The Doctrine of Christ and Holy Spirit - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction: Christianity over the centuries has evolved and expanded to be heralded as one of the most dominant- if not the most- religion in the world. The Holy Bible has had the intrigue of the world and continues to be one of the world's bestsellers. Gutenberg's zeal to proliferate the scriptures through his printing press so all men, not just the clergy, should have in his or her possession God's word. A key figure and major component that protrudes out throughout scripture is the person of Christ and his ministry whose words coalesced with the rest of the Holy Bible catapulted Christendom into a theological behemoth. Christ's message has spread and influenced the constructs of morality as well. About the Author: Wayne Gruden is a protestant theologian and author who was trained at young age to fully ingest the Holy Scriptures and live according to it. His upbringing fomented in him ideology that bears a similarity to Calvinist perspective. That is, his teachings and assumptions were based on biblical principles, and he weighted everything by the holy bible. John Calvin himself was known as a "theological humanist" and he was perceived as "Biblicist ....... No matter a teaching might be, he (John Calvin) was not ready to lend an ear to it apart from the word of God." Gruden possess somewhat of the same mentality in that he used knowledge of the bible to dispel any myths that may arise, clarify certain dogmas, answer any questions concerning the Bible, God, and its authority, and overall, teach believers as well as unbelievers (i.e. scientists, atheists, cynics) the validity of the Holy Scripture. His book, "Systematic Theology: An Introduction To Biblical Doctrine," serves as instruction manual as well as guide to the teachings of the Bible coalesced with anticipation of questions that may arise while teaching Christian doctrines. His aim throughout the book is to teach prove the original book in question (the bible) is not a fallacy. He also wrote "Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism" (co-edited with John Piper) and "The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today." (www.wikipedia.org) Purpose of Book: His purpose throughout this book, especially through this section (The Doctrine of Christ and Holy Spirit) is instruct and explain the fundamental dogmas of Christianity. Throughout his explanation, he desires to reintroduce the ideologies that attempted to rationalize the principles of scripture and depict why they fell off the mark. His writings seeks to instruct the essentials of Christ's time and purpose on earth. He brings forth wisdom as well as understanding by dismantling the dogmas into rudimentary form. Core issues: One of the key fundamental issues that give Christendom its grandiose power and influence is the doctrinal divine mystery of Christ. Grudem illuminated that essential aspect one must know is that he was fully God and man. He addresses the cynics and teaches believers that the being of Christ had to fully manifest in both entities to be our atonement for our sins. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." (Luke 1: 35; cf. 3: 23) The Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, mother of Jesus, is didactic of illustrating that salvation can only come from God without the aid of human effort -other than utilizing Mary as human vessel. Furthermore, Grudem set out to promulgate that Christ is the fusion of God and man without original sin. Christ's holiness seems to bedazzle many sceptics as to Jesus' sinlessness. Many wonder how can Jesus be sinless if his mother was a descendent of the sinful Adam. The dogmas of Catholicism assert that Mary was also without sin and transferred that characteristic via womb to Jesus. Grudem, however, extirpates that assertion and instructs that the union of God and man prevented Jesus from sinning. (Pg. 538) Grudem hypothetically raised the question of the Messiah's "impeachability" (pg.537) or, rather, of Christ's possibility to sin. In Hebrews 4:15, the writer affirms that Christ "in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." Grudem explains if the corporal Christ sinned; it would have involved the divine being that resided within him. Therefore, an act of sin would have discredited him for being the atonement for sin and beacon of light. Or as Gruden would put it, "Therefore if Jesus as person has sinned, involving both his human and divine natures to sin, then God himself would have sinned, and he would have ceased to be God." (Pg. 539) Gruden message is that Jesus, like us, was tempted to sin, however, he opted to withstand his temptation. However, albeit he reserved the possibility to sin, his godly nature would have prevented him should he- in his flesh- decided to transgress. Grudem also illuminated the relevancy of Jesus ministry on earth through several points. Not only was he the atonement of sin but also a laymen's example of walking in the Christian faith, a mediator between God and men, the fulfilment