GOD AND MAN ORTHODOX CONCEPT. The development of the doctrines concerning the Trinity and the incarnation, as it took place during the first eight centuries of Christian history, was related to the concept of mans participation in divine life. The Greek Fathers of the church always implied that the phrase found in the biblical story of the creation of man, according to the image and likeness of God, meant that man is not an autonomous being and that his ultimate nature is defined by his relation to God, his prototype. In paradise Adam and Eve were called to participate in Gods life and to find in him the natural growth of their humanity from glory to glory. To be in God is, therefore, the natural state of man. This doctrine is particularly important in connection with the Fathers view of human freedom. For theologians such as Gregory of Nyssa (4th century) and Maximus the Confessor (7th century) man is truly free only when he is in communion with God; otherwise he is only a slave to his body or to the world, over which, originally and by Gods command, he was destined to rule.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 23:16:29 +0000
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