A Missouri Synod Lutheran ... to Teach Us Roman Catholics about The Energizer
J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*
The Transfiguration
by Fra. Angelico
Examples of God
and the Greek Word Energia
in the Bible in Relation to His People
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| The Fourth Mystery of Light |
by Fra. Angelico
Examples of God
and the Greek Word Energia
in the Bible in Relation to His People
Because our Bible versions do not translate the Greek term energia
consistently, it is hard for us to understand the difference between God in His
divine being and God as He expresses and gives of Himself.
This lack of clarity has been with us since the time of St. Augustine (354-430 AD), where he learned and studied the New Testament in the translated Latin, not the original Greek. But when we go back to the original language of the New Testament, the distinction becomes clearer.
God’s Energia In the Apostles
Galatians 2:8: For He [Jesus] who worked (energized) through Peter for His apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked (energized) also through me for mine to the Gentiles.
Ephesians 1:1: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will (energy) of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3:7: Of this gospel I [Paul] was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working (energizing) of His power.
Colossians 1:29: For this I [Paul] toil, struggling with all His energy (energy) that He powerfully works (energizes) within me.
Our Confessions describe this divine/human presence at work within the pastor:
[Pastors] represent the person of Christ and do not represent their own persons, as Christ testifies, “The one who hears you hears Me (Luke 10:16). (Ap VII/VIII, para 28)
This lack of clarity has been with us since the time of St. Augustine (354-430 AD), where he learned and studied the New Testament in the translated Latin, not the original Greek. But when we go back to the original language of the New Testament, the distinction becomes clearer.
God’s Energia In the Apostles
Galatians 2:8: For He [Jesus] who worked (energized) through Peter for His apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked (energized) also through me for mine to the Gentiles.
Ephesians 1:1: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will (energy) of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3:7: Of this gospel I [Paul] was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working (energizing) of His power.
Colossians 1:29: For this I [Paul] toil, struggling with all His energy (energy) that He powerfully works (energizes) within me.
Our Confessions describe this divine/human presence at work within the pastor:
[Pastors] represent the person of Christ and do not represent their own persons, as Christ testifies, “The one who hears you hears Me (Luke 10:16). (Ap VII/VIII, para 28)
God’s Energia in each Christian
1 Corinthians 12:6: There are varieties of activities (energies), but it is
the same God who empowers (energizes) them all in everyone.
Ephesians 4:16: from whom Jesus the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working [energizing] properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love
Philippians 2:13: For it is God who is at work in (energizing) you, both to will and to work (energize) for His good pleasure.
Here we see that God inhabits the Christian to “energize” him to do His work. Although we are actually doing and living, we are to see it as God in and through us–that is how real the union we have with God is!
So God inhabits each Christian, even while we are sinful, in His energia but not in His essence/being. God in His essence, His pure being, would kill us because we still have sin within us.
But God comes to us in His mercy, making Himself–not only non-lethal but life-giving–so that when He give us Himself it saves us, not kills us. We can only experience God in His pure essence/being in eternity, when our sinful nature has died it physical death. Now we experience God within us in His energia.
That is why when Jesus comes to us in His energia, we really are united to Him. This is not a pretend presence or only some abstract understanding of God within us. This is a real union. That is why the Apostle Peter says that “we [Christians] become partakers of the divine nature” (1 Peter 1:4).
Ephesians 4:16: from whom Jesus the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working [energizing] properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love
Philippians 2:13: For it is God who is at work in (energizing) you, both to will and to work (energize) for His good pleasure.
Here we see that God inhabits the Christian to “energize” him to do His work. Although we are actually doing and living, we are to see it as God in and through us–that is how real the union we have with God is!
So God inhabits each Christian, even while we are sinful, in His energia but not in His essence/being. God in His essence, His pure being, would kill us because we still have sin within us.
But God comes to us in His mercy, making Himself–not only non-lethal but life-giving–so that when He give us Himself it saves us, not kills us. We can only experience God in His pure essence/being in eternity, when our sinful nature has died it physical death. Now we experience God within us in His energia.
That is why when Jesus comes to us in His energia, we really are united to Him. This is not a pretend presence or only some abstract understanding of God within us. This is a real union. That is why the Apostle Peter says that “we [Christians] become partakers of the divine nature” (1 Peter 1:4).
. . .
So when we are doing the good of God, we really are being Jesus to another. Yet, we are not Jesus in His divine being or essence to someone else; we are being Jesus in His energia.
+ + +
Except for the spelling of energia
which my sources tell me should be energeia,
I believe this article is exactly
how the Orthodox Church
views divinization/theosis.
+ + +
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/arbible/conversations/topics/41842
By application, the divine energies interpenetrate the human nature of
Christ. Being joined to Christ, our
humanity is interpenetrated with the energies of God through Christ’s
glorified flesh. Nourished by the
Body and Blood of Christ, we partake of the grace of God – His
strength. His righteousness, His
love – and are enabled to serve Him and glorify Him. Thus we, being human,
are being deified.
of the Light of the World
First Light on Easter Sunday
Sincerely yours in Jesus through Mary,
Mike Rizzio
Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God
Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!
* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas;
St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael
Sincerely yours in Jesus through Mary,
Mike Rizzio
Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God
Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!
* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas;
St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael
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