of God's original purpose on earth, and a sympathetic high priest that can understand the struggles of man. Ultimately, Grudem claims, based on scripture, the Jesus was both fully God and fully man. After making that claim, he attempts to discredit other variations of the duality of Christ. Apollinarianism was a teaching deemed a heresy because it fell short of matching the description of Christ engendered in the bible. Apollinaris, who became bishop in Laodicea, France, taught that the entity of Christ was a mixture of flesh and spirit. "The one person of Christ had a human body but not the human mind, or spirit, and that the mind and spirit of Christ of Christ were from the divine nature of the son of God." (pg. 554) Apollinaris perspective of Christ was jettisoned by the church based on the precept that Jesus had to be fully man if he was to save us: For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17) Another teaching that fell short of fulfilling the understanding and constructs of the bible was nestorianism. This teaching was engendered by a popular preacher at Antioch named Nestorius. He preached that Jesus was two persons in one body. His teachings were also deemed heretical and he was demoted from his position in the church. In essence, nestorianism advocated the fact that the two beings were distinct in thought and each was swayed by their own desires. "Jesus always speaks as 'I,' not as 'we,' though he can refer to himself and his Father together as 'we.'The Bible always speaks Jesus as 'he,' not as 'they.'"(pg. 505) The church maintained the essence of their doctrine that Jesus was one person, albeit he had both the godly nature and human nature. Moreover, another insufficient view of the deity of Christ was called monophysitism or Eutychianism. This view claimed that Christ had one nature. The nature was a "third" type of nature in which the human nature is usurped and consumed by the divine nature to transfigure into a new form. This ideology was taught by Eutyches, a cleric and leader of a monastery in Constantinople. "An analogy to Eutychianism can be seen if we put a drop of ink in a glass of water: the mixture resulting is neither pure ink nor pure water, some kind of third substance, a mixture of the two in which both the ink and water are changed." This is an allegory to represent the modification and recreation of a new being during the incarnation of God. That is, a third type of creation is unveiled when God decided to uptake the human form. However as Grudem advocates the position of the Church at the time in light of this new teaching, Christ would no longer be man or God. To maintain Jesus' relevancy, the church rejected that notion since it will disregard the divinity of Christ as well as his humanization. In regards of Christ's atonement, Grudem unveils a theory introduced centuries ago. A theologian from Alexandria and later Caesarea, named Origen believed the ransom Christ paid to redeem us was given to Satan. Satan would seem under this theory having considerable power on earth. Of far as Satan's utilisation of sin, the bible brings forth the power relegated to him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down." (Revelation 12:10) Satan accuses Christians day and night because of their sin. Then through Jesus' atonement, his blood cleanses us of our transgressions. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 2:1) Therefore, as Satan accuses, Jesus comes to our defense through his atonement. The theory presented by Grudem may place Satan as more of a judge than a prosecutor as illustrated by the epistle of John. Nonetheless, the atonement or Christ's death as ransom has eradicated our debts to God and mitigated Satan's foothold in accusing mankind. As for the Holy Spirit, it is a divine entity in which Christ promised to his disciples before he left earth. "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going' Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned." (John 16:5-11) In essence, the Holy Spirit, as Grudem would explain, gives evidence of God's presence. He comforts the apostles, convicts the world of sin for not believing in Christ, and judges the prince of this world (Satan). The Holy Spirit has plethora of tasks other than those aforementioned. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of revelation to the apostles and prophets in both the old and New Testament. He guides God's people and provides insurance. (pg. 642) Like Christ, The Holy Spirit teaches God's people how to act accordingly. Conclusion: As this analysis has shown, Grudem throughout this book attempts to just teach and explain the principles Christian theology. Whilst he teaches, he would provide historical knowledge of ideologies had challenged the early church's principles. In his book, he characterises all the essentials a laymen needs to know and understand in order fulfill the Christian calling. Bibliography: Gruden, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Leincester, England: Zondervan, 1994 Electronic Sources: www.wikipedia.orgwikiwayne_grudem Read More