I London: SCM, , Adriaen ed. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation… if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Here are a few prominent examples: Irenaeus c. He did this when He appeared as a man, that we, being nourished, as it were, from the breast of His flesh, and having, by such a course of milk nourishment, become accustomed to eat and drink the Word of God, may be able also to contain in ourselves the Bread of immortality, which is the Spirit of the Father.
However, unlike either New Testament writer, Irenaeus applies imagery of breasts and milk directly to God, both to the Spirit and to the Son.
Motherly language was not restricted to any one person of the Trinity. Clement of Alexandria c. We will look at two instances. The universal Father is one, and one the universal Word; and the Holy Spirit is one and the same everywhere, and one is the only virgin mother.
I love to call her the Church. This mother, when alone, had not milk, because alone she was not a woman. But she is at once virgin and mother—pure as a virgin, loving as a mother. And calling her children to her, she nurses them with holy milk, viz. Therefore she had not milk; for the milk was this child fair and comely, the body of Christ, which nourishes by the Word the young brood, which the Lord Himself brought forth in throes of the flesh, which the Lord Himself swathed in His precious blood.
O amazing birth! O holy swaddling bands! The Word is all to the child, both father and mother and tutor and nurse. Who alone, as is befitting, supplies us children with the milk of love. This sets the tone for a hymn concerned with one who cares, guides, and protects the young, small and infant. Among pictures that recur are: shepherd, mother-bird, saviour, helm and bridle. The tone throughout is warm and affectionate. The closing reads: Christ Jesus, heavenly milk from the sweet breasts of the bride of grace, squeezed from your wisdom.
O Christ born, choir of peace, O temperate people, let us celebrate together the God of peace. The prominence of motherly, and especially of breastfeeding imagery in this hymn, with which he closes the work, indicates the importance of this picture for Clement.
Eusebius c. God is shepherd and among 'his' sheep are 'those that give suck'; i. Eusebius and Jerome interpret these motherly ewes in God's flock similarly. Jerome, however, is led to further reflection. This in turn causes him to mention that in Semitic languages the Spirit is feminine. He then quotes from Psalm , As the eyes of a slave follow his master's hand as the eyes of a slave-girl her mistress, He sees in the mistress a feminine figure of the Holy Spirit.
This leads the scholarly Jerome to quote also from the, now lost, Gospel of the Hebrews. According to Michael J. Jerome is well aware that such talk of God as motherly is unusual and may seem strange.
So he points out that no one need be offended by it, for whilst in the Semitic languages the Spirit is feminine, Latin uses masculine and Greek uses neuter gender for the word Spirit.
This shows that sexuality does not apply to the Godhead. Augustine A little later the great Augustine extends this idea of the apostle as mother and father. He links it with Jesus' words about the mother hen, and so speaks of Christ in a motherly way.
The Lord, he says, has the authority of a father and the affection of a mother, indeed in Christ's blood we have all been called to life. He says that we can see that a hen is a mother because she looks worn out, so Christ wearies himself for us, his children, in the incarnation.
Chrysostom The early Christian writers loved to build up lists to illustrate the richness of Christ who is all and in all. Typical of such lists is one from the great Greek father John Chrysostom.
This seems to have encouraged the Syriac speaking church to associate the birthing imagery of baptism with the Spirit as mother to the new Christian. The idea of the Spirit brooding is often found in connection with baptism. Aphrahat c. From all who are born of a body the Spirit is absent till they come to birth by water, and then receive the Holy Spirit.
This link is natural. Baptism is new birth, spiritual as opposed to fleshly birth John So, the baptismal water is pictured as a womb, or mother.
Brock gives examples from Ephrem and later writers, as well as liturgical evidence. Dekkers, J. Fraipont eds. Willems ed. See also H. VI, 1; H Epiph. The meaning is this. As long as a man has not taken a wife he loves and reveres God his father and the Holy Spirit his mother, and he has no other love. It is not surprising that this phrase occurs in connection with the sending of the Spirit. Some texts of the Syrian Orthodox Baptismal service, which is usually attributed to Severus , contain the epiclesis Have mercy on us, O God the Father almighty, and send upon us and upon this water that is being consecrated, from your dwelling that is prepared, from your infinite womb, the Paraclete, your Holy Spirit, the establisher, lord and life-giver.
Write a Review. In Stock. Our Price. As we noted earlier, such blasphemy was considered a capital offense under first century Judaism. Play all results. Clip it to OneNote. Pin to Pinterest. More about this image. Literal Standard Version who is the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, NET Bible He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, New Heart English Bible who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Weymouth New Testament Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God, the Firstborn and Lord of all creation. World English Bible who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Young's Literal Translation who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation, Additional Translations Psalm I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. John Jesus replied, "Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me?
Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Romans For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. Context The Supremacy of Christ 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
All things were created through Him and for Him. Treasury of Scripture Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: the image.
0コメント