact had no human nature

  -Jesus is merely God in disguise

  issue: if Jesus can't feel pain so can't suffer for our sins as he isn't human so how is he suppose to be saved?
• Arianism


  A heresy denying that Jesus is truly God

  -Jesus is not God but a very good human being

  -only God the Father is God

  issue: Jesus cannot save us from our sins as Jesus is just a man- he has no authority to save us!!
• the Son is the one who teaches about the Father, he is with the Father from this beginning - against heresies St Irenaeus


  The purpose of God's will is to be a role model/ teacher to humanity to better themselves so they can receive eternal life.
• Life in man is the glory of God' - St Irenaeus


  Jesus is the mid-point between God and us and connects us together with him. Jesus was the perfect example and was human. Humanity should strive to be like Jesus but we are flawed.
• he was to reveal to the human race visions of the prophecy....at the appointed time and for our instruction - St Irenaeus


  Son = Word of God who spoke through Old Testament
• "He revealed God to men and presented men to God" - St Irenaeus


  The Word shows humans what the invisible God is like - people get to know God through Jesus as 'whoever has seen me has seen the Father' - Colossians
• "For he sent his son." - Dei Verbum (document by 2nd Vatican Council)


  Jesus is the Son of God (BOTH documents stress Jesus' dual nature)
• (Jesus) completes the work of salvation which His Father gave him to do... to free us from the darkness - Dei Verbum


  Jesus defeats sin and brings salvation to people.
• God has spoken to us in His Son... He 'speaks the words of God' - Dei Verbum (with John)


  God speaks through Jesus. God's voice which humans can hear
• Now the word is not simply audible; not only does it have a voice, now the word has a face - Verbum Domini (from Pope Benedict)


  Jesus enables people to understand/see God
• the new Adam, the true man, who unfailingly does not his own but that of the father - Verbum Domini


  As a human being, Jesus was fully in tune with the will of God, doing God's will
• the eternal word became small- small enough to fit in a manger - Verbum Domini


  Stresses the humanness of Jesus
• similarities between the 2 documents

  - Jesus enables people to witness God

  - Jesus died for us then resurrected

  - Jesus delivers God's word

  - both reflect John 1

  - Jesus is eternal
• differences between the 2 documents

  -- Dei verbum focus on the closeness of God

  - Dei Verbum more on Jesus as the Son of God

  - verbum domini more on Jesus as the Son of Man
• "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" - Matthew


  Jesus experienced human emotions - he felt very scared and anguished at the Garden of Gethsemane seen when he spoke to his disciples
• "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil." - Matthew


  Jesus expressed a core of human weakness which is temptation. This weakness is what separates God from humans.
• being put to death in the flesh - 1 Peter


  God is believed to be eternal, so Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross and dying.
• we know that Christ, being raised from the dead - romans


  This proves Jesus' rising, no human could rise from the dead if there was something divine about them.
• cursed is this ground because of you' - Genesis


  Due to The Fall, all of humanity are born with original sin, but Jesus died for all our sins to be forgiven