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PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 2/10/2002 3:27 PM (GMT -6)

SO, IS THERE AN "OMNI" FOR MANKIND?

(Taken from portions of the "MAN" installment from the OCA "Rainbow Series: by Fr. Thomas Hopko, outgoing Dean of St. Vladimir's Orth. Sem. in NY.)

=================================

from "MAN".......

..............

As the image of God, ruler over creation and co-creator with the Uncreated Maker, man has the task to "reflect" God in creation; to make His presence, His will and His powers spread throughout the universe; to transform all that exists into the paradise of God. In this sense man is definitely created for a destiny higher than the bodiless powers of heaven, the angels. This conviction is affirmed by Orthodox Christianity not only because of the Scriptural emphasis on man as made in God's image to rule creation, which is not said about angels; but it is also directly affirmed because it is written of Jesus Christ, Who is truly the perfect man and the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45) that "God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:10-11).

It follows from belief in Jesus that man is created for a life far superior to that of any creature, even the angels who glorify God and serve the cause of man's salvation. It is precisely this conviction which is affirmed when the Church hails Mary the Mother of Christ as "more honorable than the cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim." For what is glorified as already accomplished in the human Mary is precisely what is expected and hoped for by all men "who hear the word of God and keep it" (Lk 11:28).

Thus we see the great dignity of man according to the Christian faith. We see man as the "most important" of God's creatures, the one for whom "all things visible and invisible" have been created by God.

It is the Orthodox doctrine that one can understand and appreciate what it means to be human only in the light of the full revelation of Jesus Christ. Being the Divine Word and Son of God in human flesh, Jesus reveals the real meaning of manhood. As the Perfect Man and the Last Adam, the "man from heaven," Jesus gives us the proper interpretation of the story of creation given in the book of Genesis. For as the Apostle Paul has written, Adam finds his significance as "the type (or figure) of the one who was to come," namely Jesus Christ (Rom 5:14).

Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man (Christ) is from heaven ... Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Cor 15:45-49).

According to Orthodox theology, to bear the image of God is to be like Christ, the uncreated Image of God, and to share in all of the spiritual attributes of divinity. It is, in the words of the holy fathers, to become by divine grace all that God Himself is by nature. If God is a free, spiritual, personal Being, so human beings, male and female, are to be the same. If God is so powerful and creative, having dominion over all creation, so human creatures, made in His image and according to His likeness, are also to exercise dominion in the world. If God exercises dominion and authority not by tyranny and oppression, but by loving kindness and service, so are His creatures to do likewise. If God Himself is love, mercy, compassion and care in all things, so must His creatures, made to be like Him, also be the same. And finally, if God lives forever in eternal life, never dying, but always existing in perfectly joyful and harmonious beauty and happiness with all of creation, so too are human beings made for everlasting life in joyful and harmonious communion with God and the whole of creation.

According to Orthodox doctrine, human being and life is never completed and finished in its development and growth because it is made in the image and according to the likeness of God. God's being and life are inexhaustible and boundless. As the Divine Archetype has no limits to His divinity, so the human image has no limits to its humanity, to what it can become by the grace of its Creator. Human nature, therefore, is created by God to grow and develop through participation in the nature of God for all eternity. Man is made to become ever more Godlike forever, even in the Kingdom of God at the end of this age, when Christ will come again in glory to raise the dead and give life to those who love Him.

Thus the holy fathers of the Orthodox faith taught that whatever stage of maturity and development man attains and achieves, whatever his power, wisdom, mercy, knowledge, love, there continually remains before him an infinity of ever-greater fullness of life in the most blessed Trinity to be participated in and lived. The fact that human nature progresses eternally in perfection within the nature of God constitutes the meaning of life for man, and remains forever the source of his joy and gladness for all eternity.

Starkman
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747

Posted 2/10/2002 3:49 PM (GMT -6)

Hmm!

Couldn't we have just said that God originally created man (with NO fallen nature to come into play) to simply have a relationship with Him? Must we go to the point of making ourselves omni... well, wait a minute. I am omni-something: I'm omni NOT ABLE TO READ EVERYTHING I WANT!

