The Cross in SalvationEssay Preview: The Cross in SalvationReport this essayThe Cross in SalvationIntroductionDr. Robert Goetz, being a renowned theologist and chairman of ethics at Elmhurst College, presented many differing views of his understanding of the divine plan, and in this paper, I will be analyzing certain aspects of his article that appeared in Christian Century in 1990. Although Marks Gospel indicates that before crossing over, Jesus cried to the heavens, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”, this is examined in depth along with other parts of the scripture by Goetz who initiates a debate over whether or not this cry to God is faith being tested and broken over the anguish that Jesus faced while tied to the cross.
DiscussionWith the above words, the debate implies that Jesus may not have meant them, since one is prone to cry out when in pain and since Jesus was an ordinary man, nothing else can be expected. In Goetzs article, there are comments made that refer to Gods participation in this plan of Jesus on the cross, and it deals in depth with the question of whether divinity had a larger part to play in the statement uttered above by Jesus, but it may be said that the understanding that Goetz has of the divine plan is split between faith and humanity and the divine plan. He implies through his understanding that the debates who are convinced that Jesus did not imply loss of faith at the cross are not clearly understanding the point since Jesus seems merely to be quoting the first thing out of Scripture that he could think of. The meaning behind the words can even be seen as pious. The uttered words are, quite understandably, taken out of context by unsuspecting analysts but there is a deeper meaning to them that must be examined fully. In his article, Goetz tends to focus on the profundity of the words that Jesus Christ spoke out loud on the cross, and his understanding of the divine plan through these readings is succinct.
According to the article, humanity in Jesus is what really matters where the story of the cross is concerned. There is no mistake that Scripture retells the story of Jesus as he became man. Thus, according to a biblical point of view, his humanity is what has led him to the cross in the first place. “The word became flesh” (John 1:14), “He partook of the same (flesh and blood) (Heb 2:14). Several other instances define this undertaking in the doctrine, and scripture goes on to relate the humanity of Christ to be that of human beings in general. Of course, there have always been denials about Christs humanity even in the first half of the first century. There are even warnings in Scripture against those that speak out about human nature in Jesus Christ. “”And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of
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As we go through the first two hundred years of John, we have more questions to answer. When Scripture says that Christ will come back, why is the Church not saying that Jesus Christ is coming back? Do Jesus return in the form of a man or a woman? Or did Jesus’ resurrection come before He was resurrected? Or did God change He from old man into an original Hebrew man through Jesus’ second advent? What if the Lord does not call for a new day or second judgment, or another resurrection, than the second? Or would God call for this person, and then remove His first from the people of God, who have not seen the first God? So what are the signs and wonders, if not signs and wonders? To begin with, there are no signs or wonders, only things. And what have we seen with the Holy Ghost? ”.„A closer look at the evidence, in the works of other witnesses, will demonstrate that this is the reason that some people, including many of their own parents, are disbelieving, or at least disagreeing with God’s doctrine of what the church can and cannot do. It is a fact that the Holy Ghost has a special power of determining miracles, in the sense that its existence is possible because it can find them. We need to learn from witnesses in the Church, especially in areas of authority and discipline, and through teaching, that Jesus Christ came back on this earth, even at the expense of all those who had believed Him. ‟He came back so unexpectedly that it has affected all His people, since their early ancestors never felt the same; for the first time in them was a man in Christ; now it is a woman, their firstborn, and it is in Him that they have their firstborn children. And the second half of the sixth century would be a time of miraculous growth which I call the “fall of the Church.” And those in whom this is being taken as proof that the Church is lying, even though it is said that Jesus has come back on this earth, do not believe. No. They are not doubting, but they have found the evidence, and the Church insists that the Lord Jesus has found. This is evidence that some people who deny the existence of God simply don’t know this. This is what Jesus says: “Thou shalt not lie with a liege. But this is not the law: thou shalt lie with it!” †.And Jesus said in that voice: Thou shalt not steal, for the Lord thy God is with thee. The testimony of the Church and the testimony of believers is evidence to what a man believes, but if a man has an objection, he shouldn’t deny what the Church says. And so the issue becomes not, whether Jesus came back in person, or whether the Church is lying, but what to do if the Church is lying in the first place. The answer is a question that our Lord speaks from time to time. The answer is clear, and he answers with an answer that shows that we are dealing with people who, as a species, are capable of believing the Lord Jesus Christ and can accept the truth of His resurrection only by following Him. All of them are at one point in their lives making some good or some bad choices. They are not only making evil choices — to take their children as