Sárospataki Füzetek 17. (2013)
2013 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Szilveszter Füsti-Molnár: Can the Heidelberg Catechism be Neglected in the Life of the Reformed Church of Hungary?
Can the Heidelberg Catechism be Neglected in the Life... gives us comfort. The Catechism places I belong to Jesus Christ in the centre of consolation. All the consequences are based on this fact: namely, belonging to Jesus Christ without hesitation. He is the acting subject. His existence, deeds and uniqueness are the basis: the basis of creation (Q&A 26), of the church (Q&A 54), of sacrifice and atonement (Q&A 61, 66-67, 80), of our speech about the one true God (Q&A25, 94, 95, 117) and of our salvation (Q&A 29-30). Belonging to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, means that he owns me. He is the centre of my existence and this essence is outside of me. This is the ground of our liminal situation, in which suddenly a new Springtime occurs in front of the existing one aware of his or her existence - and one’s personal existence is opened up, in contrast to the closed, abstract and impersonal impingement of the structures. We can also put it this way: the human being steps out from “service of the law”, since Our Lord has called us to be free (Gal 4,5; 5,3). This is the ground for that wonderful and mystic experience, which is not at all strange to the human way of living in this world, since the Wholly Other appears in the fault lines of this world’s structure, and so becomes the shaking point which goes counter to the logic our worlds order, which is dominated by convenience. All of this shows the transitoriness which is the heart of liminality. Christian theology describes this liminal experience as an analogy between the eschatological event of the crucifixion and of baptism. This is indicated by the Catechism’s Q&A 70 where the renewal by the Holy Spirit and the consecration to be part of Christ’s body are connected to dying for sin. The Apostle Paul writes: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Rom 6, 4-8) Christ as the ‘secondor ‘new Adam’ is in opposition with the ‘first Adam, and the old person’ dies on the cross so that the ‘new person can be born, who is not under the Law that judges sins but under grace. ’’Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2Cor 5, 17) This is the language of liminality in which the original essence determined in creation is fulfilled by regeneration. 2 2. 2 The Christlike Sense of the Concept of Love in Regard to Liminality, Calls the Logic of Overflow into Existence In the following, we shall present a sketchy introduction of the previously defined connecting points, through deepening the concept of love. The teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism mediates not only the message of the Christ’s story, but it also adheres to the teachings of Jesus, the essence of which is the great commandment of love. Sárospataki Füzetek 17. évfolyam 201314 51