No doubt about it! I simply can't read everything I'd like. I therefore must be omni-wishfull catchup!

Hey, not to make light of the post, but to...make light of the Post!!!

Gads!

Starkman

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 2/11/2002 1:20 AM (GMT -6)

Hey S-man. Hang in there!

I wasn't REALLY suggesting that we start using the OMNI word for mankind. But as an artist...I'm really cued to notice what titles do to the way we look at and think about things. "Made-ja-look!"

Lets try something. I'm going to pull out those bold sections for which this was posted, and YOU (or anyone else) can give it YOUR OWN TITLE.

There is a point here. As Jesus said, "Ye are gods." We are in-training right now.It might help if we have the big picture. Right?

So, YOU give the title:

...man as made in God's image . . . created for a life far superior to that of any creature, even the angels . . . the one for whom "all things visible and invisible" have been created by God.

...one can understand and appreciate what it means to be human only in the light of the full revelation of Jesus Christ . . . reveals the real meaning of manhood . . . we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven . . . to bear the image of God is to be like Christ, the uncreated Image of God, and to share in all of the spiritual attributes of divinity . . . to become by divine grace all that God Himself is by nature . . .

...free, spiritual, personal . . . powerful and creative, having dominion . . . not by tyranny and oppression, but by loving kindness and service, . . . love, mercy, compassion and care in all things . . . lives forever in eternal life, never dying, but always existing in perfectly joyful and harmonious beauty and happiness with all of creation, . . . with God and the whole of creation. . . .

...human being and life is never completed and finished in its development and growth because it is made in the image and according to the likeness of God . . . As the Divine Archetype has no limits to His divinity, so the human image has no limits to its humanity, to what it can become by the grace of its Creator. Human nature, therefore, is created by God to grow and develop through participation in the nature of God for all eternity. . . .

...that whatever stage of maturity and development man attains and achieves . . . there continually remains before him an infinity of ever-greater fullness of life in the most blessed Trinity to be participated in and lived. . . . constitutes the meaning of life for man, and remains forever the source of his joy and gladness for all eternity. . . .

(Taken from portions of the "MAN" installment from the OCA "Rainbow Series: by Fr. Thomas Hopko, outgoing Dean of St. Vladimir's Orth. Sem. in NY.)

Pretty COOL!

PoW

Edited by - potonwheel on 02/11/2002 6:51:43 PM

Starkman
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747

Posted 2/11/2002 1:03 PM (GMT -6)

Check it out, POW...I wasn't thinking you were really endorsing us as...well...omnis!

I'm with ya!

Starkman

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 2/11/2002 1:55 PM (GMT -6)

We're tracking together (What's that mean?). Definitely not "Omni-..."

But given the below, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL IT?

...to share in all of the spiritual attributes of divinity...
...powerful and creative, having dominion ...
...never completed and finished in its development and growth ...
...has no limits to its humanity...

Can you give it a name?

Edited by - potonwheel on 02/11/2002 6:56:32 PM

might-be-don
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 830

Posted 2/12/2002 2:45 AM (GMT -6)

a name... "In Jesus"

peace and love, don

A quote from Rev. Gregory A. Boyd, PhD ... " Has anyone seen my keys? "

Starkman
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747

Posted 2/12/2002 10:52 AM (GMT -6)

POW,

I'd give it the name "a bit too beyond the original creation of God's intentions in having created mankind".

Now, I'm giving some thought, thanks to your great posts, POW, to a far more deeper relationship with God; yes, relationship in terms of what it means to be fully human (or come to be fully human in the Christ), to extend to our ultimate capability in relationship with the Trinity, but I'm not sure that means I'm to take this to mean I'm to share in His attributes. (if I'm missing the real meaning of what the author meant by this, correct me, please!)

A name, though, to what it means to arrive and continually arrive at full humanity?

Guess I'd have to say Abundant Life!

For the thought,

Starkman

Edited by - Starkman on 02/12/2002 3:53:05 PM

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