Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)
2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Martien E. Brinkman: Az igazvoltról és a gonoszról alkotott fogalmaink isteni transzcendenciája
Abraham van de Beek it is in the perspective of Christ. Because He is our Savior He is good and just. Christ is light and no darkness is in Him. The world is his own world and we belong legitimately to Him. When Christ shed his blood as a ransom for many25 was it not because the devil has any claim on us that Christ should have to pay. It is only for the sake of God’s own justice, because we were sinners. Therefore, Irenaeus speaks of a re-capitulation: the new creation is the restoration of God’s own creation. In the confrontation with pagans, Christians argue for God as Creator, as the only true God, and they give a Christological and pneumatological deepening as an argument that this eternal God is able to create beings in time and space who are limited, with a becoming and an ending. In the confrontation with heretics they stress that the world is Christ’s own. So for the internal debate of the church, a Christological approach is essential in order to keep salvation and creation together. At the front-line in the second century were people who denied the good creation, while presently often an independent doctrine of creation is developed, without any Christological influence. Therefore it is urgent in our time to stress one again the unity of creation and salvation, and to consider that the doctrine of creation is developed from a soteriological (that means: a Christological) perspective. It is not about emphasizing creation as such, but about the world that God loved so much that he sent his one born Son for its salvation. If we speak about creation without taking the concept of recapitulation into consideration we get in great trouble. We then enter into the dark providence of an unknown God, or in a flat idealism of a caring Father—-which does not at all fit the many dimensions of hard reality. It is in the perspective of Christ that the world gets its perspicuity: without Christ it is a dark mystery or an existence of mere coincidence. 4. The beauty of creation The doctrine of creation entered a new phase in the fourth century. An apology against the pagans was no longer required after the Constantinian turn. Now the pagans themselves were in the defense. That God is the almighty Creator was no longer a contested matter of debate. Heretics continued to roam in the church but it was no longer creation that was the burning issue. It was now about Christ Himself. Gnostics and Marcionites were silenced during the third century when the cultural climate changed. Now that apology and refutation of heresies about creation were no longer urgent Christian theologians could reflect on creation in a more relaxed atmosphere.26 It is this approach that we find in the catechetical lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem in de middle of the fourth century. Cyril’s lectures display mainstream orthodox theology of that time, summarizing earlier Christian thought for a new generation of Christians. He is a major source for discovering what Christians of the first centuries thought and taught when they were not challenged by fierce external or internal debates. It is an expression of a relaxed orthodox Christian faith—the good life of Christians in the community of Christ. Cyril’s ninth lesson deal with creation. He tells his catechumens about the beauty 25 Mark 10:45. 26 It is remarkable that Augustine (ConfessionsYA-Yl\\) after his connection with the Manicheans reopens the debate on creation. He once again puts the question how an eternal God can create temporal beings. 106 SÁROSPATAKI FÜZE I EK 2012 4
