Furthermore, in prior history, in this very area (namely, the land of Moriah) Abraham was willing to offer up his son Isaac to God the Lord. Since in this Isaac was a prototypical portrayal of Christ, so also Christ especially wanted to offer Himself up to God in the very same place. Not to mention the fact that many of the fathers held the belief that even Adam lay buried at the very same place where Christ was crucified, Golgotha, Christ wanted to offer Himself up to God in this very place in order to show that He, as the second, heavenly Adam, wanted to once more win back for us what we had lost through the first Adam. -- Blessed Johann Gerhard, Homily on Quinquagesima, Postilla I:215. [Note the skull of Adam in the icon depicting the Crucifixion, testifying to the same tradition Gerhard mentions]
Amazing stuff, the preachers around this period shared similar insights, but Gerhard arranges and words them so well. This must be found in some common source, perhaps patristic.
ReplyDeleteThis particular thought of Gerhard matches up well with certain points you made on Table Scraps about Eastern Orthodoxy. My question is that since itiis so obvious through Scripture that Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification. How is it they get around jsutification as it is made explicitly through the Gospels and the Epistles? Also are they merely equating Christ's death for sins as merely a saving death from death itself and not sins? If I am right I believe Paul says that sin entered through one man and all died. Since he says this it seems obvious he speaks of our corrupted being . How do they round this? Thanks!
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